As a once avid fan of One Tree Hill, it pains me to say that the show has truly overstayed its welcome. If I had it my way, the show would have ended at season four and went out on a high note. Granted, seasons five and six weren’t necessarily god-awful, but I think OTH fans can agree that the show lost much of its spark. One Tree Hill has garnered some of the lowest ratings of all major networks and has been used as a punch line for its immortality. There are obviously more, but here are my top five times when OTH jumped the shark…
5. 1940s flashback (6.11 We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)
This episode had no point, unless you count letting CMM write an episode. And it was bad. Really bad. The only way the episode could have been salvaged was to let Peyton actually die at the end. But of course, it was only just a dream. Rats.
4. Kevin Federline guest stars (season 5)
Why, Mark Schwahn, why?! There are countless other talented, bad ass rock stars who could have made a guest appearance. Britney’s hard core ex, K Fed, should not be included amongst them.
3. Deb & Skills / Dan & Rachel (season 5-6)
The older Scotts got some action with their sons’ classmates, Skills & Rachel. Deb & Skills were somewhat tolerable, but Dan & Rachel were disgusting. Sure, it made for some good laughs, but seeing Dan kissing Rachel is something I want to permanently erase from my memory.
2. Nanny Carrie & Psycho Katie (seasons 5-7)
Exactly how many demented psychopaths live in Tree Hill?! Apparently each canon couple on OTH needs a psycho-subplot: Peyton & Lucas had Psycho Derek; Nathan & Haley had Nanny Carrie; Brooke & Julian had the guy who kidnapped Sam and robbed Brooke; Clay & Quinn had Psycho Katie. I was fine with the Psycho Derek story line, more because it freaked me out more than anything. Nanny Carrie got a little ridiculous but the addition of Katie is just too much.
1. Dog Eats Dan’s New Heart (6.18 Searching for a Former Clarity)
Dan is smugly chilling in the hospital waiting room for his heart transplant. The guy with the heart trips over the dog’s leash and the ticker goes flying. And then the whole room watches in horror as the dog slurps down the core of the human body. The first time I saw this I laughed. Then I felt horrible. Then I felt disgusted. Finally I settled on feeling immense pity for the writers who put together that crap. If this isn’t a ‘jump the shark’ moment, I don’t know what is.
so i stumbled upon your blog, quite literally, and i think i’ve found bliss. i also am a magazine journalism major at uga, who would seriously love to write for entertainment, i read it religiously. but this just made me laugh. i watched one tree hill from season one and i can think of far more than five times that one tree hill has missed this mark since season five…i truly believed in seasons one, but the more the show progressed the more depth the show seemed to have lost…and it all culminates in the ridiculous plot lines of nanny carrie and pyscho katie and the finality of lucas and peyton never to be mentioned or returned…it’s all just going downhill. hasn’t anyone ever heard of leaving on good terms. i think oth should just close the book and go out with the little dignity it has left.
Honorable mention: the episode where Brooke, Haley, and Quinn decide to dress up as super heroes. So sad 🙁