One Tree Hill/Trivia

• Actor Allusion
  • In episode 7x08, the guys discuss their favorite sports movies. Skills, played by Antwon Tanner, mentions Coach Carter as his--Antwon Tanner was one of the stars, and Mark Schwahn, the show's creator, was a co-writer. Nathan, played by James Lafferty, mentions Hoosiers, and one of Lafferty's early roles was in a movie based on the Hoosiers.
  • On Dawson's Creek, Dawson (played by James Van Der Beek) dreamed of being a movie director. So when Van Der Beek appears in Season 6, he's a director...a high-strung, womanizing, cocaine-addicted director who wants to subject Lucas's movie to all kinds of Executive Meddling. Played for Laughs of course.
  • One of Peyton Sawyer's defining characteristics is her love for music - Hilarie Burton was working for MTV as a VJ prior to being cast as Peyton, and continued in the role alongside her shooting schedule for One Tree Hill for a time.
  • During Lucas & Peyton's wedding reception in episode 6x23, Julian rants about Brooke bringing Nick Lachey as her date, asking how he can compete with "the guy from Dancing With the Stars" & when Missy points out that he's thinking of Nick's brother, Julian then snaps "Laguna Beach then!" which Chase retorts was "Some other tool." The tool in question was Stephen Colletti, who plays Chase.
• Development Gag: Lucas writes a book about his time growing up in Tree Hill, called "An Unkindness of Ravens", the original title for the series. In Season 6, the book is adapted into a film which is ultimately cancelled, with Julian instead adapting the book into a television show in Season 9, just like One Tree Hill started as a movie before Mark Schwahn adapted his pitch to be a television series.
• Hey, It's That Guy!
  • Lucas is Tristan from Gilmore Girls, Austin in A Cinderella Story, and Jake from the 2003 version of Freaky Friday.
  • Mouth is Minkus from Boy Meets World.
  • Some people recognize Moira Kelly solely for The Cutting Edge or being Nala's adult voice in The Lion King.
  • Dan played Bolt in the movie Soap Dish.
  • Haley's Dad is Huey Lewis.
  • Peyton's half-brother Derek is Fin Tutuola's gay son and Omar Little's gay lover.
  • Chase is Stephen.
  • Owen is Flash Thompson.
  • Sam's friend Jack Daniels is Dave Lizewski's friend Todd.
  • Chloe, the girl was going to have her daughter adopted by Brooke & Julian, is Lily Montgomery & Ava Benton, Riley, Rosie, and Glimmer.
  • Tara is Stella.
• I Am Not Spock: In one interview, Paul Johansson tells the story of one fan who hit him with her handbag because he was "so mean to that boy" and he had to explain to her that he was an actor and not Dan Scott.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Try to like Dan Scott. Go on, try. Watch some behind-the-scenes features, however, especially gag reel moments with Jackson Brundage (Jamie), and you'll see Paul Johansson is a perfectly likable guy.
• Shout-Out
  • Clay meeting Logan whilst trying to remember something he had been repressing in Season 9. Made explicit when it's revealed that the memory that Clay was repressing is that Logan is his son with deceased wife Sarah & he was named after his father's favourite superhero, Wolverine.
  • Logan's Green Lantern ring. Doubles a Stealth Pun, as he gives it to Clay & Quinn as an engagement ring after he gets over his fear of the ocean.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: After the airing of episode 9x07, featuring the return of Chad Michael Murray as Lucas Scott, Sophia Bush was forced to come out & dismiss rumours that she had asked not to have any scenes with Murray, noting that she actually said told Mark Schwahn to write scenes with Lucas meeting with the rest of the old gang if he wanted.
• What Could Have Been:
  • One Tree Hill existed for several years as a pitch for a film titled "An Unkindness of Ravens".
  • The series was originally going to be set in Illinois, the home state of creator Mark Schwahn. Executives suggested the producers look at warmer states, and the production settled in North Carolina, which allowed for the show to use Wilmington (The town where Michael Jordan grew up & base for Capeside, Massachusetts) as the base for Tree Hill.
  • Quinn was originally only going to be around for a year.