There was a time in modern television history where networks commanded the interest of audience, both at home and abroad with some exceptions like cable productions from HBO such as The Sopranos, The Wire and finally, Game of Thrones. When Netflix, originally dedicated to an American audience, decided to arrive with a newer, global plan, that would cater to dozens of countries and dropped their first original serial House of Cards in 2013, it changed everything.

Since then, networks have been trying to catch up as more streaming services arrived like Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ with more in the pipeline from the likes of Disney and just about every major network. Streaming services have also become home to some of the most talented actors, writers, technicians and directors, with streaming services poaching established talent and giving room to newer, unknown names from networks.

But before the streaming services arrived, there were network favourite shows.

Among them were names like Alias, 24, The O.C., Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill and many more. While all shows except Grey’s Anatomy have wrapped up, the three prominent cast members of One Tree Hill which ran for 10 seasons have joined forces on a podcast called Drama Queens hosted by Hilarie Burton (who essayed Peyton Sawyer), Sophia Bush (who played Brooke Davis) and Bethany Joy Lenz (who played Haley James Scott) in the network series.

Since then, all three actors have branched off with Bethany Joy Lenz appearing in a multiple episode arcs about domestic violence in Grey’s Anatomy; Hilarie Burton appearing in White Collar in multiple episodes as well as Grey’s Anatomy and Sophia Bush starring in Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and being the most prolific of the three in terms of work on television. But the podcast is not exactly about their work post-One Tree Hill.

The series, set in a town called Tree Hill with its larger context being the lives of several high-schoolers like Peyton, Brooke, and Haley among their male counterparts; with music and basketball, terrible parents being a part of the narrative.

As the podcast suggests, “Take yourself back in time...back to high school. The ups and downs, the loves the losses, the struggles the triumphs, being together with your friends...feeling every emotion of it. Is 23 more than just a number to you? Do you respond to people by saying I don’t wanna be anything other than what I’ve been trying to be lately? Do you expect to have life-changing moments while caught in the confetti or the rain? Are you One Tree Hill obsessed?...”

The podcast can be as long as an hour and two new episodes have dropped in 2022. Easy to find, it covers various aspects such as Haley presenting her music, something she did rather well on the show and other co-stars also make an appearance.

Drama Queens, presented by iHeartRadio Podcast, is fun, reflective, nostalgic but most likely for those who have seen the series or decide to listen because we are living in strange times indeed. Our suggestion is to watch the series One Tree Hill first and then listen to Brooke, Haley and Peyton dissect episodes and how the landscape of television has changed during a decade.

It’s great fun and will take your mind off the new normal we are trying desperately to adapt to and remind you of a time when content overload didn’t cause a kind of cognitive apathy.