I don't wanna be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately...

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING POST DOES NOTHING TO STRENGTHEN ONE'S MASCULINITY. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

America's Next Top Model had come to an end and I didn't look away. What followed next was something unknown to my pretty brown eyes. Here it was, a Dawson's Creek like drama complete with narration, and

pretty white kids with problems.

And you know what? I couldn't look away. It may have something to do with all the wedding attire, cars falling off the road into the river containing very important people in wedding attire, and screams, tears, and fears from those in wedding attire filmed in hushed tones and played out in a dramatic yet believeable manner. Just like that I was sucked into One Tree Hill. A show that's been around for three or four years that I just casted off as some WB melodrama in the 7th Heaven, Everwood vein. [which I hear was also an okay piece of work.]Yep. All that transpired before the opening credits had sealed the deal for me.

And then came said opening.

A good theme song is a godsend. You know what else is a godsend? When said theme song contains a song you don't even care for and yet you love it, cause for some strange reason it works, and for those few seconds the song is actually tolerable. I don't know about you, but my Itunes Media Player has no time for Gavin DeGraw's I don't want to be. Nu-uh. For me he was the middle class, college kid's Josh Groban, or a piano playin John Mayer minus the street cred, with more R&B leaning vocals. I don't know. Like I said, I just guessed from what I would hear before I would realize what I was listening to and move on.

But as is the case with many a song I can do without, all it takes is a few "ironic" spins, or enough rotation to get me at least familiar with the track. Or in this case perfect placement. Those opening chords set against a hoodie wearing, head down having, basketball bouncin Chad Michael Murray walking at sunset on a bridge shot from a distance? Priceless. And to have it come back at the end? Too much. Network produced slices of manafactured Americana never looked and sounded so good.