My (One) Case for a TV Rewatch Podcast

After spending hours of my life complaining about this art form that brings people nothing but joy, I've bravely decided to go to bat for One Tree Hill's.

Somewhere out there at this very moment, probably over a coffee at Erewhon, an actor you haven’t thought about in one million years is cooking up something they think you’re in dire need of: A TV rewatch podcast of their most popular show. 

There is no escaping them! There are rewatch podcasts for The Office and Gilmore Girls and Scrubs and The OC and New Girl. There’s “XOXO with Jessica Szhor” who — and I say this with all the love in the world for her — played the least important character on Gossip Girl. We just got “Out of the Pods” from two Love is Blind-ers, and I know that is a recap podcast and not a rewatch podcast, but you get the point. 

Do we need to relive TV of the past in this way? No. But do I like knowing things like Austin Butler, went on a date with the woman who played Harper on Wizards of Waverly Place when he guest starred? Of course I do. Plus, no one asked for this newsletter either, and here it is. 

Despite my annoyance with Apple Podcasts for trying to get me to listen to “Pod Meets World” when I’m simply looking for a good, old-fashioned murder mystery, there is one argument I’ll make for the rewatch podcast. 

It seems like no coincidence these kinds of podcasts are coming alongside a wave of reckonings for the showrunners who brought us the TV we grew up with, from Dan Schneider of Nickelodeon, to Joss Whedon of Buffy to Disney Channel. Before rewatch pods — many of which are just silly and for fun, and some of which have become more candid and critical — behind-the-scenes gossip came from outlets like Entertainment Weekly, or vague quotes in Vanity Fair profiles. It was rare we’d get any kind of in-depth dialogue about behind-the-scenes trauma or reflection on the troublesome scripts with the people we actually saw on screen.

Now, we’re living in a world where different forms of media — be it social media platforms or, in this case, podcasts — are constantly giving us heightened exposure to entertainers we used to just see on screen or in interviews. That’s not always for the best (for example, I should be financially compensated for the amount of second hand embarrassment I was forced to feel watching Cole Sprouse hold that cigarette on Call Her Daddy). But some entertainers are using these mediums to talk about their on-set treatment in an honest, fleshed-out way — something a soundbite could never give them. 

They’re also helping us answer a crucial question: Can we still love these shows? 

The women of One Tree Hill, and hosts of the rewatch podcast “Drama Queens,” say we can. 

One Tree Hill was a pretty classic WB/CW show — as in, it had a strong premise, engaging characters and went absolutely bananas bonkers over time. (If you’re still watching The CW’s Riverdale: I see you, I support you, but I cannot stand with you anymore.) The nine-season series kicked off with a tale as old as time: the rivalry of two half-brothers as one, Lucas, played by Chad Michael Murray in peak angst, joins the basketball team of which the other, Nathan, is already the star. And it went on to make its fans really care about a semi-eclectic friend group (eclectic in the sense that half of them were blonde and the other half were brunette) in the small town of Tree Hill, North Carolina. 

Like any gal who grew up in the golden age of Tumblr might, I had a short stint in high school during which I blasted The Cure from my parents’ Honda Accord and pretended I loved to doodle. I said extremely profound things in the vein of, “you don’t know me,” and wore a little more black than usual, all in service of being more like Peyton Sawyer, the goth-ish cheerleader portrayed by Hilarie Burton on OTH. 

I’ve watched the important episodes, like the (many) weddings, over and over again. Like I said, it went completely off the rails — a dog gobbling up Dan’s new heart off the hospital floor just before it was supposed to be transplanted into his body is not even the worst of it. Rick Fox as a loan shark threatened to bash in Nathan’s knee caps unless he threw his high school (!) basketball state championship. No worries, Nathan didn’t do it, so the shark just drove a car into Nathan’s pregnant wife — and all before prom! And we can’t forget Peyton’s rendezvous with Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy. But the most wild part may be how truly atrocious they made the cover art of Lucas’ book. Still, the show was fun and often touching. It even made me care a little about basketball, and that is a huge feat. 

But despite the refrain, “there’s only one Tree Hill, and it’s your home,” there were, apparently, two Tree Hills: the glossy, dramatic one that had viewers glued to the television on Tuesdays, and a much more sinister one behind the scenes. In 2017, nearly 20 women from the cast and crew accused the show’s creator of sexual harassment, and psychological and emotional manipulation.

Rewatching, it’s not shocking that the person running the show was a nightmare. There’s an entire episode where one character, Rachel Gatina — whose character’s whole deal is that she used to be fat, got plastic surgery and is now a “slut” — is called one nasty thing after another just because she didn’t like the nice guy. There’s also the strange, sexualized violence against women, like when a man pretending to be Peyton’s long-lost brother stalked and attacked her. Sophia Bush, who played fan favorite Brooke Davis, recently spoke about how scenes like this were included to up male viewership, which… is gross and needs some explaining. (As much as I j’adore men explaining things to me, I was kidding, so please don’t reach out.) 

The “Drama Queens” hosts  — Burton, Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz, who played the beloved school tutor and Lucas’ best friend Haley — force us to look at some of the show’s biggest issues. 

In one podcast episode, they say the jokes making fun of Rachel were punishment for the actress playing her, who rejected the showrunner and started to date her now husband Jensen Ackles (yes, from Supernatural). “It’s a pure example of someone in power wanting to use their platform for their own messaging and processing,” Lenz says on the podcast about the art too closely imitating life. Bush chimes in later with, “I don’t like that we were all used in this episode to just pile on our friend because she said to her grown up, married boss, ‘please stop hitting on me.’” 

Burton also explains how she had to film a crucial storyline just after being allegedly assaulted by the showrunner. “You can see it in the episode; you can see that I’m not there,” she says. “I’m doing all these scenes with Chad but I look like shit and I’m kind of not connecting in any way because I was so in … shell mode.” 

Despite the sometimes heavy material, most of the podcast is actually pretty light. The women and their guest stars reminisce on behind-the-scenes memories, like James Lafferty (who played Nathan) finally turning 21 and being able to go out with the cast, and poke fun at things like Lenz’s pregnancy pad being completely visible on screen and the infamous shoe mixup. 

It’s often jarring to hear the hosts switch from fondly describing their memories with an energy as upbeat as the many cheer routines they performed on the show, to these troubling recollections. One minute they’ll be talking about a character that inspires them or reminiscing about hanging out in Wilmington when they filmed, and the next they’ll be opening up about these dark situations. 

Learning that the shows/books/movies etc. we loved growing up were created by real-life villains is sadly pretty common, particularly post #MeToo, and it can be conflicting for fans. But the women of OTH are acknowledging the dark and difficult aspects of their show while also holding space for themselves and their fans to still have love and affection for it. 

There’s something therapeutic about hearing the actresses hash out how the show brought them fame and friends, but also put them in situations no one should have to be in, especially when they’re barely adults. Many of us remember when the women were Hollywood babies (never forget Sophia Bush smooching Brittany Snow in John Tucker’s car) so we’re watching them reflect on growing up while we’ve, to an extent, grown up with them. 

The actresses love the show and all that came with it, but they’re also deeply hurt by it. And they’re reflecting a reckoning many of us may have in our twenties and thirties, when we’re forced to look back at the institutions we trusted growing up, and how they might have failed us, despite us still holding them close to our hearts. 

The podcast feels very much like conversations you’ve probably had with your friends: Can you believe I put up with that? Can you believe, after all that, I still have love for those people and that place? 

Is it possible I feel this way in part because I want to enjoy a show I loved growing up, despite now seeing all its problems? It’s possible and probable. Like I said, enjoying any form of media from the past involves some sort of wrestling with that dichotomy. But listening to the Drama Queens makes me think that perhaps we’re moving toward more nuanced discussions of the media we consumed and loved that have since proved to be complicated in ways we never could have expected. 

When I listen to the podcast, it can be as fun as watching the CW series again. OTH fans now have a ton more context for a show that used to be simple — as simple as a show in which Nick Lachey appears as himself somewhat out of nowhere to be Brooke’s wedding date can be. Having all that knowledge can make it a harder rewatch, but if you’re coming back to Tree Hill time and time again, know that Peyton, Brooke and Haley are doing the same. 

Please enjoy feeling old with this CW crossover in which Chad Michael Murray plays someone’s dad on Riverdale. I think he’s also a cult leader? Like I said, I had to respectfully step away from that show for my well being. 

B Plot

F***, marry or kill: Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Father or Queer Eye reboot? 

Mallika’s answer: I’d marry Queer Eye, easy. F*** How I Met Your Father — I only watched a few episodes and did not laugh once (sorry), but I don’t care enough about HIMYM to kill the reboot. Kill the Gossip Girl reboot. It never had a chance at living up to the OG. 

Rachel’s answer: I’m so boring, but I think my answer is the same as yours. I debated putting GG in the f*** category cause if we’re being realistic about it those rich kids are probably more exciting than Hilary Duff and that one girl from Secret Life of the American Teenager but I think I’m actually too scared of the GG cast. I’d have to kill them before they killed me. Plus Francia Raisa gave Selena Gomez a kidney. I feel like she deserves to live. Trying not to factor in the Josh Peck of it all… but you can’t win em’ all. 

C Plot

Mandy Patinkin is important to us for so many reasons including being Sunday in the Park with George’s original George (real ones know) and of course Gideon on Criminal Minds, which he famously hated. But this video of him yelling “without the writers, we’re nothing” during the WGA strike takes the cake. (Almost just teared up again thinking of him and his wife cooking together.)

In Succession news, Brian Cox is submitting himself for a lead actor Emmy despite the whole airplane thing ensuring he’s hardly ever on screen. Throwing a wrench in Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin’s chances? The most Logan Roy thing he could do.

We’re already annoyed with ourselves for how much we’re going to talk about this upcoming 1970s crime thriller starring Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried. Trailer just dropped and ensured Apple TV+ gets our money for at least another few months.