The Office and 25 TV shows that were never supposed to be hits
By Kareem Gantt
7. One Tree Hill (The WB/CW)
Series run: 2003-2012 (9 seasons/187 episodes)
In the early 2000s, TV was becoming enamored with teen dramas, and the king of them was One Tree Hill.
Set in the fictional town of Tree Hill, North Carolina, One Tree Hill centered around two brothers who both stared for their high school basketball team, and their lives off of the court.
Believe it or not, One Tree Hill was originally supposed to be a movie, called Ravens, but series creator Mark Schwahn was convinced that the movie could actually be a hit television series instead. The WB picked up the show, and One Tree Hill had some pretty big shoes to fill.
The show premiered as the network’s previous hit drama, Dawson’s Creek, was ending its run, and execs were hoping that One Tree Hill could fill the gap. The show would go on to become one of the flagship programs for The WB, staying high among the network’s ratings. In 2005, however, The WB shut down, and the show was picked up by the new CW.
Like 7th Heaven, the other powerhouse drama on the network, One Tree Hill’s ratings suffered when it moved to The CW, but in the long run, it was able to best the ratings and shake off the shadow of Dawson’s Creek. It became its own pop cultural phenomenon and even bested the show that many thought it couldn’t pass.
Long live One Tree Hill.