I was a little embarrassed to write this post because well I’m writing about One Tree Hill, which kind of speaks for itself I think.  However, this blog is all about things that make me happy and I wouldn’t be honest with it or you if I didn’t come clean about how much I’ve been enjoying mainlining this show from Netflix streaming over the past few weeks. Linda Holmes, who writes NPR’s Monkeysee blog and hosts NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast has often taken issue with the term guilty pleasure because she says if something brings you pleasure then there is nothing to feel guilty about and she is absolutely right. Now only if I could live by that. I shouldn’t care what anyone else thinks about what I’m watching, reading, listening to, etc. If I like it, I like it. Not everything I enjoy has to be high brow and critically acclaimed.

So I admit it. Despite the fact that I am in my mid-thirties I am a sucker for cheesy teen drama television shows. It’s no secret if you read this blog that I love The Vampire Diaries, which is the one currently on tv teen drama that I watch. Right now I have also been obsessively watching One Tree Hill on Netflix streaming. When I came home from my Christmas trip sick and was just laying around the house for a number of days I decided to start a new show. For some reason I decided that One Tree Hill was going to be that show. It is not a good show by any stretch of the imagination. The plots are ridiculous and over the top and entirely unrealistic. I have also never watched a show that reused so many plot lines so quickly. And yet I really like the characters and their friendships. You know I’m a sucker for a love triangle, of which this show has had many. Plus it is also based on a trifecta of things that I like. It’s set in North Carolina, which is where I went to college and will always have a piece of my heart. Second basketball is a huge part of the show and the lives of the characters. Third, music is a huge part of the show, and you may have noticed that music means a whole lot to me.

Speaking of music, in the show the first few seasons of the show the band Jack’s Mannequin was featured heavily. I had actually seen them co-headline a concert the other summer with the band Guster, which is who my friend Alison and I actually went to see. I had never heard of them before the concert, but it was obvious that a lot of people were there to see them. Now I wonder if this show is where everyone knew them from.

The writers were smart in regards to writing a show about high schoolers. So many tv shows about high school wind up having major problems after a few years when the characters graduate. Even though the characters started the show as juniors, One Tree Hill dragged out the high school years for four seasons by having each season cover one semester instead of one year of high school. They also did something interesting in that instead of then trying to figure out how all the characters are going to stay together and shipping them all off to some college together, One Tree Hill just skipped those four years altogether. Season 5 started four years after high school graduation, which is interesting and is starting off the season I just started watching making it feel like somewhat of a different show.

I’m only about halfway through the series. I just started season 5 and the show ran for 9. We’ll see if I continue watching all the way through. I already know two of my favorite characters leave after season 6. That in addition to the fact that most shows that run that long tend to fall apart in a major way towards the end makes me think I might quit before it’s all over, but for now I’m enjoying the show and all its ridiculousness immensely.