Teen Drama Mamas on One Tree Hill
ABOUT THE EPISODE
This week's episode is really taking me back to my own late teen years as we are talking about One Tree Hill. I’ve found it so refreshing to learn a lot about the show that I didn't know, as a viewer in real time, and that I now see differently. I am sharing a little bit about my personal attachment to the show as I give a synopsis of it as well as some of the behind the scenes production and drama on the show, its present day relevance, the mom characters on the show, and some of the motherhood storylines I've been able to identify in each season. Then of course, we’ll wrap it up with my rating on the guilty pleasure scale. So get ready for some major nostalgia as we dig into one of my favorite shows!
TOPICS DISCUSSED
How being multi passionate and creative can lead to procrastination and guilt
My personal connection to One Tree Hill and why it’s been a guilty pleasure for her
The ways the One Tree Hill cast worked to overcome the history of sexual harrasment by showrunner Mark Schwahn
Why I connect most with the character Peyton and actor Hilarie Burton, even post One Tree Hill
A bit on Hilarie Burton’s memoir and her experience with infertility, abortion, and miscarriage
How the adult characters of One Tree Hill are just as impactful as the teens
The ways in which the women, the supporting characters of the show, are the strength of the series
Different motherhood storylines in the series from teen pregnancy, infertility, adoption and fostering, and parental abuse
Why I believe that Season Three of One Tree Hill is the strongest season in part due to the storyline between Peyton and her adoptive mother
Looking back on the school shooting episode in One Tree Hill through the lens of today
The clear differences in episodes that are directed by women rather than men
How the show’s last season misses the opportunity to show more honestly what it takes for mothers to have successful careers
RESOURCES MENTIONED
WRITING PROMPT
What were your perceptions of motherhood and pregnancy when you were a teenager? Where do you think those perceptions came from?
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Jackie Leonard 00:00
There is nothing quite like revisiting my teenage years to really activate nostalgia for me, if that makes sense. If I, you know, go through pictures from my teenage years, listen to music that I used to listen to as a teen watch something that I first watched as a teenager, I can almost revisit the same feelings in my body, the same memories that I had from those moments was such a sharp clarity. Maybe it's because, you know, as a child, our memories are a little fuzzier. But my teenage years, I can still tap into pretty easily. And so this week's episode, talking about One Tree Hill has brought up so much for me and reminded me of so many things. And yet, I also found it refreshing to to learn a lot about the show that I didn't know, as a viewer in real time, and that I now see differently. If you've never watched the show, One Tree Hill, I'm going to give you a crash course on the show, and share a little bit later about each of the seasons and some episodes that you might want to check out, either for the first time or in a rewatch after listening. So let's dive in. So to start off, what am I feeling guilty of this week? I mean, I sat down for a good while trying to pinpoint something that I could share with you. And I think the real answer for this week, is I feel guilty of a lot of things like everything. And maybe if I had to find a commonality with all of the things that have popped into my head, that I feel guilty about, it's just a lot of self criticism. Procrastination, laziness, you know, not sticking to one thing, having too many ideas and not following through on them, I just find myself really being critical of myself more than normal these days. And a lot of that just has to do with me feeling like I'm ineffective or just impatient with my progress, wanting to do a lot of things and just not finding the energy to do it. And there's the rational part of me that knows, you know, it's been a tough couple months, just emotionally, there's a lot going on in the world and just some stressors, more personally, that are just getting in my way that I have to acknowledge and just sit with. But just a frustration of feeling like anytime I have some momentum, I'm getting knocked off. That's a lot easier lately, and I don't necessarily have a some finality to that feeling. But I will just say that, I'm noticing that and that's, I guess what I'm guilty of this week. And you know, to be continued. We'll see where I am next week on that. So now that that's off my chest, we're going to talk about One Tree Hill this week, just ignore the present for the time being and go back in time all the way to 2003 when One Tree Hill first aired. So on the agenda for the episode, I will share a little bit about my personal attachment to the show. Give a synopsis of it. For those who are not familiar with it, share its origin story and some of the behind the scenes, production and drama on the show. Its present day relevance, the mom characters on the show, and I'll also give a breakdown of each season their nine seasons of One Tree Hill, and I'll share some of the motherhood storylines I've been able to identify in each season with some episodes to focus on and wrap it up with my rating on the guilty pleasure scale. So my experience with One Tree Hill as a viewer I shared a little earlier. It's a show that I watched in real time, from the time it first aired. I mean, I don't know if I watched the premiere episode when it aired live. But you know, you get what I'm saying. I watched it in high school as a teenager. I was a senior in high school when it first aired on the web. And I just really loved it.
Jackie Leonard 04:50
I loved the sort of seriousness of it. I was a Dawson's Creek fan so there was a lot about One Tree Hill that seemed to have some of the same sort of see seriousness, it wasn't just like kind of a sitcom teen show or a comedy. Probably I resonated with a lot of the angst of the show. But there were some there was some levity in some of the storylines. And I must have also enjoyed some of the sports storylines and the competition in the show. It just really got into it. It was just a really fun show to dive into and sink my teeth into I think, when I look back at the show, and what I felt the most attached to it about, I really love the character Peyton Sawyer, who was played by Hilary Burton. And I was familiar familiar with her because I grew up watching TRL on MTV, and she was a VJ on TRL. And so to see her go from that role, to an actress on the show, and a character that I really enjoyed her storylines, and probably identified with her in some way. Yeah, just really contributed to my attachments to this show. Also, just the way music was tied into the characters and the storylines. At a time when I started to really get into music and going to concerts, I think, also lended itself to my mini obsession with the show. To give you a sense of what kind of fan I was of the show they, they did some sort of collaboration with Sunkist, the soda and did this tour called the Friends with Benefits tour. And it was something that was weaved into the storyline. And then they actually had musicians tour and the actors on the show made appearances. During the tour. I went to one at Universal Studios in Hollywood, and got to, I guess, meet the characters or the actors. I think they signed some pamphlet that I have, I have to look through my pictures. And maybe if I find one, I can share it on social media when the episode airs. But But yeah, so I went to that. And I must have been like 20 years old, maybe 19. When I did that. And around that time, I think the web changed to the CW. And it's still the CW now. But when that happens, the CW no longer was offered in the cable plans where I was living at the time I lived in the Palm Springs area in California. And this was during a time before streaming. And so you had your cable plans, and it was not offered locally. So a friend and I at the time would drive like 45 minutes every Tuesday to her grandparents house to watch the new episode of One Tree Hill. And that's the kind of commitment that I had for this show. So I wanted to kind of set that up for you because as much as I loved the show, it definitely is not without criticism. And especially it is difficult to talk about it because it is a show that went on for nine seasons. And I would probably say that like maybe the first three or four seasons are worth watching. Or rewatching for me and I've tried in the past to rewatch the the later seasons and just can't it It jumped the shark many times if you're not familiar with the jump the shark expression, it's really just when a show just goes off the rails and just those ridiculous things. And I feel like when Trey Hill jumped the shark, like five to 10 plus times, there were there was a scene where a dog literally ate a donor hearts. We had cycle stalkers. And that narrow storyline was repeated at least two or three times. Time jumps which weren't that bad, but kind of were unrealistic. Really bad acting toward the end, especially
Jackie Leonard 09:15
child actors that were very hard to to watch, and just some really silly storylines, so I persevered and watched it loyally all the way to the end in 2012. But I have already shared that's like a fatal flaw of mine is once I get hooked on a show, it's really hard for me to stop watching. Even when it goes off the rails and gets really bad. There's only a few shows that I can remember that have been so bad for me, or I've been so kind of lukewarm on that I decided like I couldn't finish all the way through the end. The show Glee is one that comes to mind. And honestly the show runner Ryan Murphy is notorious with me for me not being able to say finish his shows after a couple of seasons. So that's that's one example. But there are very few. And One Tree Hill is not one of them because I watched every single episode dutifully, and regrettably sometimes, but I will say it is a show that has a special place in my heart and one that I have since learned, I'm not alone in I will get to this in just a minute, but it has definitely been an example of a guilty pleasure for me even when I was watching it as a teenager and a young adult, I always felt a little silly for being into the show, especially the to the extent that I was into it. And at the time, there was just a lot of news circulating online and you know, in the magazines that the show was not very highly rated. It was not popular. But you know, there's evidence to suggest now that whether I was you know, not getting the ratings, I think isn't as important but its fan base is just like solid and has endured and they are, you know, continuing their popularity into present day with streaming platforms. I believe it's on Hulu. Everybody is able to watch the entire series including new generations of teenagers. So what is One Tree Hill about anyways, so I'm going to read the show synopsis for you all. set in the fictional North Carolina coastal town of Tree Hill. The main storyline in the early seasons is the relationship between two half brothers Lucas and Nathan Scott who start out as enemies but bond as the show progresses. The show starts out with Lucas becoming a member of the Tree Hill ravens, the high school basketball team with the help of his uncle Keith Nathan already the head of the team is threatened by this and it becomes the basis of their rivalry, also fueled by Lucas's romantic interest in Nathan's girlfriend Peyton Sawyer. Later on Brooke Davis, Payton's best friend tries to date Lucas while Nathan attempts to date Lucas's best friend Haley James, the character of Lucas and Nathan's father, Dan Scott is occasionally explored throughout including his relationships with Karen row, Lucas's mother and Deb Scott Nathan's mother, and how he ended up with one woman rather than the other, thus abandoning Lucas as his son. The synopsis doesn't say this, but the the part that makes the storyline so compelling, uh, between the brothers is that Dan Scott was a, you know, high school star basketball player and got his high school girlfriend Karen pregnant. When they were seniors in high school, he wanted to go off to college to play basketball. And so he left Karen alone to you know, raise the child or do whatever she wanted with the pregnancy. And he went off to college because he had high aspirations to be a basketball star. That child ended up being Lucas, who was raised alone by Karen and never acknowledged by his father, Dan Scott, who in college shortly after getting Karen pregnant, got Deb pregnant in college married her. She had their son, Nathan Scott, both ended up at the same high school, both play basketball, and that becomes sort of the core drama of the beginning of the series. The creator of One Tree Hill is Mark Swan, he's pretty much known mostly for being the creator of One Tree Hill. He has some other noteworthy credits to include being
Jackie Leonard 13:47
the creator of the scripted series, The Royals, I believe he also was a writer on the movie Coach Carter, but not too many other things that ping my radar when I was looking through that, but Mark Chawan originally the story that became One Tree Hill, he wanted it to be a movie, a feature film. With the title ravens, ravens actually ended up being the mascot of the basketball team. But he was convinced I'm sure by some studio, that it would be more interesting as a TV series and that is, is what became One Tree Hill. His inspiration for the story, he says came from his own personal experiences. As for the setting of the show, Schwann went to school in a small town and played on a basketball team. He described himself as similar to the character of mouth McFadden, who is played by the actor LEE Norris, who was a very kind of familiar actor of that time. He was the boy who played Minkus on Boy Meets World If you were familiar with that show, and had other appearances on other series and shows before he came on One Tree Hill, and apparently that character of mouth McFadden is essentially Mark Schwann in high school.
Jackie Leonard 15:19
Schwann said that in designing the show, he created Lukas as the underdog kid from the wrong side of the tracks, who crosses over to the pretty and popular he wanted to show the life of such a person in a basketball context. Feeling that basketball was a great platform for telling stories. Before I dive in further, just a content guidance, I'm going to be sharing a little bit about sexual harassment with regard to the behind the scenes on the show. And then also in the story, lines of the series itself. There are different things that come up, such as school shootings, murders and deaths, pregnancy health scares. So I just want to give you a heads up before I dive deeper into those. Most of it is really just like a brief synopsis, but just wanted to give you all a heads up of that. So back to the the showrunner, creator voluntary hallmarks one I shared earlier that he also was affiliated with an EA scripted show the Royals, he was the series creator for that. And it's notably his last major project because on November 12 2007, teen TV writer Aubrey la Shope wrote on Twitter that she and her female writing partner were sexually harassed by Schwann while working on One Tree Hill. female cast members supported the allegations and Hilary Burton and Anil Harris alleged that they had also been sexually harassed by Schwann the male stars of One Tree Hill released their own statements supporting their female co stars and crew members. Schwann was also subsequently accused by cast members on the show the Royals 25 female cast and crew members of the show released their own open letter stating that they too had been subjected to sexual harassment by tshwane. Throughout the run of the show. In light of the allegations, Schwann was suspended and ultimately fired from the Royals. So everything I've been writing about One Tree Hill and sharing with you thus far is from the One Tree Hill Wikipedia page. I'll link that in the show notes. But the day after that Twitter post on November 12 avariety, published an exclusive on their website that was titled One Tree Hill cast crew accuse showrunner Mark swan of sexual harassment and it was an exclusive expose as story on Mark Swan revealing further details. So in their open letter 18 women on the show said the following. Many of us were to varying degrees manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post traumatic stress. Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back sometimes physically because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors They were supposed to be. Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply unsettling, to traumatizing to downright illegal. And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe, more than one woman on our show had her career trajectory threatened that thru line and all of this was and still is our unwavering support and faith in one another, we confide in each other we set up safe spaces to talk about his behavior and how to handle it to our new women who joined our ranks. We understood that a lot of it was orchestrated in ways that it was kept out of sight for the studio back home. We also understood that no one was fully unaware of the lack of action that has been routine, the turning of the other cheek is intolerable. We collectively want to echo the calls of women everywhere that vehemently demand change in all industries. Many of us were told during filming that coming forward to talk about this culture would result in our show being canceled, and hundreds of lovely, qualified, hardworking and talented people losing their jobs. This is not an appropriate amount of pressure to put on young girls. Many of us since have stayed silent publicly, but had very open channels of communication in our friend group in Andhra in our industry, because we want Tree Hill to remain the place where everything's better and everything safe for our fans. Some who have said that the show quite literally saved their lives. But the reality is no space is safe when it has an underlying and and infectious cancer. We have worked at taking our power back making the conventions our own and relishing in the good memories. But there is more work to be done. We are all deeply grateful for Audrey's courage for one another and for every male classmate and crew member who has reached out to a group of women to offer their support these last few days. They echo the greater rallying cry that must lead us to change believe women. We are all in this together. As I said this came out in 2017 and something that I really appreciated about the statement and just what I've seen since that 2017
Jackie Leonard 20:07
Expose day is the cast and actors from the show, really taking back their show experience and not allowing it to sync with the creator of the show and the negative toxic culture that he perpetuated. And that's, you know, they say that in their statement, basically, that the conventions that you know, the fans really appreciate that are still going on, we're going to continue those without this person, were going to, you know, still be the face for this show. And in 2001, the three core actresses from the show, Hilary Burton, Sophia Bush, and joy lens, all announced that they were creating and launching a podcast called The drama queens podcast, which would essentially be a recap, podcast show, going back and rewatching all the episodes, it's been really, for me to be a listener of that podcast has been really illuminating and enjoyable, because and I think they share this in an interview I read about that the show, I don't even go back and re watch the episodes. It's been fun just to listen to them share stories, and then also be honest and open about some of the bad sides that they remember and the things that they feel comfortable sharing with regard to the way they retreated. So, you know, just some of the things I remember them sharing. Listening, my memory is that Mark Schwann wood. In his office, he kept pictures of all the actresses who had pictures taken of them for wardrobe, often in their bras or just disrobed for different reasons or wearing, you know, minimal clothing, he would tack those up on his wall and kept them there. The actress Hilarie Burton was especially kind of somebody that he became obsessed with at different times and made some physical unwanted advances on her, she ended up leaving the show because she just mentally for her mental health, just like could not be on there anymore. She realized, you know, that it was wearing on her and it was just something she needed to get away from. And she exited the show. And didn't look back, you know, she was just so ready to leave. But something that's really been helpful listening to the show is remembering how young they were when they first started and how they were relatively inexperienced actors very young, and put into this very toxic male dominated environments in a bubble they filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, so they weren't even really, in, you know, la not that that was necessarily a better culture for them. But they were very much in a bubble very much isolated in the small towns. So they, many of them who are not from that area, had nowhere to really go for support, and were afraid and often threatened that their careers would suffer as a result. So if you are a fan of One Tree Hill, or the actors who are the podcast hosts, I highly recommend it there. They also have just a great friendship that has endured throughout this. And I think their friendship actually grew stronger after the show, they are very candid about often feeling intimidated by one another pitted against one another. And that was difficult for them because it honestly kept them from really sharing their experiences as they were happening. It was something that they were able to do later as they got older and were removed from that environment that they were able to kind of put some things together that at the time felt like they were alone. And they also have guests on the show who affirm a lot of that and just share some really interesting things about the behind the scenes, but then also about the show and it's it's been enjoyable, or I don't even know if enjoyable is the right word, but I really appreciate them. Now women in their lives, they're in their late 30s. So not too much older than me, but they felt so much older when I watched the show.
Jackie Leonard 24:29
Kind of going back to the early 2000s and talking about their experiences as young adults in that industry and just in our culture, how women are treated some of the storylines. They are just very honest. They don't some of the other rewatch podcasts that I've listened to feel like they're trying to, you know, be be overly positive about the experiences. They don't want to offend anybody. And maybe it's because they've publicly outed Mark tshwane at this point, they don't really hold back in the same Maya, but I feel like that honesty, they're critical of some of the storylines there. They they know what hasn't aged well, they are honest about, you know, when they would push back on storylines on the show, or when they felt like things in the show were written to mirror personal experiences that the writers were, you know, kind of witnessing. They also notes when they fought for something that ended up on the show, and they also are still positive about it. So it's like just a very nuanced critical take on the series that I appreciate with that, like insider perspective. I shared earlier that Hillary Burton was probably part of the reason why I gravitated to the show so, so quickly, because she was somebody that was familiar to me from earlier years watching her on TRL. And in researching the show, and revisiting some of the history of it, I realized that she still is probably the actor that I'm the most interested in and that I enjoy. She's like somebody who I met in real life, I feel like she'd be really fun to hang out with. So it made me happy to see that she's also just been a real, vocal, honest, candid person regarding her experiences as a mother. A lot of that comes straight from a book she wrote recently. The book is the rural diaries. I can't even say that rural rural, are you Ral diaries, love livestock and big life lessons down on mischief farm and it came out in 2020. I guess it's a memoir. I haven't read it yet. But I did read a number of excerpts from it regarding motherhood and she just, she speaks very openly and honestly about her experiences with infertility and miscarriage. She suffered, I believe three miscarriages. But prior to that, if you don't know Hillary Burton is married to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who he's an actor as well. He's very kind of familiar for a few movies and shows that he's been on. He played Danny on Grey's Anatomy. He's Negan on The Walking Dead. And he was in the movie. PS I love you. Those are what I knew him from. But he's been in quite a number of different things as well. But anyways, shortly after Hillary Burton left the show One Tree Hill, she actually met Jeffrey Dean Morgan. And they had a pretty whirlwind romance. They're still married. They have two children now. And at the time after she had their first child she described just struggling with being a new mom. She said, I went from being the fun girl out singing karaoke and lead on a show to stay at home mother in an area without friends or family. I was completely alone and in that quiet had to learn to like myself. Something I read that I found just really striking. And that resonated for me. What from her memoir was her talking about her miscarriage experience. And she says in the book if people weren't giving me dead baby gifts, they wanted to tell me that baby stories. There's nothing more frustrating than someone saying, well, welcome to The Club. I've had 12 miscarriages, it seemed like there was an unspoken competition between members of this bucked up sorority, I quickly realized this is a much bigger club than I knew, and that everyone has stories and advice. And as much as I appreciated it, I had to find my own way. She later goes on also to describe her experience compared to her husband's experience and how differed so greatly that they really struggled. They did not feel like it brought them closer, it actually pushed them further apart. And she really beautifully describes when they finally came together and were able to talk about it. But
Jackie Leonard 29:03
she even shares that a lot of what she was reading on social media from people who shared about miscarriages was that the person and their partners grew a better bond and she felt very alone and that her and her husband had the opposite experience. And so I thought she really wrote that was such a in such a tender way. And it made me want to read the rest of her book. So that's on my list. Definitely. And most recently, Hilary Burton came forward and shared a social media post talking about her experience with abortion and infertility and how they were related. She shared it's no secret I struggled with infertility losing multiple pregnancies before her was traumatic, but female bodies are all different and unpredictable. Having an abortion after my fetus died allowed for my uterus to heal in a way that made it healthy enough to carry future pregnancies. It doesn't matter if you use the term DNC The official word on the hospital paperwork is abortion. That's what it was. You know what would have made that painful day even worse, if abortion had been illegal and law enforcement inspected my body to make sure I hadn't caused my own miscarriage, because that's what's coming. It's already happened. It was commonplace before Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade protected my rights as a woman to have miscarriages without scrutiny. Now, I know a lot of you have miscarried, you've written me to tell me about it. Think about every loss and then compound it by knowing that the Supreme Court just said it's okay for states to look at you as a murder suspect in that situation. Your miscarriage will make you a murder suspect. I can't say that clearly enough, or shout it loud enough. I only have my daughter because of my abortion. So fuck you very much to the Supreme Court, and fuck you to the ignorant right wing extremists who want my daughter to have fewer rights than I was born with. That was a social media post she wrote about a week ago. And so yeah, so if any of Hillary Burton, what I shared with you about her resonates can check her out. Like I said, she has a memoir, and I believe she's continuing to write more. So in addition to being a podcast host and all of those things, she's also diving into writing more seriously. She's also producing I don't know if it's a web series or a TV series or another podcast, but she's gotten into some true crime reporting. And she she does a lot of like local advocacy work and and just a lot of just how she's lived her life I really respect so that's Hillary burden. I've also grown to really respect and enjoy Sophia Bush. If you've seen some of my recent photoshoot pictures for Mother's scope, she was actually like an inspo for the style of the photos, specifically the blazer pantsuit and she's a big fan of pantsuit. So anyway, that's my Sofia bus connection she plays Brooke Davis on the show. I didn't really like her as a teenager watching the show her or her character specifically because like I said at Payton was my character and Sophia Bush's character Brooke was the like, other end of the love triangle of course. And so, you know, naturally picked one over the other but as an adult now and just watching her career and what she does, outside of her acting career as an advocate, she also has another podcast called work in progress and from what I've gleaned about it she has you know conversations with people who inspire her and has had some really like big guests on that show that she's talked to so that's another one I recommend you check out
Jackie Leonard 32:54
so that's all the you know behind the scenes present day relevance with regard to One Tree Hill now let's get into the moms on the show the characters in One Tree Hill so obviously I've shared the show was a teen drama and for the most part the focus of the show was on these teen characters but in ways that I don't feel like other teen dramas did the adults on One Tree Hill were pretty core to the storylines, especially because the father figure Dan Scott was kind of the the source for a lot of conflict and tension. He was obviously the father who abandoned one child and was well I'll share a little more later it was pretty abusive to honestly everyone but what to his son Nathan, who grew up with him and then later just goes on to be a full fledge villain in ways that were a while done and other ways that were just ridiculous. But Dan Scott was the villain character on the show. And that brought in a lot of the conflict with other adults to include the the moms on the show his wife, his brother, who was one of the teens uncle's, two of the teens ankles. So a lot of the adults, as I was saying became part of the show in ways that you are normally expecting to see on a teen focus series. All three actors who are the podcast hosts their characters all became moms. So Haley James became a mother Early on she was a mother as a teenager, which I'll share a little bit later. Peyton Sawyer also has a child by it before she leaves the show. Brooke Davis has children on the show she gives birth at the end but she also has a foster mom to two children before that. She also undergoes miscarriage and infertility problems Karen row is a mother on the show, too. One of the main characters Lucas Scott. Deb Scott is Nathan's mother. Ellie harp is Peyton's lawyers birth mother, Anna Sawyer is Peyton Sawyer is adopted parent Victoria Davis is Brooke Davis, his mother and Lydia James is Haley James. Lydia is also mom to five other children as well. But Haley is is the primary character on the show. And looking at the nine seasons on the show, and after reading the synopsis, I think it's safe to say that the protagonist of One Tree Hill is Lucas Scott, the actor Chad Michael Murray played at Lucas Scott, he leaves the show when Hilary Burton left the show, I believe in the seventh or before the seventh season. So obviously, the show sort of reinvents itself after that. But for those six seasons that he's on the show, he really is the protagonist, he's often narrating the beginning and the end of each episode. And so we really get the story through his eyes in a lot of ways. This probably goes without saying, but motherhood isn't really a focus of this show. And a lot of this show is really about masculinity, and the relationship dynamics between brothers. So that was the the inspiration or the intention of the show what I've found to be interesting, and I think the, the women on the podcast, the drama queens podcast point out is the girls on the show the the women, the characters, who were meant to be supporting characters really kind of overshadow the the male conflict and the drama, in a lot of ways, and are the strength of the series. And I think that they are the ones who the fans really gravitated toward. I don't think that was like the intended consequence. I think the actresses just were really strong and connected with their audiences. And
Jackie Leonard 37:16
so I just feel like that's worth noting, even though so much of the story was very much created to address you know, the male experience, masculinity and sensitivity and all of those things are our big focuses on the show. But surprisingly, maybe we do get a lot of motherhood storylines, whether they were done well or not. Here's another story. But I'm going to basically run down each season, some of the kind of core mom centered storylines per season. So in season one, the two things that I felt like were really noteworthy. Were one I shared earlier, Lucas's mom, Karen, raised him by herself. Essentially, she was a single mom right out of high school. And we learned that Dan's Brother Keith, who is Lucas's Uncle, did help Karen Reyes Lucas in a lot of ways, but essentially, Karen was on her own. And she went from, you know, being a teen mom, right out of high school, to eventually becoming a businesswoman. She opened her own cafe in town. And that cafe becomes kind of like a focus in the show a place where people go and work. It's called Karen's cafe. And in season one, episode eight, Karen gets accepted to go to cooking school in, I believe, Florence, Italy. And she really struggles with the decision to go because she has a teenage son, and she's never done anything for herself. And all those years, I think by this point, Lucas is like 1516 years old. So she has essentially put her life aside for all that time to raise her son and she's excited about the idea of going but also just very much feels guilty or unsure if that's the right move. And Kate, Keith gives her permission and says, you know, you should go do this and other people as well support that decision, including her son, and she decides to go to this cooking school. And, you know, obviously something bad happens while she's gone, which is like, Oh no, like this is not the right message to send to moms that if you go off and do something for yourself, your son's gonna get in a horrible car accident but such as is TV drama. So I found that storyline to be really interesting to watch now as a mom that I probably didn't care about very much when I watched it as a teen. But there is another storyline as well and Susan one on Episode 19, the title of this episode is how can you be sure. And that episode really explores teen pregnancy scare. And as you know, Karen also was a teen who was pregnant and she has to revisit that experience when her son Lucas and his girlfriend at the time, Brooke, have a pregnancy scare. And actually at this time, Brooke is not with Lucas. She's broken up with him because he kissed her best friend Peyton. But she has this pregnancy scare. She goes to him and tells him and Lucas's probably for the first time revealed to actually seem like a teenage boy. And all the prior episodes, you saw Lucas a lot like this very mature for his age. Well read boy who's kind of broody. But when he thinks he might have gotten this girl pregnant, he is terrified. And he wants his mom. I was really disappointed in this episode a little bit because in in the show, he tells his mom about you know that he might have gotten this girl pregnant, and she is so upset by it that she slaps him. And
Jackie Leonard 41:16
the amount of times that mothers slap their children on TV, I've realized is a lot. And it's surprising to me. And not necessarily surprising that it happens but surprising that it's kind of not seen as a big deal. Like the mother will slap the child and as an audience were kind of made to feel like it's justified or just like a natural reaction to something versus some form of abuse that should be addressed. But that that always just gets glossed over as like an emotional reaction that's appropriate. But anyway, I believe that episode resolves, essentially, with finding out that Brooke knew very early on that she wasn't pregnant and kind of dragged it out a little longer to have Lucas be afraid because she was upset with him. And, you know, there's no pregnancy. Season Two of the show. Again, with Karen, she actually decides to go back to school to college, I believe, to get some sort of business degree. As a business owner, she wants to learn more. And so alongside that, you get an older woman. I mean, she's probably in her 30s Because she had her teenage son, right out of high school, so early 30s At this point, but she does feel older than most of the students at this community college, she ends up dating her professor. So we also get a storyline in there about her dating again, which we're kind of made to assume that she hasn't dated anyone since Lucas's father in high school. Another noteworthy storyline in season one is there's a teen dad in the show, who we find out was hiding his child for a little bit. In this show. He's a secondary character on the basketball team named Jake played by Bryan Greenberg, who had a child with a woman who is older than him, which is a little problematic also, but the woman basically abandoned the baby left him to raise their daughter alone. And she later returns in the show as kind of a villain and is really represented horribly as like this big son who's just trying to hook up with everybody and doesn't want to be a mom but wants to take the baby away to punish Jake for not taking her back, instead of sort of representing a more nuanced character who had a baby in college with a high school aged boy and the, you know, just juvenile behavior that follows as a result of having to grow up too soon. But at the time, it did feel like a surprising choice to have a boy in high school being the one who has to raise a child especially as like a foil or a parallel to the main backstory that we know of where Karen had to raise Lucas right out of high school alone. Jake and Nicky story comes up later in season two, but it's it's really more dominant in season one.
Jackie Leonard 42:51
And season two, we also get some storylines with Deb, who is Nathan's mother, the wife of Dan Scott, she is revealed to have a pill problem, a problem abusing prescribed medication. And also just we see more and more that she has been in an abusive relationship with Dan Scott, who has manipulated her and emotionally abused her and is a narcissist and just forcing her to stay in a relationship that she has been trying to get out of, and threatens her a lot of times with information that he has over her, threatens to take away their son. And we see kind of her spiral as a result of just all these years of abuse that she's had to endure. And so that's is the motherhood that we see a lot in season two. I do want to note for season two that episode four and episode 21 were the first two episodes so far that were directed and written by women. So there might have been an episode or two that had a director that was a woman or writer there was a woman but those two had both. And throughout the series, that doesn't happen too often. I think there were like 188 episodes and like maybe a handful were written and directed by women. And season three the the core motherhood storyline that we get is that Payton learns that she was adopted and so she she finds out because her birth mother shows up at her door and throughout that season Peyton storyline really is heavy on her struggling really with, you know, to have a relationship with this person, and also just being lied to she felt lied to by her parents, her adopted mother, prior to the start of the show had died in a car accident we learn and so this is an opportunity for her to have a mother figure in her life again, but she feels conflicted because she naturally doesn't want to replace her adoptive mother but she is also feeling betrayed by her adoptive mother. And to further complicate that, later in the season, we learned that Ellie has cancer is terminal and she passes away before the end of the season. I would say in a lot of ways, season three is one tree Hill's strongest season. There are some things about that season that are a little like, overdone. But the LA storyline with Peyton is really strong. While I think it could have maybe been handled a little differently, there is a school shooting episode in Season Three, that at the time felt like a brave storyline, I don't think there was anything to mirror what was going on in real time, in light of mass shootings starting to take place on school campuses. And so to see a teen drama address, something that was very real in the lives of teenagers at that time, I felt like I appreciated. At the same time, there are some things especially now looking back on where there's just a ton of sympathy extended to the shooter. That's now I'm kind of like knowing what we know now about people who engage in these mass shootings is a little hard to swallow. And there's just some like drama that was created around the shooting that felt like it used a school shooting to create like this added tension in a salacious way, instead of simply as like a teachable moment, but I could see how it had a little bit of both. And in this shooting episode, the shooter did not actually kill anybody. So, you know, it's a little easier to swallow than maybe if it was done a little differently. But I did think that at the time, and at the age that I was I remember appreciating it for addressing something that was very real in our lives and continues to be something I think the show does well as it really does not let go of like the consequences of our actions like you see how something will happen that causes a ripple effect that extend to people that you didn't even know would be affected, and they do a good job of something that happens. In one episode. eight episodes later, you see the ramifications of that choice or that decision. And so prior to the school shooting, and in the episodes and season that follow us see what led up to it and the impact of it for all characters. Season Four deals with Deb Scott's drug addiction. So it returns she ends up feeling really guilty for her part in you know what she believes to be her guilt around what happened with the school shooting. But really the big focus of season two with regard to motherhood is that Haley, who at this point has married Nathan Scott, so I haven't shared this yet, but and at the end of season one, and into season two, Haley and Nathan Scott end up getting married. I think at the time, they're 16 years old, when they get married. They get concerns from Haley's parents, and at this point, Nathan has emancipated from his parents and so they get married and they are a married couple for a couple of years as high schoolers. And Susan for Haley finds out she's pregnant. And so her pregnancy is part of you no storylines throughout that season. And she gives birth to her son shortly after giving her high school valedictorian speech, her water breaks right after and she goes off to the hospital. Karen Lucas's mom is also pregnant throughout the season, and she and Haley give birth to their children, I believe in the same episode on the same day. So naturally, what we see with with most pregnancies on TV, both pregnancies and births are a little traumatic, and we don't know if they're going to make it on the other end. And they both give birth to their children by the end of season four. So something really noteworthy about One Tree Hill is they avoided that awkward college phase by basically jumping ahead a little over four years after they graduated high school. So between season four and five, you have a time jump of about four years and Season Five kicks off with them after they graduated college and are now in their careers. That kind of hilarious thing looking back on that now is that At these characters have very well established successful careers right out of college at like 22 years old, essentially. Some of them didn't even have to go to college or are essentially like established in their careers at the time jump. So not not the most realistic, but they are at least adults out of college in season five. And this season, the most compelling motherhood storylines exists between Brooke and her mom Victoria. So up until this point, we haven't really seen Brookes mom. And we just kind of know that her mom, both her parents really are kind of absent, they don't really pay attention to her. They're very busy in their careers, and they're often not home. So in season five were actually introduced to her for the first time and really get a sense for their dynamic and they just have a lot of problems mainly around the fact that Victoria doesn't really show love to Brooke in a in an unconditional way. It's very conditional. And it's also conditional on Brooke success. They're both now business partners and Brooks fashion line. Brookes fashion line actually is a big part of earlier seasons, but we see as an adult that she's become very successful in her fashion line, but a lot of that is due to help from her mother. And some codependency we see a lot of Brooke wanting to keep her mom around because that's the only way that her mom will show her affection and attention. And I found that storyline to be really compelling. Episode Four in season five is directed and written by women. In season six. Lucas and Peyton have finally gotten married. And Peyton is pregnant. So we get Payton's pregnancy. I think we learned that in season five, but her pregnancy is a bigger part of the storyline in season six. Payton's pregnancy and the season is found out to be a complicated pregnancy. I can't remember the condition but essentially, she is told if she continues with the pregnancy, she may die during childbirth. And she fights with Lucas about wanting to continue being pregnant and having this child. She has a very scary labor but ultimately survives. And this is Hillary Burton's last episode. So it kind of ends with her having the baby and her and Lucas right off into the sunset with their baby. The other storyline of no in this episode actually is with Brooke, she gets some sort of healing or closure with her her mom Victoria, where Victoria finally admits to some things that she did wrong and apologizes for them. And I believe gives Brooke her company back. So she can focus on just being her mom, which, like I said, is just a healing, closure of their, you know some of their earlier issues. And season six. I forgot to mention earlier. But another kind of big storyline in season six is that Brooke decides to foster children first. It's with a teenage girl Sam and later she fosters a baby. Neither she has for too long. But those are kind of big, big arcs in her in her storyline and reveal that she very much wants to be a mother and has this maternal side that we see come out in different ways, which parallels or at least is an interesting kind of thing to see alongside her struggling with her own mother and working through some old wounds that she has with her own mother, which she seems to resolve in some ways. By the end of the season. Episode 21 and Season Six is directed and written by women. In season seven, the core storyline regarding motherhood involves Haley who has her mom return on the show she her mom also was not around very much leading up to the season, but she was kind of noted to be a more present mom, but just they had a lot of kids in the house. And once Haley, their youngest got married, Haley's parents decided to basically travel around the country. So we didn't see her mom or her father in season 10. We learned that Haley's father has passed away prior to that and her mother returns and lets Haley and her sisters know that she has terminal cancer. So the season really kind of focuses on Haley spending time with her mother and dealing with this cancer diagnosis and then After the fact her mother's death, we continue to get storylines after her mother's death, dealing with Haley suffering from depression and grieving the loss of her mother.
Jackie Leonard 55:13
I did read a little bit of the synopsises around these episodes and recall, kind of everybody treating Haley like there was something really wrong with her like she was too depressed. And I find that interesting now with the context that I have around grief and how it manifests. It just seemed like that became a, again, a storyline that they wanted to have been a source of conflict for Haley, but was maybe a little irresponsibly handled because it wasn't really us to show her how grief manifests and reveal, you know, the, the stages of grief in a way that people can understand and apply to their own lives, and instead was like, What's wrong with Haley why she was so depressed, we're worried about her. So one of the most noteworthy things about season seven is in the episode that was directed by and written by women, Episode 16. It's the only episode I feel like makes sense why they would have brought in women to write and direct the episode. This is the episode where Haley's mom comes to town and tells her daughters that she has terminal cancer, and is not pursuing treatment. I did actually rewatch that episode, it's one of the only ones that I sat on and rewatched entirely to prepare for this this episode. And, you know, I think it you could tell that it was handled with some intention. And that Haley's mom and the reactions of the women on the show to different events do feel less dramatized and more true to life, if that makes sense. So that could be a positive consequence of having women write and direct an episode. In Season Eight, Haley learns that she is pregnant with her second child, I believe in season seven, a little bit. But mostly in season eight, Haley starts to pursue her music career again. So we see a mom of a young child and who does become pregnant, trying to return to her passions and struggling with that, but then powering through or pushing through those challenges. As I'm saying it aloud in the last couple of seasons, we see the core character is taking on these mentorship roles and kind of propping up younger talent in their respective fields, which is a little hard to swallow knowing that these characters are in their early to mid 30s, and are essentially like, Alright, my time, you know, I've passed my prime, but I will help make other people successful and all that. So in season eight, we also get Brooke, finding out that she cannot have children. I can't remember and I didn't read the specifics for why she is told she cannot get pregnant, but She's devastated by that news and pursues adoption. In the same episode where Haley gives birth to her daughter Brookes adoption essentially falls through she had matched with a person who wanted to give their child up for adoption and was pregnant. As Haley is giving birth. That woman goes into labor gives birth but decides to keep her child and so Brooke is devastated obviously, again, at this season has another time jump I believe or, you know, just seems like time jumps around a lot in that season. Because two episodes later Brooke finds out she's magically pregnant after hearing that she couldn't have children and is pregnant with twins. few episodes after that she gives birth to her twin boys. And that's the end of season eight. Episode Nine of season eight is written and directed by women. Which brings us to season nine which is the final season of One Tree Hill. It seems like the last few seasons of Montreal especially ended their season, sort of like it could have been canceled maybe and they just wanted to wrap it up just in case because describing the end of season eight sounded like a finale to me. But in season nine.
Jackie Leonard 59:47
I guess the noteworthy storylines for mothers on that season are both Brooke and Haley adjusting to having babies while navigating their respective careers. So Brooke, as I've shared is involved in fashion. And Haley has basically a music production company. But we also see the ways that they explore different paths. At the end of season eight, Brooke opened reopens Karen's cafe. So the cafe is up and running. She also later tries to invest in a sound studio that I believe is going to mean that she works more with Haley too. But unfortunately, I don't think those storylines are really that essential. And there's just a lot of other like high jinks in the season that take precedent. So I see those a little bit as missed opportunities, I think they could have like, really dove in and shown us how difficult it could be to build a career or start new businesses while having children or shown the kind of support that they would have helped them achieve those goals alongside being new mothers. But we didn't see that we didn't see Brooke really struggle as a new mom to twins, while you know, pursuing new career ventures, but I have to remember and remind you that this was back in 2011 2012 was a show that was created by not only a man but also a very toxic, problematic man who likely employed other writers who either could not speak up and out about things that he wanted or, you know, cosign the things that he believes. So maybe we can call it a win that they had storylines at all that focused on the girls and women of the show. And even more so highlighted, the motherhood experience, tackled the relationship dynamics between mothers and daughters, and examined teen pregnancy and pregnancy later in life. So what rating would I give the show One Tree Hill, after revisiting the trajectory of the series with semi fresh eyes, or just from my adult motherhood perspective? I really don't think I could give it the mom advocate stamp of approval. I'm honestly a little bit on the fence between mom guilt and guilty pleasure. I feel like I could go either way. But given that the series has been taken aback by the actors of the show, and given the drama queens podcast, that includes just a real open, candid conversation around the good, the bad and the untold of One Tree Hill, the fact that two out of three women who host the podcast are now moms, and are now rewatching show and analyzing it for a younger audience with their mom lens. I feel like I can comfortably say that it's a guilty pleasure. There are definitely problematic parts to the show. I don't think it's a, you know, something that I would say is a great representation of motherhood, but the fact that motherhood does show up and moms who are into their 30s and beyond are given a bigger role on a teen drama is noteworthy and something that I can definitely appreciate now in my rewatches. Some things I think they could have explored or just showed a bit more of a realistic rendering of is the teen mother experience and the working mother experience. But maybe there is a teen drama out there that can do that. In present day. I don't think euphoria is the answer. So before I sign off, this week's writing prompt is what were your perceptions of motherhood and pregnancy when you were a teenager? Where do you think those perceptions came from?