One Tree Hill (TV series)

One Tree Hill
File:One Tree Hill title.png The One Tree Hill intertitle.
Created by	Mark Schwahn
Starring	Chad Michael Murray James Lafferty Hilarie Burton Bethany Joy Galeotti Sophia Bush Paul Johansson Lee Norris Antwon Tanner Jackson Brundage
Narrated by	Chad Michael Murray
Opening theme	"I Don't Want to Be" by Gavin DeGraw (Seasons 1-4)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	106 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Mark Schwahn Michael Tollin Brian Robbins Joe Davola
Production locations	Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.
Camera setup	Single-camera setup
Running time	42 minutes
Original release
Network	The WB (2003-2006) The CW (2006-present)
Release	September 23, 2003 – present

One Tree Hill is a teen television drama created by Mark Schwahn that premiered on September 23, 2003 on The WB Television Network. The show continued to air on The WB until May 3, 2006 as it was announced that the network would merge with UPN to form The CW Television Network. The fourth season began airing on The CW on September 27, 2006 and continues to air on Mondays at 9/8C. On March 3, 2008, The CW announced that One Tree Hill had been renewed for a sixth season.

Production

Conception

As stated on Disc 3 of the first season DVD set, Mark Schwahn originally planned for One Tree Hill to be a feature length film, under the name of Ravens. He pitched the idea around town but under the advice of a WB front man, he revised the movie into an hour long teen drama series. Tree Hill is a fictional town, named from the song "One Tree Hill" by U2. Schwahn had named the town "Tree Hill" because while he was writing the idea for the show he had been listening to the album The Joshua Tree by U2. The show was to be called An Unkindness of Ravens until the network asked Schwahn to change it. Ravens made the show seem more sports-centred and seeing as their lead-in was Gilmore Girls, a show with a largely female audience, it would be better to change the name to broaden the show's appeal. So Schwahn renamed the show One Tree Hill, appropriately so. At the start of the show, fans often asked Schwahn why the show was named One Tree Hill when the town was just called Tree Hill. The question is ostensibly answered when Karen tells Lucas in Episode 1.21 that "There is only one Tree Hill - and it's your home." 1, Tree Hill is also the address of Tree Hill High School.

Episode format

Episodes follow a regular structure. An episode usually begins with a recap of events relevant to the upcoming narrative; however this is sometimes dropped due to time constraints. During the first four seasons, the theme tune would be played either immediately after the recap, or after the first few scenes. Whenever an episode features sensitive or violent subjects, or when an episode's running length is close to the total allotted time, there are no opening credits but only One Tree Hill written on a black background. Since the beginning of Season Five, the theme tune was abandoned, and it continues with the intertitle on a black background.

One Tree Hill is known for its numerous voiceovers featuring either literary quotes or characters reflecting on events of the episode. Most of them are made by Chad Michael Murray's character Lucas Scott, however there have been several occurrences where other characters have done so. James Lafferty, Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Galeotti and Sophia Bush have narrated various episodes in their starring roles as Nathan Scott, Peyton Sawyer, Haley James Scott and Brooke Davis. Guest stars Bryan Greenberg and Sheryl Lee have both given their voice to an episode each, playing the roles of Jake Jagielski and Ellie Harp. There have also been two episodes that feature multiple narrators. Cast members Lee Norris, Antwon Tanner and Danneel Harris voiced their characters Mouth, Skills and Rachel. Characters who interact with the main cast in high school such as Bevin, Chase, Shelly and Glenda helped to narrate the joint episodes being portrayed by Bevin Prince, Stephen Colletti, Elisabeth Harnois and Amber Wallace.

Music

Music plays a huge part in both the plot and the movement of the scenes throughout an episode. Several scenes are tied together seamlessly at the end of each show and the song, which is usually played in its entirety, helps create a singular mood from seemingly unconnected events.

The show has a long list of artists that have participated in the show; Gavin DeGraw, Sheryl Crow, Michelle Branch, The Wreckers, Tyler Hilton, Jimmy Eat World, The Honorary Title, Fall Out Boy, Nada Surf, Jack's Mannequin, Michelle Featherstone, Lupe Fiasco and Within Reason. Season Five featured Kate Voegele in an important character role as Mia Catallano, The Honorary Title and Kevin Federline in another character role as Jason. Bethany Joy Galeotti who plays Haley James Scott, Bryan Greenberg who played Jake Jagielski and Tyler Hilton who played Chris Keller have also performed on the show. Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz appeared in an episode after the band's performance as himself, in a storyline where he became a love-interest for Peyton. Other well-known bands whose songs have featured on the show include: Angels & Airwaves, Mclusky, Snow Patrol, Keane, Starsailor, Travis, Dashboard Confessional, Led Zeppelin, The Cure, Switchfoot and Foo Fighters.

The show has released three soundtrack albums: One Tree Hill - Music From The WB Television Series, Vol. 1, Friends with Benefit: Music from the Television Series One Tree Hill, Volume 2 and The Road Mix: Music from the Television Series One Tree Hill, Volume 3. Proceeds of the second soundtrack go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation to tie in with a storyline on the show involving breast cancer. Mark Schwahn has revealed that he names each episode after a particular song that has something in common with the theme of the episode. For example, episode 1.01 ("The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most") is named after a Dashboard Confessional song of the same name. In this episode, Lucas realizes that basketball, which had once been his safe place, is now the place that he has come to fear the most after joining the Ravens.

A site is dedicated to the music that has been on One Tree Hill: www.OTH-Music.com.

Syndication

On February 7, 2007, SOAPnet announced that it would be picking up reruns of The O.C. and One Tree Hill. The deal made with the show's production company, Warner Brothers, states that SOAPnet holds on to the option of picking up the fifth season for syndication. The show airs at 1:00 p.m. and again at 2:00 p.m. EST followed by two hours of The O.C. and Beverly Hills, 90210

Cast

Main article: Characters of One Tree Hill

and

Main article: Cast members of One Tree Hill

Original cast

Chad Michael Murray portrays Lucas Scott, the son that Dan never claimed. This led to Keith being the father figure in his life. He and Nathan start out as enemies but bond as friends and as brothers as the show progresses. Lucas' best friend is Haley and he has been a romantic interest for both Peyton and Brooke. Lucas has a serious heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) which he concealed for a long time. Aside from basketball, his greatest passion is literature and quotes from the books he reads are used on the show. In Season Five, he is a successful writer and head coach of the Ravens basketball team. He was in a relationship with his editor, Lindsey Strauss but conflicted by his feelings for former love Peyton, causing Lindsey to leave him at the altar. In the season finale, he asks one of Brooke, Peyton or Lindsey to marry him. It is not made clear which.

James Lafferty portrays Nathan Scott, the son that Dan did claim, although his relationships with both his parents are strained at the best of times. Nathan marries Haley in Season One and they renew their vows in Season Three, and later becomes a father to James Lucas "Jamie" Scott in Season Four. In Season One, he and Lucas start out as enemies, but bond as friends and brothers as the show progresses. Nathan is the star player of the Ravens and is named "Most Valuable Player" in Season Four. Also, in Season Four, he is investigated for shaving points. He loses his basketball scholarship to Duke University because he admits to shaving points in two games. Basketball has always been his greatest passion and he sees it as his "way out", but in Season Five, a fight leaves Nathan near-paralyzed and his dreams shattered, though he later regains the use of his legs and slowly starts to make a comeback in basketball.

Hilarie Burton portrays Peyton Sawyer, whose two greatest passions in life are music and art; she is an expert in the punk rock genre and uses her art to express the issues that play out in her life. Brooke Davis is her best friend while also having Haley to talk to. In season Two, she discovers that she is actually adopted. She has never met her biological father although she has met his son, her half-brother, Derek. After getting to know her birth mother, Ellie, she loses her to breast cancer. In Season Four, Peyton decides to act on her feelings for Lucas and they begin a relationship. This relationship has ended between seasons Four and Five and in Season Five, a lonely Peyton is working for a record company in LA. She and Brooke decide return to Tree Hill, where she starts her own record label, Red Bedroom Records, and battles her feelings for Lucas again.

Bethany Joy Galeotti portrays Haley James Scott, Lucas' best friend, Nathan's wife and Jamie's mother. She is an extremely intelligent woman with high morals. She marries Nathan in Season One and they renew their vows in Season Three, while Season Four sees her give birth to her son, Jamie. In Season Five, as well as balancing roles as a wife and mother, she is an English teacher at Tree Hill High and is also seen to be planning a musical comeback. She is good friends with Peyton, Brooke, Skills, Mouth and Lindsey. In season five she tries very hard to help with a difficult student, Quentin. Haley had a fling with Chris Keller, angering Nathan but the two rekindled their love. Haley is not very good at sports, seeing as she almost failed gym in season one.

Sophia Bush portrays Brooke Davis,She used to be captain of the [[Cheerleader|cheerleading squad] For the Ravens]. She is Peyton's best friend throughout most of the series. Feisty and flirtatious, she dated Lucas twice but neither time their relationship works out. In Season Three, she creates a clothing line, "Clothes Over Bro's". In Season Five, Brooke has made Clothes Over Bro's a household name, but despite her success, she is unhappy in her personal life, so she and Peyton return to Tree Hill where Brooke turns a now-closed Karen's Café into a Clothes Over Bro's store. She then reveals her desire to have a baby and looks after Baby Angie, who is in the US for heart surgery. Brooke is devastated when the time comes for Angie to return to her home country.

Paul Johansson portrays Dan Scott, a once great basketball player, who is father to both Nathan and Lucas, although he never wanted anything to do with the latter. After his marriage to Deb crumbles and she and Nathan try to rid themselves of him, Dan's evil comes to the forefront. After Dan finds Deb sleeping with his brother, Keith, a war begins between the two brothers, culminating with Dan fatally shooting his brother in Season Three, believing that Keith had set his car dealership alight. After discovering that Deb was actually behind the fire, Dan tried to make amends by supporting Karen through her pregnancy and started to turn over a new leaf. However, after Lucas discovers he is Keith's murderer, he is placed in jail. Four years later, he is granted parole and tries to redeem himself to his family, because he is dying of HCM. In the season finale, he is knocked down by a car moments before his beeper goes off to inform him that he is ready for his heart transplant.

Barry Corbin portrays Coach Brian "Whitey" Durham, the Ravens coach for thirty-five years, retiring in Season Four. He and Dan never saw eye-to-eye and often bickered over their differing opinions on the team. Whitey often laments the death of his wife, Camilla, and the fact that he didn't spend more time with her while she was alive. He retires after the Ravens finally win him his much-coveted State Championship title in Season Four but later takes a coaching position in a college three hours away from Tree Hill, so that Nathan has the chance to play college basketball.

Craig Sheffer portrays Keith Scott, Dan's older, kinder, under-achieving brother. After Dan chose Deb over Karen, Keith helped Karen to raise Lucas (acting as a surrogate father to him) and fell in love with her but they only got together in Season Three. He had a recurring drink problem and an ongoing rivalry with his brother which involved him sleeping with Deb and Dan paying Jules to seduce Keith and then dump him to get back at Keith for this. When Dan mistook him for the one who tried to kill him in the dealership fire, he shot him after the siege at Tree Hill High, killing him instantly. Since his death, Karen has given birth to Keith's daughter, Lily. Keith has been haunting Dan as a teen and as an adult ghost, but later forgives him for what he has done. He has guided his nephews as a sort of Guardian angel throughout Season Four.

Moira Kelly portrays Karen Roe, Lucas' mother. Dan abandoned her after she became pregnant in High School and with a lot of help from Dan's brother (and in later years, Karen's lover and father of her second child) Keith, Karen raised Lucas alone. Karen is devastated by Keith's death in Season Three. In Season Four, she gets close to Dan again before learning that he was the one who killed Keith and has given birth to Keith's daughter, whom she names Lily Roe Scott. In Season Five, Karen is traveling the world with Lily and when she returns for Lucas' wedding, she is accompanied by Andy Hargrove.

Additional cast

Barbara Alyn Woods portrays Deb Scott, Dan's neurotic ex-wife and Nathan's mother. Married to Dan for seventeen years, she eventually divorces him in Season Three, her hatred of him driving her to attempt to kill him at one point. Deb battles a pill addiction in Season Two and again in Season Four, but overcomes it for good the second time. In Season Five, she returns after an unexplained absence to be Jamie's nanny and begins a surprising and secretive sexual relationship with Skills.

Lee Norris portrays Marvin "Mouth" McFadden, one of Lucas' oldest friends, originating from the River Court. He is somewhat unlucky in love, being the victim of Brooke's unrequited love in Season Two, being dumped by Erica when she becomes popular and falling for Rachel, only to get sidelined for the older Cooper. GiGi, his co-sports announcer, has also broken up with him after only seeing him for a few weeks and Shelly Simon runs out on him after he loses his virginity to her. In Season Five, he has a fling with his boss, Alice, before finally settling down with Millicent. Mouth becomes a sports commentator in Season Five, having commentated at the Ravens' games throughout High School but quits his job in the season finale.

Antwon Tanner portrays Antwon "Skills" Taylor, one of Lucas' oldest friends, originating from the River Court. He takes on a more prominent role in Season Four when he fills Lucas' vacancy on the Ravens. In Season Five, he becomes the assistant Head Coach of The Ravens basketball team and lives with Mouth, Junk and Fergie. He and his High School girlfriend Bevin Mirskey are no longer together in Season Five and Skills begins a sexual relationship with Deb after meeting each other online.

Danneel Harris portrays Rachel Gatina, who moves to Tree Hill in Season Three. After joining the cheerleading squad, she instantly clashes with Brooke as she pursues Lucas, although Brooke and Rachel later become friends. Rachel gets close to Mouth but sidelines him for Cooper, who dumps Rachel when he finds out she lied about her true age. After Nathan and Haley's wedding, Cooper and Rachel have an altercation in the limo which causes it to veer off the Molina Bridge and into the water. Nathan rescues Rachel and she develops a crush on him but backs off when she discovers that Haley is pregnant. Rachel takes the fall for a calculus exam she stole with Brooke and, to protect her new friend, is expelled from Tree Hill High. In Season Five, Rachel is a former employee of Brooke's and a heroin addict who takes an overdose after being fired by her friend. Brooke brings Rachel back to Tree Hill to help get her life back on track but Rachel leaves again, taking a load of Brooke's cash with her, after an encounter with Victoria.

Jackson Brundage portrays James "Jamie" Scott, the son of Nathan and Haley's, born at the end of Season Four. In the fifth season, he is four years old and the center of attention with his parents, godparents Lucas and Brooke, and the rest of his parents' friends. He is abducted by his former nanny Carrie in the show's one hundreth episode and after being rescued by Dan, Jamie becomes determined to get to know his grandfather, despite his parents' reservations.

Plot

Main article: List of One Tree Hill episodes

There were 22 episodes in Season One, 23 episodes in Season Two, 22 episodes in Season Three, 21 episodes in Season Four and 18 episodes in Season Five.

Sponsored plot elements

AT&T is prominently inserted into the show as a sponsor. Most of the characters on the show have AT&T Mobility (and earlier, Cingular) cell phones (note that AT&T does not offer local home telephone service in North Carolina). The company has given One Tree Hill fans the chance to make several choices about the shows plot. The first was whether or not Nathan and Taylor would kiss when they met at the 'Swinging Donkey' bar in Season Two; the fans chose for them not to. The second was what Nathan and Haley's second wedding song would be in the finale of Season Three; the fans chose "More Than Anyone" by Gavin DeGraw. The company also allowed the fans to choose which band would perform at the senior prom in Season Four; the fans chose Within Reason, a band from Birmingham, Alabama.

Sunkist is another sponsor which can be spotted at concerts in episodes such as "When it Isn't Like it Should Be" and "Just Watch the Fireworks", in the characters' fridges, and on the school's vending machines. It held a contest to choose which town the characters would visit in "It Gets the Worst at Night", and Honey Grove, Texas won.

In Episode 4.04: "Can't Stop This Thing We Started", Rachel took part in a Maxim photoshoot which mirrored a real life photoshoot for Danneel Harris, Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bush, in stores on October 14, 2006, where Danneel wore the same outfit as her character.

In Episode 4.07: "All These Things That I've Done", America's Next Top Model winner of a challenge, CariDee English got to play a small role as a model named Tia in a fashion show.

Macy's is currently running a competition to win a walk-on role on the show. The winner will get to spend time with the cast, see the show in production, attend a charity event and appear in one episode.

In Episode 5.17: "Hate is Safer Than Love", Mia, played by Kate Voegele agrees to take part in both Rock the Vote and a Starburst funded concert.

Black credits

Whenever an episode features sensitive or violent subjects, or when an episode's running length is close to the total allotted time, there are no opening credits but only One Tree Hill written on a black background. Since the beginning of Season Five, it continues with this intertitle on a black background.

Season One

Main article: One Tree Hill (season 1)

See also: List of One Tree Hill episodes § Season 1: 2003-2004

One Tree Hill commenced on September 23, 2003. The first season finale aired on May 11, 2004.

Tree Hill is a small town in North Carolina, home to the famous High School basketball team "The Tree Hill Ravens" and two half-brothers Lucas Scott (played by Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (played by James Lafferty). The two brothers have grown up in the same town, but have had little or no contact with each other due to the influence of their mutual father, Dan Scott (Paul Johansson).

Dan dated Lucas' mother Karen Roe (Moira Kelly) in High School but left her and his unborn child (Lucas) behind to go to college and pursue a basketball scholarship. In college, he met Nathan's mother Deb (Barbara Alyn Woods) who also became pregnant. Dan married Deb and provided her and Nathan with a stable home and rich lifestyle. In stark contrast, he never once tried to become a part of Lucas' life. Lucas was raised single-handedly by Karen, with help from his paternal uncle Keith (Craig Sheffer), the father figure in his life.

Nathan plays for the Ravens, just as Dan did in his High School days but Lucas is forced to confine his talent to the River Court, until an opening in the lineup gives Keith an idea; he recommends Lucas to the Ravens' Coach, Whitey Durham (Barry Corbin) who asks Lucas to play. This adds to the tension between Lucas and Nathan. Nathan, encouraged by Dan, tries to make life on the team difficult for Lucas, especially since Lucas has his eye on Nathan's girlfriend Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton). Peyton dumps Nathan when she tires of his attitude towards her, towards Lucas and towards the fact that Nathan is using Lucas’ best friend Haley James (Bethany Joy Lenz) to get at Lucas. To Nathan's surprise, he falls in love with Haley and she with him, although their relationship puts a strain on Lucas and Haley's friendship.

Lucas starts dating Peyton's best friend Brooke Davis (Sophia Bush) but his feelings for Peyton resurface and they end up being unfaithful to Brooke, who wants nothing more to do with either of them once she finds out. Brooke has a pregnancy scare later in the season, putting Lucas in Dan's position; Lucas understands for the first time why Dan did what he did and decides that he doesn't want to do the same thing so he offers to be there for Brooke and the baby, leading a guilty Brooke to confess that she lied about being pregnant to punish Lucas for cheating on her with Peyton. Peyton gets close to single father Jake Jagielski (guest star, Bryan Greenberg) and his baby, Jenny, but the return of Jenny's mother Nicki (guest star, Emmanuelle Vaugier) and her decision to battle Jake for sole custody of Jenny drives Jake out of Tree Hill and leaves Peyton on her own.

Karen leaves for culinary school in Italy for a few weeks and leaves Lucas in Keith's care. Lucas almost dies in a car accident caused by Keith's drinking. He also sustains a very serious shoulder injury and Karen's potential romance with Keith is destroyed as a result. Deb tires of the pressure Dan puts on Nathan and seeks a divorce from Dan, but things turn nasty and Nathan is caught in the middle of his warring parents. After learning that Deb once had an affair, Nathan emancipates himself and moves into his own apartment. Karen and Deb become friends and go into partnership together at Karen's café while Keith is forced to sell his Auto-Shop to Dan to pay Lucas' medical bills. Keith proposes to Karen but she turns him down so he decides to leave Tree Hill and move to Charleston saying that he has nothing left in Tree Hill anymore.

In the season finale, the Playoffs have arrived and with Whitey in hospital having eye surgery, Dan is now coaching the team. Lucas and Nathan form a united front against their father but end up losing the Playoffs and their season is over. Lucas decides to move to Charleston with Keith and he and Nathan part on good terms. It is clear that Nathan and Haley have planned to do something after the Playoffs but it's unclear what exactly, though it is implied she is ready to lose her virginity to him. Dan walks in on Keith and Deb sleeping together. The next morning, Dan has a heart attack. Brooke and Peyton reunite and concoct a plan to get rid of Nicki; Brooke tells Nicki that Jake took Jenny to Seattle (he actually took her to Savannah) and Nicki sets off, leaving Brooke and Peyton delighted. They vow never to let another guy come between them again. Karen gives her consent for Lucas to leave with Keith, but reminds him; "There is only one Tree Hill - and it's your home". Lucas comes to Nathan's apartment to say goodbye to Haley and it seems obvious to him that they slept together, which surprises him as she had said that she would not sleep with anyone until she was married. He confronts Haley about it and is astounded when she announces that she and Nathan got married the night before. Following this groundbreaking revelation, Lucas and Keith leave Tree Hill.

Season Two

Main article: One Tree Hill (season 2)

See also: List of One Tree Hill episodes § Season 2: 2004-2005

The second season consisted of 23 episodes and ran from September 21, 2004 to May 24, 2005.

After Lucas and Keith learn of Dan's heart attack, they return to Tree Hill and Dan decides he wants to get to know Lucas. Lucas cautiously enters into a relationship with his father. After Dan learns that Lucas has inherited his hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the genetic defect which caused Dan's own heart attack, he convinces Lucas to move in with him and pays for his medication, keeping his condition a secret. Dan also agrees to stay away from Keith and his girlfriend Jules (guest star, Maria Menounos) as Lucas discovers that Dan hired Jules to make Keith fall in love with her and then break his heart to get back at Keith for sleeping with Deb. Jules leaves Keith at the altar and he leaves Tree Hill with a broken heart.

Nathan and Haley receive a visit from Haley's wild older sister, Taylor James (guest star, Lindsey McKeon) who is revealed to have been the first girl Nathan ever slept with, long before he met Haley. To make things worse, the marriage is tested even further with the arrival of Chris Keller (guest star, Tyler Hilton), a musician who convinces Haley to leave Nathan and Tree Hill to come on tour with him. After that, Nathan crashes one of Cooper's race-cars, but a dream makes him realize that he has to get on with life without Haley and so he allows papers to be drawn up to annul their marriage.

Peyton starts an all-ages club named TRIC but at the same time, finds herself tempted to take drugs and enters a dark place in her life, which Jake helps her out of when he returns. Jake and Peyton fall in love and begin a relationship, but Jake is forced to leave Peyton and Tree Hill once again when Nicki kidnaps Jenny and disappears with her. Brooke begins the season by forming a "Friends With Benefits" arrangement with her new neighbour, Felix Taggarro (guest star, Michael Copon), but after her parents lose all their money, Brooke discovers an inner strength she never knew she had. She runs for Student Council President and is elected over her bitter opponent, Erica Marsh (guest star, Katherine Bailess). She dumps Felix after discovering he vandalized Peyton's locker and Felix is sent to Military School by his parents. Brooke gets close to Lucas and moves into his old bedroom after her parents move to California. It is rumored that the WB show producers needed to get rid of Michael Copon since the character he portrayed on the show turned out to be more successful then expected and they were afraid that Michael Copon was going to steal the spotlight from Chad Michael Murray if Michael Copon's character, Felix, was to have a permanant extended role on the show. Season 2 boasted the highest One Tree Hill viewer ratings in the shows history so far.

Lucas dates Felix's sister Anna (guest star, Daniella Alonso) but ends things with her after realizing that he loves Brooke. Anna's break-up with Lucas leaves her confused about her sexuality. After kissing Peyton in a misunderstanding, Anna starts coming to terms with the fact that she is bisexual. After coming out to her parents, Anna returns to her old Boarding School to be with her girlfriend.

Dan and Deb reconcile, united in their disapproval of Nathan's marriage. Lucas finds out Deb has developed an addiction to painkillers and after Nathan's car accident, she tries to overcome it by going to rehab, blaming her unhappy marriage to Dan for her addiction. Karen dates her business professor, the much younger Andy Hargrove (guest star, Kieren Hutchison), who makes an enemy out of Dan.

In the season finale, Andy is forced to return to New Zealand and look after his mother gets very ill Karen decides to go after him but is concerned that he hasn't checked into his hotel. Before Karen leaves Tree Hill, she thinks she sees Keith on the street opposite the café. Deb is discharged from rehab and learns that Dan tried to make Nathan feel guilty for her addiction. Deb tells Nathan that she wants them to make a fresh start away from Tree Hill and Lucas gives her the ledger of Dan's illegal business activities, which Andy uncovered. Dan blackmails Deb into giving the ledger back to him and disowns Lucas for betraying him. Nathan also disowns Lucas because he is angry with him for interfering in his family. Dan learns that Whitey has been telling Deb and Nathan a few home truths about him and threatens to have him fired. Lucas finally tells Brooke how he feels about her but she leaves for a summer in California without telling him how she herself feels. Peyton receives chilling instant-messages from someone named "WATCHMEWATCHU" and believes that it is the mysterious reporter, Ellie Harp (guest star, Sheryl Lee). Ellie comes to Peyton's house and shocks Peyton by telling her that she is her mother. Dan finds a white substance on the rim of a bottle left for him anonymously at the dealership and discovers he has been poisoned. Before Dan falls unconscious, a black-clad figure enters his office and sets it alight. Nathan moves back in with Deb but gets a surprise when he arrives home to find Haley on his doorstep. Lucas and Peyton find themselves alone on the beach together and realize that it's just the two of them this summer.

Season Three

Main article: One Tree Hill (season 3)

See also: List of One Tree Hill episodes § Season 3: 2005-2006

The third season consisted of 22 episodes and aired between October 5, 2005 and May 3, 2006.

Three months later, things pick up where they left off at the beginning of the summer. Lucas and Peyton spent their summer together and are hiding a secret from Brooke when she returns from California and proposes a non-exclusive relationship with Lucas. Brooke takes pity on a homeless Haley and takes her on as her roommate. Haley tries to win back Nathan, who has spent the summer at "High Flyers", a basketball camp, however Nathan isn't ready to trust Haley again. He pays Chris to come back to Tree Hill and help Haley with her music. Chris causes even more trouble this time round when he sleeps with Brooke, almost destroying her relationship with Lucas. Nathan and Haley get back together as do Lucas and Brooke. Nathan and Chris part on good terms as Chris leaves Tree Hill for good. Peyton struggles to deal with the revelation that she is adopted and that Ellie is her birth mother. She then learns Ellie has breast cancer and is terminally ill. They make a benefit album together called "Friends With Benefit" in aid of breast cancer research but Ellie dies shortly after the album is finished.

Everyone returns to Tree Hill High to begin their senior year and basketball practice starts up again. Whitey reveals to the Ravens that win or lose, this is his last season as coach while Lucas tries to conceal his HCM from Karen and Whitey, despite the serious impact it is having on his performance.

Dan survives the dealership fire and eventually realizes that Lucas rescued him. Dan decides to run for Mayor but gets a nasty shock when Karen announces that she is running against him. Dan bribes Deb to stay with him until he is named Mayor, however after Dan wins the election Deb flees Tree Hill when Lucas tells her that he knows she started the fire to try to kill Dan. Keith returns and Karen realizes how much she cares for him, thus resulting in the two dating, and eventually getting engaged. Dan is convinced that Keith tried to kill him and sets about plotting his revenge.

Newcomer Rachel Gatina (Danneel Harris) tries to come between Lucas and Brooke before setting her sights on Mouth McFadden (Lee Norris). Mouth falls for Rachel only to discover that she is seeing Nathan's uncle, Cooper Lee (guest star, Michael Trucco) who is oblivious to Rachel's true age, 17. Rachel opens the Time Capsule recorded in Season Two and exposes it to the whole school in an attempt to cause trouble, but neither Rachel nor anyone else is prepared for the damage it causes; after Lucas and Mouth's former friend, Jimmy Edwards (guest star, Colin Fickes), is bullied and tormented for voicing his contempt towards other students on the Time Capsule, he takes the school hostage with a gun. Peyton gets shot in the leg and kisses Lucas when he looks after her in the library, the kiss taking on a greater significance than either of them will admit. Dan allows Keith into the school, Keith being convinced he can get through to Edwards, however Edwards ends up taking his own life and when Dan finds Keith kneeling over Edwards' body, Dan picks up the gun and fatally shoots his brother, making everyone assume that Jimmy Edwards murdered Keith.

After Jimmy Edwards takes the school hostage and Keith dies, the gang decides to go to Rachel's cabin in the woods in order to get away from all the mayhem. In which they all re-evaluate their lives: Nathan proposes to Haley again and they move back in together. Brooke moves in with Peyton who has a brief relationship with Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy before going to find Jake and Jenny in Savannah. Lucas tells Karen and Whitey about his HCM results, then quits the Ravens. And Dan is haunted by visions of Keith as a child. Peyton asks Jake to marry her, but Jake realizes that Peyton is in love with Lucas and sends her back to Tree Hill to deal with her feelings for him. Peyton confesses to a shocked Brooke that she still loves Lucas.

In the season finale, Nathan and Haley renew their vows in a beautiful ceremony in front of their family and friends. Deb has returned to Tree Hill and when she discovers that Dan thinks Keith was responsible for the dealership fire, she sets the record straight and tells him that she tried to kill him. Dan realizes that he killed his brother for no reason and breaks down at Keith's grave. Later, Karen tells Dan that she is having Keith's baby and Dan promises Karen that he will be there for her this time. Brooke is not speaking to Peyton and when Lucas lets slip that he and Peyton kissed on the day of the school shooting, she is devastated and tells Peyton that as far as she is concerned, their friendship is over. Rachel is bitter over Cooper's rejection and drunkenly tells everyone at Nathan and Haley's wedding reception that Cooper slept with her even though he knew that she was only 17. Rachel takes off in the wedding limo with Cooper and his attempts to talk her round eventually work. As Lucas and Karen leave the reception, he finds a pregnancy test in someone's purse. Lucas asks his mother if she is pregnant and she tells him that she is - but that's not her purse. Rachel asks Cooper if there is anything that she can say to keep him. He solemnly tells her that there isn't, prompting Rachel to reveal something that causes a ferocious argument between them when Cooper refuses to believe her. Rachel grabs control of the wheel and after a near-collision with Nathan and Haley (en route to London for their honeymoon), the limo veers off the bridge and into the water. Against Haley's wishes, Nathan dives in to save them but ends up becoming trapped and stuck for air himself. And when Dan gets home he finds the word "MURDERER" smeared on his wall - someone knows what he did.

Season Four

Main article: One Tree Hill (season 4)

See also: List of One Tree Hill episodes § Season 4: 2006-2007

The fourth season consisted of 21 episodes and ran from September 27, 2006 to June 13, 2007.

As the end of High School approaches, everyone finds themselves at a crossroads in their lives. Nathan survives the accident and after some initial confusion, Haley is revealed to be pregnant while Rachel turns her attentions to Nathan after Cooper leaves town, using Nathan's theory that it was really Keith who saved him from the accident to get Nathan's attention. Rachel backs off when she learns that Haley is pregnant and Nathan later learns that he had a vision of Keith and it was this vision that gave him the strength to get out of the water.

Shortly after finishing her friendship with Peyton, Brooke also breaks up with Lucas and then moves in with Rachel. Rachel sets Brooke up on a date with an older guy, Nick Chavez (guest star, Reynaldo Valentin), who turns out to be Brooke's new teacher. After Brooke dumps Nick for cheating on her, Rachel informs Brooke that she is failing calculus and together, the two girls steal the calculus test from school but to cover their tracks, they are forced to join the "Clean Teens: Virgins for Life". Newcomer Chase Adams (guest star, Stephen Colletti) also joins the Clean Teens and he and Brooke begin dating while Rachel is expelled for taking the fall for the stolen calculus test, later leaving Tree Hill with Mouth, who returns alone after Rachel goes AWOL.

Skills Taylor (Antwon Tanner) becomes a Raven and Lucas is granted permission from Whitey to rejoin the team (as long as he keeps taking his heart medication and doesn't play for more than fifteen minutes per game). In the run-up to the State Championship, Nathan borrows money from a loan shark, Daunte Jones (guest star, Rick Fox), who tells Nathan that the only way he can repay his debt is by shaving points in the semi-final and then by losing the State Championship. When the Ravens actually end up winning, Daunte attempts to run over Nathan with his car but instead hits Haley and she is rushed to hospital along with Lucas, who had a heart attack because he didn't take his medication before the game. While Lucas is unconscious, he has a vision of Keith, who shows Lucas how he has changed so many lives for the better and also tries to help Lucas remember what he saw on the day of the school shooting. Lucas wakes up with serious doubts about who killed Keith. Meanwhile, Dan is in jail, covering for Nathan who beat Daunte to death in a rage for running Haley down. Daunte's autopsy results, however, show that he was killed in the car accident he had after hitting Haley, and not by the beating he was given so Dan is released and Nathan is overjoyed to learn that both Haley and the baby are going to be fine.

When Karen discovers that Dan was protecting Nathan all along, she starts to let Dan back in, realizing that he wants to be there for her and the baby. Deb, however, alienates everyone, including Karen, when her pill addiction resurfaces and she ends up overdosing. To keep Deb on the straight and narrow, Nathan and Haley move in with her and throw a party on the night before prom where Mouth loses his virginity to Clean Teen Shelly Simon (guest star, Elisabeth Harnois), who runs out on him afterwards, and a tape from Nathan's past shows him having sex with Brooke after him and Peyton had broken up. Chase breaks up with Brooke because of this, revealing the reason that he broke up with his ex-girlfriend was because she cheated on him with his best friend. Brooke's hopes of rekindling her friendship with Peyton are diminished as a result but when she learns that Peyton isn't coming to prom, she goes looking for her and finds her tied up in the basement by her stalker, Ian Banks (guest star, Matt Barr), who terrorized her earlier in the season by posing as the half-brother she never knew she had, Derek Sommers (guest star, Ernest Waddell) and by sending her instant-messages under the username of "WATCHMEWATCHU". The two girls defeat Ian together and restore their friendship in the process, moving into Nathan and Haley's old apartment together.

At prom, Lucas realizes that a student named Abby Brown (guest star, Allison Scagliotti) witnessed Keith's murder and he confronts her about it - she tells him that Dan was the one who killed Keith, however Karen (having kissed Dan) refuses to believe Lucas. Lucas steals Deb's gun and is about to shoot Dan when Karen collapses and is rushed to hospital with eclampsia. After an emergency C-section, Karen gives birth to a baby girl, Lily, though her own life hangs in the balance. Dan, meanwhile, turns himself in to the police.

Having finally gotten together, things are going well between Lucas and Peyton until she is offered an internship in Los Angeles. Chase and Brooke get back together and Brooke owns up to stealing the calculus test, though is still allowed to graduate while Nathan also owns up to his point-shaving; Duke retract their scholarship offer but Whitey is offered a coaching job at a nearby college and convinces Nathan to come with him as his star player. At graduation, Haley goes into labor during her valedictory speech.

In the season finale, Nathan and Haley become the proud parents of a baby boy named James Lucas Scott, choosing Lucas and Brooke as godparents, while Deb, in her role as the grandmother, seems to have finally found happiness. Chase and Brooke consummate their relationship while Rachel returns to Tree Hill and throws a party for everyone. Mouth does something he's always wanted to do and kisses Brooke, while also making his peace with Shelly. Karen takes Lily to Keith's grave and says they are going to visit him every day while Dan's attempt to hang himself in prison fails. Karen visits Dan (only to tell him that one day she'll have to explain to Lily that her father was killed by the brother he loved so much) but Lucas and Nathan both agree that they never want to see Dan again. Lucas reveals that he will be Whitey's Assistant Coach at college and supports Peyton as she and Brooke prepare to go to LA together. In the closing scene of the season, everyone heads to the River Court for a game of basketball; boys against the girls. The entire gang spray-paint their signatures on the river court around the words "We Were Here." Season Four ends much the same as Season One began, with Nathan and Lucas playing a one-on-one game.

Season Five

Main article: One Tree Hill (season 5)

See also: List of One Tree Hill episodes § Season 5: 2008

Season Five began airing on January 8, 2008 and concluded on May 19, 2008.

Four and a half years have passed since High School graduation. Lucas is now coaching the Ravens with the assistance of Skills and is in a relationship with his book editor, Lindsey Strauss (guest star, Michaela Mc Manus), who urges him to write a second novel that will match the success of his first. Nathan and Haley are raising their son Jamie (Jackson Brundage) in Tree Hill, where an accident four months previously left Nathan near-paralyzed and his basketball dreams diminished. Haley is a teacher at Tree Hill High while Mouth is an unemployed sportscaster looking for work. Brooke is undoubtedly the most successful of the group, having turned Clothes Over Bro's into a multi-million dollar company, which she is running from New York. Peyton is in Los Angeles working as "the assistant's assistant" at a record company. Feeling undervalued and disrespected, she quits and after talking on the phone, she and Brooke realize that they will never be as happy as they were in Tree Hill so they return home together.

In Tree Hill, Brooke opens a Clothes Over Bro's store in place of Karen's Café (Karen and Lily having left Tree Hill to travel the world) and buys a new house for herself and Peyton. Her company CEO is later revealed to be her over-controlling, cold-hearted mother Victoria, (guest-star Daphne Zuniga) who comes to Tree Hill and tries to get things back under her control, undermining Brooke and her friends. Brooke begins dating TRIC bartender Owen (guest star Joe Manganiello), and takes him to New York where they stumble upon Rachel who has taken an overdose in Brooke's apartment. After Victoria forced Brooke to fire her from her job as a Clothes Over Bro's model, Rachel's drug woes spiralled out of control. After Owen revives her and Brooke takes her back to Tree Hill, Rachel begins to get her life back on track, but Victoria lashes out at her and Rachel leaves for parts unknown with Brooke's money. When she learns that Victoria was responsible for Rachel's departure, Brooke fires her - both as her CEO and her mother.

Peyton starts her own record label, funded by Brooke, and finds her first artist Mia Catallano (guest star, Kate Voegele) in a group with a cocky lead singer named Jason (guest star, Kevin Federline) whom she fires over his attitude problem. Peyton soon turns Mia into a star and is then approached by Haley, who has decided to make a comeback in music. Meanwhile, Peyton also struggles with her feelings for Lucas, creating some animosity between her and Lindsey, who is revealed to have become Lucas' editor the day after he and Peyton broke up when she turned down his proposal three years earlier. After Lucas and Peyton inevitably kiss, he and Lindsey get engaged and Peyton tells Lucas that she will sacrifice her love for him to be a good friend, just as Keith did for Karen all those years ago. Peyton and Lindsey also bury the hatchet but Peyton finds it difficult to watch as Lucas and Lindsey prepare to marry.

Mouth finally finds himself a job in the archiving department at a local TV station. He begins an unexpected affair with his boss, Alice (guest star, Kelly Collins Lintz) which kick-starts his career but he begins to feel bad about it and starts dating Brooke's assistant Millicent Huxtable (guest star Lisa Goldstein), so Alice fires him. However, he manages to keep his job when at the last minute another office affair involving Alice is exposed, as she was sleeping with several other employees. He is given an on air position but loses it after refusing to air Lucas' blow-up. His relationship with Millicent goes from strength to strength when she moves in with him, Skills, Junk and Fergie. Tim and Bevin are revealed to have married and had a son, Nathan, together.

Nathan gets his life back on track, realising that he is at risk of losing Haley and Jamie if he continues drinking himself into oblivion. He becomes a mentor to Quentin Fields (guest star, Robbie Jones) a Raven and troublesome student of Haley's while Haley hires a nanny named Carrie (guest star, Torrey De Vitto) for Jamie, though Carrie is soon revealed to be psychotic - she tries to seduce Nathan and claim him and Jamie for herself. When Carrie climbs into the shower with Nathan, he does nothing to stop her, believing her to be Haley. When Haley catches them together, she throws them both out and after Jamie almost drowns while Nathan and Haley are arguing, Haley tells Nathan that she wants a divorce. After serving five years in prison for Keith's murder, Dan is released on parole.

In the show's one hundreth episode, Lucas and Lindsey's wedding day dawns. Karen and Lily return for the occasion with Andy, who has begun seeing Karen again. Haley confronts Lucas about the copy of his second novel, which he gave her to read - she believes it to be a story about his love for Peyton, though Lucas denies this. Dan shows up at the church but is turned away by Haley, who continues to give Nathan the cold shoulder as he dreams of a reconciliation. At the altar, Lucas makes his vows and Peyton is devastated as she watches on from the congregation, but as Lindsey is making her vows, she makes the same realisation as Haley - that Lucas' story is about his love for Peyton. Because of this, Lindsey leaves Lucas at the altar and Brooke later reveals to Peyton her desire to start a family. Before they can discuss this any further, Mouth and Millicent arrive with the news that Jamie has been abducted. After his earlier appearance, everyone believes Dan to have taken Jamie, though his captor is revealed to be Carrie, who is followed by Dan. He threatens to kill her if she ever comes near his family again and later returns Jamie to a relieved Nathan and Haley. Everyone is horrified when Dan shows up at the house, this being the first time many have seen him since he was convicted for Keith's murder five years previously.

Four weeks pass and after marriage counselling, Nathan and Haley reunite, hiring Deb to be Jamie's new nanny and bringing their family back together. Nathan decides he wants to make a comeback in basketball, while Peyton agrees to record an album with Haley and Deb and Skills sleep together after meeting online, unaware of who the other person was. Dan tries to become a part of Jamie's life, though Nathan, Haley and Deb forbid it, causing Dan to reveal that he is dying of HCM and wants to use the six months he has left to make amends with his family.

Brooke begins to work on having her own family, announcing that she wants to have a baby. Turned down for adoption, she is given temporary custody of Angie, a little girl from a foreign country who is in the US for special surgery, leading Owen to break up with her, using his good friend Chase, Brooke's Clean Teen ex, as the messenger. Through her struggles with being a mother and taking care of the baby, she gets closer to Lucas and is relieved that Angie's surgery is a success. Lucas convinces Lindsey to continue her work on editing his novel, hoping that this will bring them back together, though Lindsey insists to Lucas that she has moved on and is now seeing someone else. As a result, an enraged Lucas attacks a player at one of the games, getting himself suspended from coaching, before drowning his sorrows at TRIC and telling Peyton he hates her and she ruined his life.

In the season finale, Brooke is heartbroken when she must send Angie home and turns to Lucas for support. After a week of binge-drinking, Lucas decides he needs to make some important choices about his future while Peyton tries to deal with Lucas' revelation that he hates her. Lucas visits Peyton and tells her that this is not the case; its just difficult for him to see her again after all this time. Lindsey returns to give Lucas the finished copy of his novel and to say goodbye. She later leaves him a message, informing him that she is not seeing anyone and that she misses him everyday. With Millicent's support, Mouth quits his job and appears to be contemplating a transfer to Omaha. Skills and Deb continue their clandestine relationship while Nathan and Haley are pleased when Jamie overcomes his fear of going back in the pool after his near-drowning experience there. Dan contemplates killing Reverend Carter, the critically ill man who is ahead of him on the waiting list for a heart transplant, but later decides not to for Jamie's sake. Nature takes its course and the reverend passes away. Dan is overjoyed but is ironically knocked down by a car moments before his bleeper goes off to tell him he is ready for his transplant. Nathan and Haley both celebrate comebacks in their respective fields of basketball and music when he scores against Quentin and she records her new song while Peyton gets a cryptic phone call from Mia, who has met someone on tour that used to know Ellie. Peyton instructs Mia to get this man to call her. At the airport, Lucas makes a phone call. Brooke, Peyton and Lindsey simultaneously answer their phones and Lucas tells whichever girl is on the receiving end that he has two tickets to Las Vegas and invites her, to come with him tonight and get married.

Season Six

On March 3, 2008 The CW announced that One Tree Hill will be renewed for a sixth season. The new season will start airing on September 1, 2008 on Mondays at 9/8c following Gossip Girl. Whether or not the 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike affects production of season six remains to be seen. According to a network source, the CW has ordered 23 episodes of OTH for season six.

Ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of One Tree Hill on The WB and The CW.

Season	Timeslot	Season premiere	Season finale	TV seasons	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1st	Tuesday 9/8c	September 23 2003	May 11 2004	2003-2004	#173	3.5
2nd	Tuesday 9/8c	September 21 2004	May 24 2005	2004-2005	#117	4.3
3rd	Wednesday 8/7c	October 5 2005	May 3 2006	2005-2006	#139	2.8
4th	Wednesday 9/8c	September 27 2006	June 13 2007	2006-2007	#136	2.9
5th	Tuesday 8/7C (January 8) Tuesday 9/8C (January 8 - March 18) Monday 9/8C (April 14 - May 19)	January 8, 2008	May 19, 2008	2008	#184	3.3
6th	Monday 9/8c	September 1, 2008	Spring 2009	2008-2009

In its third season, The WB moved the show from Tuesday to Wednesday. After it was moved, the show suffered a ratings decline which many thought was due to the timeslot change. A landmark episode in the third season, "With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept", which featured two tragic deaths, aired on March 1, 2006, racking in a 2.5/4 rating, which was the highest rating for Season Three. The May 3, 2006 season finale pulled in a 2.3/4 rating with a 1.4 rating for adults 18-49, the show's biggest audience in that season with the exception of the episode on March 1.

With the announcement that The WB and UPN would be merging to create one network, The CW, rumors of cancellation soon surfaced. This was brought on by The CW executives stating that only the best shows from both networks would be back in the fall. The WB issued statements that they were 100% behind the show and that no cancellation was in the works.

The CW's schedule was officially released on Thursday, May 18, 2006, confirming One Tree Hill's place in the program line-up, where it still airs on Wednesdays, but at a later time of 9/8C. Filming started on July 20, 2006, and the Season Four premiere aired on Wednesday, September 27, 2006. The premiere earned a 2.5/4 rating, which equalled Season Three's highest rating. Season Four's ratings have benefited from having the hit show America's Next Top Model as a lead-in, especially against strong competition on other networks. The ninth episode in the fourth season, "Some You Give Away", which featured two main characters in a life-threatening cliffhanger, had an audience of 4.21 million, which was the highest rating since the 2004-2005 season.

The CW announced in March 2008 that One Tree Hill will return for a sixth season. In a press release issued in May, The CW said that The show will continue to air Monday nights at 9:00pm following Gossip Girl, and is expected to return on September 1, 2008.

DVD releases

Seasons One through Four of One Tree Hill have been released on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4. DVD releases typically include commentary by cast and crew members on a select number of episodes, deleted scenes, gag reels and some featurettes. Information on DVD release is available in each individual season article.

Complete season	Release dates
	Region 1 (United States)	Region 2 (United Kingdom)	Region 4 (Australia)
1st	January 25 2005	September 5 2005	February 1 2006
2nd	September 13 2005	April 10, 2006	September 6 2006
3rd	September 26 2006	October 23 2006	July 4 2007
4th	December 18 2007	April 7 2008	June 4 2008
5th	August 26 2008	October 6 2008	TBA

External links

• Official Website
• One Tree Hill at IMDb
• One Tree Hill at MySpace
• OneTreeHillConnected.org