The CW | TWB | Warner Brothers | Release Date: September 23, 2003
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
8
Negative:
11
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80
Newark Star-LedgerMatt Zoller SeitzJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: A welcome surprise - an unabashed melodrama that doesn't wink at the audience but doesn't take itself too seriously, either. Every choice it makes, from pacing to photography to music, seems just about right, and the casting is inspired. (I appreciate that it filled its lead roles with two young men who are somewhat credible on the court.) [23 Sept 2003, p.43]
80
NewsdayDiane WertsJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: The show feels lived-in, making it all the more inviting to dwell there ourselves. [23 Sept 2003, p.B23]
80
Los Angeles TimesSamantha BonarJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: This compelling storyline could make the tale of battling basketball brothers a keeper for the WB. [23 Sept 2003, p.E11]
70
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: A little overheated, too obvious and too cliche-ridden. But it's still an entertaining yarn. [23 Sept 2003, p.B-1]
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: A mildly gripping pilot involving half-brothers raised on different sides of the tracks in the same small town. I'm not remotely the target demo here - even the parents in this show, who include Moira Kelly, are younger than I - but I kind of liked it. Especially when it made fun of "Dawson's Creek." [23 Sept 2003, p.38]
70
Miami HeraldGlenn GarvinJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: Weep no more for Dawson's Creek, Felicity or Beverly Hills, 90210. That achy yearning in your soul for a mawkish, trashy, over-the-top, slightly dumb but kinda fun teen soap is about to be filled with One Tree Hill. [23 Sept 2003, p.4E]
60
VarietyBrian LowryJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: As trite as it sounds, the series plays it all earnestly enough for its target audience, and the show is beautifully shot in North Carolina, the basketball mecca where the fictional town is set. Even the sports scenes are well staged (in the pilot, anyway) and less schlocky than "The White Shadow" norm, with Lafferty, at least, looking like he's actually got game. [23 Sept 2003, p.13]
50
The Hollywood ReporterStaff [Not Credited]Jun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: The opening hour is too loaded down with cliched angst to stimulate much more than the libido of its target teen audience. [22 Sept 2003]
50
San Diego Union-TribunePreston TureganoJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: The most dominating cast member of this attractive show is Corbin -- the delightfully rigid Maurice Minnifield on "Northern Exposure." But coming down court fast for a slam-dunk is Sheffer, who makes an outstanding impression as the only male role model who gives Lucas the love and support he needs in the tough game of life. Daddy Dan is an expletive deleted. [23 Sept 2003, p.E-6]
50
Houston ChronicleMike McDanielJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: Quick - which is the one to root for, the one you want to make the basketball team and get the girl? If you don't know, One Tree Hill holds all kinds of possibilities for you. Me, I run from jerks. [23 Sept 2003, p.1]
50
Chicago Sun-TimesPhil RosenthalJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: It's not quite up to the level of "The OC." Not yet anyway. [23 Sept 2003, p.41]
40
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan StormJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: Hill is terribly hokey. Half-brother basketball wizards compete for hoops and girls, as their alienated parents battle. The West Wing's Moira Kelly, as mom to the poor boy, is the only actor who shows any scope on the show. [22 Sept 2003, p.C09]
40
Orlando SentinelHal BoedekerJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: The connection results in many brooding stares, nasty arguments and expert shots. The WB's scheduling the show after Gilmore Girls suggests that programmers believe that girls just want to have fun while boys want a good cry. They won't get it from One Tree Hill. [23 Sept 2003, p.E1]
40
Baltimore SunDavid ZurawikJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: Impressive photography and a good-looking cast add up to a drama that is at least pretty to look at. But it doesn't have quite the sizzle of Fox's new teen drama "The O.C.", the new series young viewers seem to be in love with this fall...Maybe, if you're 14, this is epic enough. [23 Sept 2003, p.1E]
37
USA TodayRobert BiancoJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: One Tree Hill isn't the worst show you'll see this season, but it may be the most depressingly superfluous. As too often happens with WB shows, Hill reminds you of every other WB show you've ever seen. It's as if the network has done away with original programming and gone straight to scheduling reruns. [23 Sept 2003, p.4D]
30
New York Daily NewsDavid BianculliJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: The young audience for which One Tree Hill is aimed may swallow all this unflinchingly. Yet if they learned anything from "Dawson's Creek," a much better and smarter show, they're more likely to gag. [23 Sept 2003, p.83]
30
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: One Tree Hill needs a lot of work. The characters are painfully one-dimensional, as they fall on either the good or the bad side of the fence. Their actions are predictable based on whether they've been designated as angels or devils. The writers need to humanize them - especially the brothers - by giving them mixed feelings and unexpected lines. Also, some humor please. [23 Sept 2003, p.D14]
30
Chicago TribuneSteve JohnsonJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: The title of this attempt at teen high drama is one of only several unintentionally comical elements in a series that gets some of the big notes right, but squawks out all of the little ones.[23 Sept 2003, p.C7]
25
New York PostAdam BuckmanJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: In some way or another, this show is trying to be "Everwood," "Dawson's Creek," "Eight Mile" and "Hoosiers" all rolled into one. It would be a whole lot more accessible if it would just try to be One Tree Hill, whatever that is. [23 Sept 2003, p.79]
20
Kansas City StarAaron BarnhartJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: A standard-issue WB teen soap opera about love and basketball that promises to get better because it can't really get much worse...It has no distinguishable stars and worse, for all its dramatic story lines, no real passion. [23 Sept 2003, p.E1]
10
Washington PostTom ShalesJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: The show is pure hooey. [21 Sept 2003, p.N01]
0
Dallas Morning NewsManuel MendozaJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: This behavior might make for a juicy melodrama if the rest of the characters weren't so predictably earnest. In the pilot, the stakes in a one-on-one showdown turn out to be meaningless, making any emotional investment in the outcome worthless. [23 Sept 2003, p.10E]
0
Boston HeraldAmy AmatangeloJun 30, 2013
Season 1 Review: Say what you want about WB's late teen soap "Dawson's Creek," but even the worst episode was infinitely better than the network's dreadful One Tree Hill. [23 Sept 2003, p.46]