Pilot (One Tree Hill)

One Tree Hill episode
episode_name = Pilot
episode_no = Episode 1
Season 1
airdate = September 23, 2003
writer = Mark Schwahn
director = Bryan Gordon
guest_star = John Keenan as Officer Wayman
Melissa Claire Egan as Melody


season = 1"Pilot" is the first episode of the television series "One Tree Hill", which premiered on the The Warner Bros. Television Network on September 23, 2003. It introduces the character of Lucas Scott (played by Chad Michael Murray) and the characters surrounding his life in the fictional town, Tree Hill. The episode features Lucas Scott's basketball match against his half-brother Nathan Scott, illustrating the rivalry between them.

"Pilot" was directed by Bryan Gordon, who directed episodes for television series such as "The West Wing", "Freaks and Geeks" and later "The Office"; the episode guest-starred John Keenan as Officer Wayman and Melissa Claire Egan as Melody.

Plot

An important basketball game is going on at Tree Hill High School. The Ravens' team wins, thanks to Nathan Scott's (James Lafferty) final shot. Elsewhere, another Scott is performing his sporty gift: Lucas Scott is playing basketball with three friends and he's clearly talented at it. Nathan and Lucas share the same father, Dan Scott (Paul Johansson), but they live apart: it turns out that Dan abandoned Lucas and his mother, Karen Roe (Moira Kelly), when Lucas was born, preferring to marry Deb Scott (Barbara Alyn Woods), who he had another son, Nathan, with. Speaking of which, Nathan and his team stole a school bus and they got busted. Even though Nathan was driving, his father, Dan, manages to bail him out of trouble, as usual, while a lot of other players get suspended.Meanwhile, Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton), Nathan’s girlfriend (and Ravens’ cheerleader) is driving and listening to "Hands Down" by Dashboard Confessional; and she ends up almost running over Lucas, who’s coming back home. Peyton stops the car just in time, before driving quickly away. Lucas heads for Karen’s cafè, where he has dinner with his mother and his best friend, a witty girl named Haley James (Bethany Joy Lenz).

The next day, Keith Scott (Craig Sheffer), Dan’s brother, who is close friends with Karen (and maybe, also, something more – at least in his heart), asks Whitey Durham (Barry Corbin), the Ravens coach, to let Lucas be part of the team. Keith is positive that the kid deserves it. Anyway, as soon as the coach tells Lucas he can join the team, the kid turns the offer down. He doesn’t want to stay near Nathan - and considering the way Nathan treats his half-brother, everybody can get why. Actually Nathan doesn’t want to accept Lucas might be part of his team, so he challenges him: a simple basketball match. If Lucas wins, Nathan will quit the team. Otherwise, if Nathan wins, Lucas won’t join the team.Later, Peyton’s car breaks down and Lucas helps her out, since Nathan is too busy. Firstly Peyton acts in a snotty way, and Lucas can’t help but point out: "Why are you a cheerleader? No offense or anything, but you're about the least cheery person I know". This gets the two talking and Lucas ends up telling her the way he found out Dan was his father.

Lucas shows up at Keith’s shop by the time Dan is talking to Keith about Karen. Following this, Lucas makes up his mind and accepts Nathan’s challenge. Karen is less than thrilled about it and neither is Dan, but they realize that there is nothing they can do.The Scott brothers’ match can get started, and it’s a tough match because they’re both good players and they both want to win. In the end, Lucas’ final shot makes him the winner. Later on, Lucas catches up with Peyton and he lets her know that even though he won, Nathan has to stay on the team because "it's the last thing he wants". Lucas remarks that the whole situation is not only about Nathan. It seems Peyton has gotten his point when Nathan calls her and she drives back home with him.

In the last scene, Lucas enters the school’s gym while everyone is staring at him. A last close-up to the park where Lucas used to play: it’s finally empty.

Production

] The series features an unaired pilot episode which takes place in the past. It tells the story of Karen and Dan and how she got pregnant. Then, after Dan marries Deb it skips to the future where Lucas has his first day at Tree Hill High. He meets Mouth and others and realizes that maybe basketball is for him. That is until he and Nathan get into a fight about Dan.cite web | url=http://www.tv.com/one-tree-hill/one-tree-hill/episode/327872/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;0
title=Unaired Pilot at TV.com|]
In the broadcasted pilot episode, Brooke Davis (portrayed by Sophia Bush), did not appear in the and made her first appearance in "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most". Samantha Shelton also played a character called Reagan in the unaired pilot. She was replaced with the character Haley.cite web | url=http://www.tv.com/one-tree-hill/one-tree-hill/episode/327872/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;0
title=Unaired Pilot at TV.com|]

Reception

In the United States of America, the episode's initial broadcast attracted two and a half million viewers on The WB Television Network,cite web | url=http://www.abcmedianet.com/pressrel/ | title=Final Nielsen ratings, published every Tuesday|] compared to the rest of the series, it was poorly received.

References

External links

* [http://www.cwtv.com/shows/one-tree-hill Official website]
* [http://www.onetreehillweb.net/episodes.html One Tree Hill Guide]
*imdb title|0368530|One Tree Hill
*imdb title|0666238|One Tree Hill Pilot