Les frères Scott

I must say, One Tree Hill changed me, my perspectives, my outlook, even parts of my soul. Some changes were for the better, others... well, they wrecked me.

This show is complicated. It's beautiful, emotional, and at times, painfully heavy. After finishing it (I stopped before the last two seasons, after Peyton and Lucas left), I felt an emptiness that stayed with me for weeks. I couldn't focus in school, and I couldn't feel much of anything. It was like the story had taken over my head and heart, and then left me with this strange, overwhelming silence.

Don't be fooled, it may look like a cosy, Gilmore Girls-style comfort show from the outside, but it's not. It dives into love, loss, betrayal, and the raw messiness of growing up. It's not an easy watch. It demands emotional resilience and leaves you questioning things you didn't even realise you would.

For me, the experience was both incredible and exhausting. I loved this show, truly. But it's not something I could ever rewatch. Once was enough, and that one time will stay with me forever.

This show started out really well, and got better with each season. It was one of my favorite shows. Until season 8. From season 8 and on, I've been embarrassed to admit that I still watch this show.

The characters Chase, Quinn, Clay and Alice are pointless. I have no interest in any of their stories. I miss the core OTH group and the relationships between them. That group of friends gave the show its heart and soul. There are so many new characters on this show that it lost its intimacy and charming nature. The show now seems shallow and dull.

Also, to the writers - please stop using the phrases "you know that" and "you goof," as in "I love you, you know that" and boyfriends/girlfriends referring to each other as "you goof". It's no longer cute, and it is bordering somewhere between extremely annoying and downright obnoxious. I cringe every single time I hear these phrases.

I gave this show a 7, which would have been a 10 if it had ended with season 7... and would have been a 2 if it had started with season 8.

UPDATE: Season 9 makes up for the crappiness of season 8. Stick it out. You wont regret it. I'm raising my rating to an 8.

It's a bit difficult to accurately rate this show.

At its best it's several steps above most, if not all similar shows. At its worst it's nearly unwatchable.

The high school years in particular are generally much better than the standard high school series. The fall off that happens in season 5 and beyond is quite severe.

All in all, definitely give the first 4 seasons a watch and see if you like what happens afterwards.

Once you've seen dawsons creek, saved by the bell and the OC - it becomes pretty obvious what producers of these shows are thinking. Take a set of issues provided by someone high up in the network, add some attractive 20-something actors who pretend to be teenagers and come up with a thin way to link the two. Except, this show is the best written teen drama I've ever seen. It's a laugh a minute, it doesn't try to ride the charisma or the attractiveness of the actors/actresses, it has genuinely funny short-term plots and climaxes to long-term plots. Not having American TV, I have to watch this type of teen show specifically from buying the DVD and this one is really engaging show-to-show, not jus a weekly dose to shut up fans. The slightly over-played basketball references about 'the game' are a bit tedious and so's the obscene over-emphasis on Dan Scott being an ass but this type of scene is usually followed by a funny pick-me-up scene. Definitely worth a watch.

One Tree Hill is Warner Brothers latest effort to emulate the success of its popular 90's teenage show Dawsons Creek and it a very good job overall. This show really will appeal to the teenage audience, and young adults and it is very plot driven to this age range. The show deals with a lot of sensitive issues that teenagers face such as: sex, drugs,marriage, adoption, affairs, conflicts etc.

The show is set in the fictional town of One Tree Hill and it stars: Chad Michael Murray as honest, likable Lucas Scott, James Laferty as spoilt rich child Nathan Scott, Hillarie Burton as the lonely but good hearted Peyton and Sophia Bush as the feisty but popular Brooke. The actors and actresses cast in these young roles really are the eye candy of the show. They all put in good performances and are totally believable in their roles.

Backing up the cast are a set of adult actors and actresses and these really add another depth to the show. Paul Johansson (Dan Scott) and Moira Kelly (Karen Scott) deserve mentions as they put in great performances as the respective struggling single mother and evil father of the boys. Craig Sheffer (Keith Scott) does a strong performance as Lucas step father and Dan Scotts bother, Barbara Alyn Woods (Deb Scott) makes a good long suffering wife and mother to Dan and Nathan look believable and Barry Cobin does a sturdy performance as Coach Whitey. The adult actors really shine in this show and they help to make the characters interact as well as the children on the show.

Underneath the shows skin is the running pulse of the conflict between long-lost brothers Nathan and Lucas Scott and that is what the whole show is built on. This show works so well is because it allows the adults as much air time as the teenagers and this lets the viewers care much more about all the characters, not just the teenage ones.

The characters are nearly all beautiful, teenage girls will droll over the eye candy of Lucas and Nathan and the teenage boys will droll over Brooke and Peyton. But the fact is that these characters are all very well written and it means that the audience identifies and likes each of the characters in their own unique way. They are certainly not two dimensional characters and as the actors and actresses can act means they are believable.

One Tree Hill is one of the most underrated shows on Television, and this is due to the fact that most people dismiss this show at first hand because they compare it with other teenage shows such as The OC and thats not really fair. This show has some human like quality that makes the show seem down-to-earth and relevant to many people. It does not have the fan base popularity that other teenage shows have, but it nevertheless has a very loyal set of viewers who tune in every week to watch the latest comings and goings on in Tree Hill.

There are some very good episodes of this show, but some others that aren't so good. But the show always churns out consistently good episodes and this means it is much harder to judge how good the show really is in its genre. If you want to see a good solid teenage drama that deals with real issues, in a human way, this is the show for you. Don't miss it 10/10