For a teenager growing up in Europe, both shows provided a window into American pop culture and what I believed was a typical high school experience. Set in Orange County, California, The O.C. delivered on high drama. There were pool parties and Chanel bags. Drug overdoses and weekend jaunts to Tijuana, Mexico. Chrismukkah holiday cards! When Marissa died, I cried for the first time watching TV; now I tear up at the smallest things. Is this what life was like in California? And when I could move there?
One Tree Hill, which was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, painted a different picture: small-town charm on the East Coast. (Sidebar: The location is also home to a bunch of other well-known shows, including Dawson’s Creek, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and more or less every Nicholas Sparks movie ever made.) The early days of the Scott brothers were filled with basketball games (the only sport featured in my school was soccer), hookups in the back of a car (I wasn’t even allowed in the driver’s seat until I turned 18), pom-poms, and cheerleading outfits (I still wish I’ taken gymnastics classes).
Their high school wardrobes—velour tracksuits, jeans, layered band tees—were arguably more accessible, though if I’d sought to emulate anyone’s style, it’d be Peyton’s, since I always had a moody streak. An honorable mention goes to the music in the show, which introduced me to a bunch of indie rock bands like Jimmy Eat World, Jack’s Mannequin, and Fall Out Boy, all of which ended up forming the soundtrack of my teenage years.
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So much happened throughout One Tree Hill’s nine-season run (including a major time jump between seasons four and five that skips over their college days). Some major moments I still remember: Haley and Nathan getting married at the end of season one. Peyton Sawyer helping run Tric, the nightclub that Lucas’s mom Karen Roe (Moira Kelly) opened in season two. Brooke Davis turning her love for fashion into a million-dollar business with Clothes Over Bros. I could go on listing all the significant character developments and plot twists, but you get the picture.
Looking back on the show now, I find that most characters and storylines seem to have aged well—keeping in mind, of course, that showrunner Mark Schwahn was accused by female cast members of sexual harassment and assault in 2017. The series still has a timelessness to it for me, addressing difficult realities in the lived lives of American teens that feel relevant to this day. Sure, there were multiple love triangles and many theatrical hospital scenes, but there were also more poignant moments and conversations surrounding sexuality, teen pregnancy, and gun violence.
The podcast Drama Queens—which IRL besties Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, and Bethany Joy Lenz cohost—revisits each episode of the show from behind the scenes. The trio launched Drama Queens in 2021 and are currently recapping season five, in case you want to catch up.
Revisiting the show and my own memories attached to it isn’t done entirely through rose-tinted lenses. I was your average moody, insecure teenager, and going back in time brings up a lot of those emotions. But perhaps because One Tree Hill celebrates 20 in the same year that I turn 30, reflecting on the show now feels more serendipitous—a reminder of what was but also what’s to come.
Talia Abbas is the senior commerce editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @_taliaabbas.
