One Tree Hill

What was destined to become another cheesy teen-soap, "One Tree Hill" was an unexpected surprise. Sure it consists of some of the infamous elements as does any teen-oriented drama including backstabbing, love-triangles and even murder, but the overall concept is engaging and for once realistic.

Nathan and Lucas Scott are two brothers from opposite sides of the tracks. Nathan is the hotshot basketball player who has it all; wealthy parents, a gorgeous girlfriend and the entire student body bowing down before him. Lucas, on the other hand, has a single mother who struggles to make a decent living with her cafe. He usually keeps to himself, playing basketball at a local park with a group of like-minded friends. Their lives unexpectedly collide, however, when Lucas joins the team and threatens to steal both Nathan's spot in the line-up and his girlfriend Peyton.

The most intriguing aspect of "One Tree Hill" is watching the interaction between the five main characters: Nathan, Peyton, Brook, Lucas and Haley, each one of them with their own story. It does seem rather odd that the two brothers have never crossed a similar path before seeing just how small the town of Tree Hill really is. Nevertheless, it's vastly enticing watching the lives of these five youths unfold and even more interesting seeing the issues their parents are faced with as well. Unlike most teen-soaps, "One Tree Hill" presents the adult-oriented story-line as being just as significant and it certainly goes to show that our parents aren't as perfect as they would like us to think.

Making a drama appealing is difficult. The best factor of "One Tree Hill" is watching Nathan humiliate his brother Lucas and though we would like to see the two of them get along, it totally destroys a huge aspect of the drama. About six episodes into the series in when the two begin to see each other's sides and discover they aren't so different after all. I felt that the show solved this dilemma way too quickly, however, the writers still did an exceptional job in keeping the story-line interesting by brining new issues to the table.

Our set of actors seem a bit too old to be playing high school students, but they certainly do an incredible job in doing so which makes "One Tree Hill" one of the more realistic teen-dramas ever.

Overall, the series is extremely compelling, consisting of a group of talented actors, a broad story-line and an excellent soundtrack that should please any audience in which the show is meant to pertain to.