Retro TV: Dawson"s Creek

I do love my teen programmes; The OC, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and 90210 but no show defined the teen genre more than Dawson's Creek. The show was sort of based on the life of its creator, Kevin Williamson who created the Scream series and The Vampire Diaries. Williamson who was at the time Hollywood's wunderkid was approached to create a teen TV series after studio bosses read his witty script for Scream and Williamson described his efforts as Some Kind of Wonderful meets My So-Called Life meets Pump up the Volume meets James at 15 meets Little House in the Prairie. Dawson's Creek revolves around Dawson Leery played by James Van Der Beek, an aspiring film-maker who more or less had the perfect life; doting parents, great best friends and an idyllic life in a seaside town called Capeside. Dawson is an eternal optimist who firmly believes in that little thing called love and is a passionate Steven Spielberg fan. His close friends consist of gal pal, Joey Potter played by Katie Holmes, who he has spent practically every memorable moment with since his whole life. Their blissful friendship hits a rocky path when they start to drift apart and move into adulthood. Dawson's guy pal is Pacey Witter played by Joshua Jackson who is about as different from Dawson as you can get. Pacey is irresponsible, outspoken, restless, reckless and very funny and he is a chronic underachiever who uses his sarcasm to disguise his unhappy childhood. Then there is also newcomer, Jen Lindley played by Michelle Williams who has moved to the town from New York who strikes up a friendship with Dawson which leads to conflict with Joey. Later on in the series the four friends are joined by brother and sister, Jack and Andie McPhee played by Kerr Smith and Meredith Monroe.

There was no doubt that the relationship between Joey and Dawson was very special; you know the type where she would sneak into his room by climbing up a ladder and they would watch movies all night on his bed? The two of them were soul mates who would go on to become lovers and then greatest friends. Dawson's Creek covered a lot of heavyweight issues such as teenage sex, abuse, alcoholism, homosexuality all mixed up with teen angst.  The show ran for six series during the period of 1998 and 2003 and is credited as defining a generation. What made the show stand out was the impressive dialogue they would use to converse in. It was rather akin to Shakespeare with long prose and expressive verbs. When I first started watching the show it took me a while to get into it but once I did boy was I hooked. Dawson's Creek really had a lovely charm about it especially the childhood friendships, rites of passage and comprehensive dialogue. It may not have been as glamorous as Gossip Girl or as cool as The OC but it held a sense of warmth that the other shows lacked. You really felt that you knew Dawson and co and really lived through their trials and tribulations. Dawson's Creek ended in 2003 with a special length episode and even though a lot of time has passed since then I now watch the lives of the actors from the series with interest and fondness. James Van Der Beek has gone on to act in films and TV shows and he is now a father and on his second marriage, Katie Holmes is now Mrs Tom Cruise and as well as having a very stylish little daughter she has herself a very stellar acting career, Michelle Williams also has a daughter by the late Heath Ledger and is now one of the most respected actresses in Hollywood and Joshua Jackson has done a fair bit of acting himself and is now happily dating Diane Kruger.

The show is now being repeated on Sony TV on Wednesday at 7pm.

Gossip Girl

Did any of you like The OC? I loved it, the story about a boy from the wrong side of tracks who is thrown a lifeline and taken in by a kind lawyer and his family and begins a new life in the opulent suburbs of the Orange County in California. Sounds absurd right but that was what I liked about The OC, the over top storylines and eccentric characters. The programme starred Benjamin McKenzie as the troubled teen Ryan and his sidekick, Seth, played by the quirky Adam Brody, Summer played by the gorgeous Rachel Bilson and Marissa played by style queen Mischa Barton. The oldies ie the parents were played by Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan. The programme ended last year and only ran for four years but was one of the most popular teen dramas of its era. A lot of comparisons were made with the now defunct Dawson's Creek particularly with the witty dialogue that was used. I would say that the banter between Ryan and Seth is the best thing in the show. The OC is created by screen writing whiz, Josh Schwartz who at 26, was the youngest person in network history to create a network series and run its day-to-day production. Similar to Kevin Williamson who created Dawson's Creek and based the lead character on his life, the character Seth is actually based on Schwartz. While Dawson's Creek was earthy and a bit like apple pie and ice cream, The OC was slightly edgier and had a much-needed cooler factor. This is down to Schwartz who brought his retro geek influence into the show; skateboards, trendy t-shirts, guitars, iPods, cartoons and indie rock bands. Pretty soon, The OC became known for its music in particular the theme tune, California that is performed by alternative group, Phanton Planet. So tuned in was Schwartz to popular culture that the last season of the show is now available on iTunes.

With the huge success of The OC you could not blame Schwartz for putting his feet but would you know it, he has been working on another teen drama. It is called Gossip Girl and like The OC it is about the lives of the rich and wealthy but it is set in the big apple. The programme is based on the popular novel by Cecily von Ziegesar which has the same name. It follows the lives and mayhem of glamorous socialite teens on the upper east side of Manhattan. In particular Serena van de Woodsen, the ultimate goddess, beautiful and sophisticated she is idolised by everyone. On the other side of Manhattan is the sensitive Dan Humphreys, the son of a rock star living in a run down apartment in the Upper West Side and an outsider. A chance meeting with Serena brings the two as well as Dan's sister, Jenny into each other’s lives and where the wealthy jet setters find themselves embroiled with their lower peers. However there is a twist here; the series is narrated by an anonymous character known as Gossip Girl who happens to run a website where she blogs about the scandals and rivalries of the circle of friends. Who is Gossip Girl? No one knows. Think about what would happened if you meshed teen flick Cruel Intentions with Desperate Housewives and this is what you would get. If Gossip Girl is anywhere as successful as The OC then it will send Blake Lively who plays Serena catapulting into the same dizzy heights of fame as a certain Mischa Barton. The series airs in the states in the autumn and like all good things, I am sure it won’t be long before it comes over here as well.

Picture from TVaddict.com