For some, it was just a teenage show fueled by hormones,
for others it's nothing but a bunch of kids getting in all kinds of trouble,
but fr me, for us who's been with them for almost a decade, this show is every teenager struggling through the complex travails of life, love and friendship.
It's hard to say goodbye when you've learned so much. But alas, even the greatest things have to end. So to Tree Hill, to my home, I bid you Goodnight.
***The article below is a recollection of Bethany Joy's One Tree Hill journey, written by Joy herself.
Well, tonight at 8pm One Tree Hill will air it's final episode ever, after 9 seasons. I couldn't let today go by without paying homage to the show where I grew up, where I learned some of my most important life lessons, where I learned about being part of a team and being a professional, and where I fell in love with a little town and its beautiful people.
I remember my screen test for the character of "Reagan" (later to be changed to "Haley"). During my test I was in a room full of executives while reading the scene with Chad Michael Murray and there were about 4 other girls going for the part, waiting in the hallway. There was a moment about halfway through the reading when I was sitting next to Chad and I playfully knocked the side of his leg with mine. I felt the energy of the whole room shift and I knew at that moment I had gotten the part. As I walked out to my car, Chad chased me down on the WB parking lot and said "Bethany!" I turned and he gave me a big hug, saying, "Congratulations." I smiled thinking that was very sweet of him but I'd been in this business long enough to know that nothing's for sure until you see it on screen. Sure enough, a few hours later I got a phone call that I had 7 days to pack up my life and move to Wilmington, North Carolina.
The first 2 months in Wilmington I lived in a hotel because we were told every day "It's only a matter of time before this show gets cancelled… don't' get too comfortable." Eventually I moved into a short term rental at Wrightsville beach when it seemed like things weren't quite as "on the bubble" as everyone said and I started to really find my niche in this little beach town. I'd grown up to 12 in Texas so I've always had an affinity for the South, and this place was so cozy and the people were so sweet. Mr. Daughtry's book store on Front St., Port City Java, Island Passage, Oliver, Brasserie du Soliel, Roy's Riverboat Landing, Tower 7, Hallelu, Beanie & Cecil, Kilwins, Firebelly, City Stage, Deluxe and so many more places became our staple local haunts. The spanish moss everywhere, the smell of the sea, the gorgeous sunsets invigorated me. I would walk on the beach in the moonlight with a cup of coffee before the sunrise. I would run out in the hot southern rain wearing a sundress and walk all over the neighborhood, just BEING in the elements. I wrote a millions songs and poems. And that was my off-time.
I loved going to work every day. I loved the people I was working with. I developed a heart-stopping crush on Craig Sheffer (Uncle Keith) for about 3 years, who was thankfully too much of a gentlemen to ever do anything about it, but it was a running joke for years how infatuated with him I was. I was equally as enamored of the mind-bogglingly elegant-and-tough-at-the-same-time Moira Kelly. It took everything in me not to say ""Toe-pick!" to her just once. Barry Corbin was terribly intimidating, though he is certainly the sweetest man alive! As for the rest of us, we were kids from 5 drastically different backgrounds, thrust into what seemed at times to be a survival of the fittest experiment, and finding our way together.
As the years went on we fought and made up, we learned from each other, we got in trouble, we grew as actors, we grew as people, and we were given a ridiculous amount of grace by our crew & producers. When I think of some of the things we put them through, I'm so grateful for the classy way they handled guiding us through. The crew on a set can really make or break you as an actor. Our crew was respectful of our work space, graceful enough to create an environment where you feel free to be vulnerable without judgement, fun enough to laugh and play with us and real enough to make it clear when someone was being an ass.
I learned more on 9 years of One Tree Hill than I did in 12 years of schooling (My apologies to the great teachers I had throughout school, but it's true). It's funny looking back… youth really is wasted on the young, ha!
So, I just want to say thank you to everyone who invested in our show. You didn't just provide me with a lifestyle or job. You were part of giving me experiences that have molded who I am and that have prepared me for the next leg of my journey in life, which is going to be a drastic change in many ways. In a strange way, an indirect way… I supposed we raised each other.
As you sit down with your friends to watch tonight's series finale, remember my gratitude to you and my sincere hope that we will continue to encounter journeys together, even if we never meet. My heart is full and warm and so very very grateful. YOU are the only reason tonight is possible. May God bless you in strange, great, unimaginable ways. All my love!
Source: 'Wish You Were Here' from http://www.bjgofficial.com/
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