Teen Drama Links for December 17, 2024

Dec 17, 2024

Back in June, I challenged myself to keep up with the “Drama Queens” podcast by rewatching season 7 of “One Tree Hill” — for the first time since it aired in 2009-2010.

I wrote at the time:

I’ll be able to evaluate the podcast, and hopefully enjoy it, a lot better with these episodes fresh in my head. I’ll also be curious to go back and look at the thoughts I had all those years ago — when I live-blogged each episode — and see if my opinions have changed.

I’ve now not only completed that challenge, but I finished the season a week ahead of the podcast. Each week along the way, I’ve shared on Twitter (X) my old live-blogs from when each episode originally aired, in addition to my reactions to how “Drama Queens” covered these episodes now.

So, what do I think now that I’ve completed my mission?

Well, for starters, the podcast’s coverage was a mixed bag. There were some notable mistakes made in the conversations with Bethany Joy Lenz, Sophia Bush and new co-host Robert Buckley, storylines given the short shrift, and way too many weeks with only two of the hosts instead of all three.

I do have to give Buckley credit, though. I was really skeptical about him joining the podcast, fearful that he would be too jokey and get the discussions off-track. In actuality, he’s combined his sense of humor with a really refreshing analysis of each episode’s twists and turns. Meanwhile, Hilarie Burton has yet to make a return appearance to the podcast despite claiming she would when she announced she was leaving after the conclusion of season 6 — and despite working on a revival of the show.

As for my take on season 7 itself now after finally rewatching it: Roughly 14 years later, my opinion remains generally unchanged. It still felt like I was watching a “One Tree Hill” spinoff, not the “One Tree Hill” of seasons 1 through 6. It was interesting, though, to realize that while I had remembered the plot points of these episodes, I had little recollection of many specifics — to the point where it sometimes felt like I was watching these for the first time. But all the gripes I had back when these episodes first aired, I still had now upon rewatching them. (For some of those gripes, see here, here, and here.)

One thing I did really enjoy this time around was watching with “Wilmington eyes.” Now that I’ve lived here for 10 years, it was really fun recognizing so many of the locations in each episode and seeing what are now local sights to me. The other highlight for me was Jana Kramer’s acting, which I definitely not appreciate back then because of how much I largely disliked Alex, especially when the character was first introduced. This time, I loved seeing the range Kramer displayed as the many different sides to Alex unfurled.

When “Drama Queens” soon moves on to season 8, I will, too, with my rewatch. I didn’t live-blog that season and I don’t know how to easily find my reaction tweets from that time, but I can’t imagine my opinions will change much from the strong dislike I felt back then. Regardless, I’m committed to seeing this rewatch journey all the way through.