stlavin95

I think it's James' only role, I'm not sure about that though. I always felt that Chad improved with his acting through the years (espeically with his crying) but I think he just lost some passion for it. Definitely agree Joy and Hil got better throughout their years on the show.

Slayerette89

I so agree with the Chad&crying part. Hope this doesn't come off too mean , but I literally lol at some high school Lucas crying scenes because they are imo terrible. 3.17 scene with Karen especially. But in s5 and 6, I actually find him a convincing crier.

James/Nathan came off wooden to me too. Both him and Hil at times if I'm honest. Though I think Hil improved a lot and has quite a few awesome scenes. Chad and Sophia were the most forced and artificial out of the core 5 for me (ironically enough, they're the ones who are the schooled actors, if I'm not mistaken? James and Hil didn't study acting? but you can't lean talent I guess). But they too improved and/or had their moments. Joy was solidly decent from start to finish for me.

ETA: I completely forgot to say what I came into thread to say - love Peyton/Chris. Wish Mark went with them instead of JP in s2. I know he introduced them as subvert-the-trope-of-arguing-people-ending-up-having-a-romance type of thing, but it wasn't a good decision at all imo. Petyon/Chris had the spark Jeyton imo never had and would have probably made a much more passionate and interesting couple. I would have liked more friendship (or whatever it is that their relationship might have been) scenes between the two.

stlavin95

^ I could never take that scene seriously because Chad's crying. Chris and Peyton had an interesting dynamic which Mark should've pursued more and I would've definitely taken them over JP in S2 (CP had more chemistry as well). Peyton playing house with Jake is definitely my least favourite Peyton storyline.

Alexa

Joy was really the best for me, there were rarely ever any cringey moments for her with me and I think the only ones that did make me roll my eyes were more writing/script moments then her acting.

James didnt really make me cringe, in a way, he felt more natural at times, but he also didnt like, extend himself in certain scenes, like we said, he was more wooden to me. Thats how i felt about chad in the later seasons, minus certain scenes, usually the ones with Peyton because he showed the most emotion there. In season 1 I thought he was really really great though. There were few cringey moments, like the crying scenes, yes lol.

Hilarie was kinda in and out for me. I thought season 1 was great, actually. Parts of season 2 just felt odd to me, so maybe it was the writing. Season 3 was great but there were some moments that were cringey, like in some moments with Ellie. It just felt like a forced sadness sometimes. I kinda felt that way with her in season 4 at times too, but in season 5/6 I thought she did a great job. My issue was she got the CHEESIEST freaking lines sometimes? Like the "I'm having your baby lucas scott" was so awkward to me, why did they give her these weird ass lines sometimes? lol.

Sophia I think is a great actress, particularly in funny scenes and/or really emotional scenes. She never had moments where I thought she was doing badly, it was for me 100% the writing for the character that annoyed me.

The problem with Chris for Peyton IMO is that Chris was such a jerk that I don't think Peyton would have put up with it. She definitely preferred the "nice" guy, which is why she liked Lucas in season 1 and why I think she liked Jake. I dont think she wanted to date a jerk like Nathan again.

HOWEVER, I do agree C/P had a lot of chemistry and it would have been cool to see them banner for a long while, then maybe Chris finally opening up to her and finding vulnerability around Peyton. That could have been really cool to see play out. Then maybe in season 3 we could have gotten some stuff with them romantically before Chris had to leave again. I would have enjoyed that a lot.

stlavin95

^ I agree with most of your post. I just wanted CP to have something going so I didn't have to put up with JP lol.

Slayerette89

Same. Tbh, I generally consider oth poorly-to-mediocrily written and acted show and spend a lot of time laughing at scenes that are meant to be serious.

Uh, I almost forgot that one. Hated that line and scene too. Personally, I had more issues with Hil’s acting in s1-3 than later on but that scene was an exception. Though I guess it would have been impossible to do something decent with that line.

James was overall very one-note and wooden for me, but I’m in a way grateful for that because I’m easily annoyed by the cocky bad boy characters that Nathan was supposed to be. I get the impression it’s mostly James('s lack of attempts at acting) I have to thank for Nathan being a laid-back phlegmatic most of the time instead.

My issue with Sophia is that she imo overacts a lot and lacks range. I can’t judge for sure given I haven’t properly watched her in anything other than oth s1-6. But from gifs and clips I caught over the years I get that impression. For example, that John Tucker movie character of hers is practically indistinguishable from s1-5 Brooke (though a hippie vegan and a preppy cheerleader shouldn’t be that alike) and the same goes for that Erin character she plays in her new show, who seems very s6-9 Brooke to me.

I have similar issues with Chad. He seems to portray, not exactly remarkably imo, Tristan Dugray and Lucas Scott all the time . And the Tristan Dugray streaks sometimes come out even when he’s portraying Lucas-Scott-like characters. I guess cocky bad boy characters are just what he’s most comfortable with. I was more repelled by Chad’s s2 au Nathan-esque Lucas than I ever was by s1 Nathan himself.

Haven't thought of that before, but that's a really good point. What you suggested could have been a nice way to solve that. Much though I loved the arrogant musician Chris (I have double standard here; I like arrogance in some types of characters and not others - ney with Nathans, yey with Chrises), he could have gotten a deeper, more vulnerable side to him.

Alexa

I do agree that Sophia tends to overact in certain scenes. But I didn't notice that much until later on.

I cant say I think that Tristan and Lucas were anything alike at all, I do think his DC character and Tristan were very similar though. Also similar to the season 2 Lucas/as/nathan and also the character from House of Wax. But I loved them all. I think Chad just works as the jerk.

But what he did with Lucas in season 1 was amazing to me, I reall felt that character that season and truly felt for him and wanted the best for him and felt his sadness.

Nathan's jerkiness was a lot more black and white for me than Chris. I would argue that Chris was a very nice guy, just sarcastic and annoyingly jerky at times, where as Nathan was just kind of like a mean jerk. And I think that Peyton almost could handle the meanness, but the sneakiness IDK, it seemed that annoyed her more. lol.

Slayerette89

Oh sorry, that was a bad wording choice on my part. I don’t mean that Tristan and Lucas are anything alike, just that those are the two character types he always seems to play in his shows and movies. He’s either the (pseudo-)sensitive, (pseudo-)intellectual kid or the cocky jerk. And he inserts the cocky jerk into (pseudo-)sensitive, (pseudo-)intellectual kids too. There were brief moments during oth when Lucas came off so ooc sleazy to me and I think that was all Chad’s (maybe unconscious) acting choices and not the writing. Lucas can be pretentious, bad boyfriend, covert/soft misogynist and hypocritical at times (which I find interesting, even if the show doesn't fully acknowledge his flaws, because imo a lot of [pseudo-]sensitive, [pseudo-]intellectual guys in real life are actually like that; I don't even mean that as 100% condemnation because we are all human and flawed after all), but I don’t think he was ever meant to be sleazy.

Agreed about Nathan and Chris. It’s probably largely rooted in how Nathan was brought up. Dan pressured him and made him feel inadequate. But he also instilled him with the worst kind of sense of pride and superiority. Nathan in s1 was the kind of guy who was not just acting superior because he’s a rich (white, male) athlete, but was also into physical violence and emotional abuse. He was definitely the most negative character out of the core 5 in early s1. Brooke was manipulative and cruel at times, but never to the extent he was. Peyton was a bitch but also not as malicious as Nathan.

rossfangirl86

Hil was a VJ before she was on OTH so I think she did well considering she had no acting experience prior to the show. And she had tremendous growth imo. She's one of the best crier's I've ever seen on TV. She doesn't have to cry to look sad/emotional. James also had no acting experience and he didn't really get a lot of scenes that helped him grow as an actor. He did have his moments though.

Chad was very good in s1. I think he got bored in other seasons because the writing didn't give him a lot to work with. He wasn't the best crier (outside scenes with Hil in s5 and s6) but I find a lot of male actors aren't good at that. There are exceptions to that rule of course.

I think Joy had the most acting experience since she had been on a soap before OTH. So she probably got used to crying a lot.

Sophia...eeh. She never did anything for me as an actress. Everyone has their own taste in what they like/don't like in actors and she's just not it for me.

That's a good point. I don't think we really saw enough of Chris to get a good sense of who he was as a character. He was there for comic relief and to sing with Haley basically. The idea of CP is interesting though and it's too bad it wasn't explored further. They didn't have to take it to a romantic place for it to be interesting. She could've just become good buddies with him, that would've been cool.

Alexa

well he was there in season 9 I was so happy they brought him back. He was just comic relief in parts and in season 2 a bit of a "jerk" but i never took him seriously as a "jerk" i think he pushed haley because he knew she wanted to do music and he didn't care what nathan felt about it. which is a character trait that i like, actually. He thought the marriage was stupid, as did i.

most of the time i felt he was just being sarcastic and people didn't really understand his humor.

Slayerette89

All this Chris talk is making me wanna watch parts of s9 to see him. I did catch some of him and that season in general when I was chasing the Evil Eastern Europeans subplot in that season out of curiosity (it was as amusingly bad as I expected it to be). I love Chris overall, but they kinda Flanderized him in s3 and 4. And I really didn't like how he took advantage of Brooke in s3. But, on the plus side, his interactions with Nathan in s3 and 4 were amazing. And he was always funny.

Alexa

I really loved season 9.

Like, first time through didnt like season 7 much at all (but i felt that way abut most of season 6 too) and season 8 was pretty unbearable for me at the time but i think that was because i didnt see an end in sight to OTH.

season 9 really enjoyed. I'm really excited to rewatch that season.

Obviously there are still lame/cheesey bits but i really loved haley's storyline that season with nathan. I loved the dan death episode so much. the finale was amazing, i felt even brookes SL with q's killer was pretty entertaining and obviously chris was amazing!! there was a lot more focus on the mains too. alex left, and there was very little mouth/millie. the only storyline that was REALLY lame to me was the chuck/chase storyine because who cared but other than that i really enjoyed it. plus its a short season. and they brought the cafe back too! and little nathan, which i personally enjoyed lol.

rossfangirl86

What was Chris up to in s9? I haven't watched that season but I saw he was back. Was he different than he was in other seasons or about the same?

Alexa

he was the same to me, loved him.

Well first he came to the show to help out Alex with a song I think (Ive only seen it once so its hard to remember) but it had to do with Red Bedroom Records... And they have a little flirtation, i think they might have kissed too, and then Alex leaves in episode.

We got some funny chris/haley and chris/nathan scehes too.

Then Nathan is kidnapped and I do remember Chris helping to find him. There were some really awesome scenes with chris/dan and julian! The rest of the time I think he had a few scenes with Chase.

He and Chase from what I remember developed a pretty cute bromance too.

rossfangirl86

Are his scenes on youtube? I almost want to watch it now. Chris was always an entertaining character.