One Tree Hill is an American teen, young adult television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003 on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and since September 27, 2006 the network is the official broadcaster for the show in the USA. On February 25, 2009, The CW renewed the show for a seventh season. The show is set in fictional town Tree Hill in North Carolina and originally follows the lives of two half-brothers, Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (James Lafferty). Their relationship evolves from heartless enemies to caring brothers, and the basketball drama, as well as the brothers' on-again/off-again romances with female characters, are significant elements within the series.

The first four seasons of the show focus on the characters' high school years. With the beginning of the fifth season, Schwahn decided to skip the timeline four years ahead, showing their lives after college. In the seventh season, he adjusted the timeline one year into the future after the sixth season. The opening credits were originally intertwined with the song "I Don't Want to Be" by Gavin DeGraw playing in the background. The theme was removed from the opening in the fifth season, and the credits have since only consisted of the title written on a black background. The show's interiors are filmed at the EUE/Screen Gems studios in Wilmington, North Carolina and exteriors are filmed in and around Wilmington.