History YMMV / OneTreeHill

** While it did receive positive reviews, especially for a teen drama, it's a lot more popular with audiences than critics.

** Jake and Peyton. The characters didn't interact for the first half of season one, before they started to become closer after Jake publicly revealed he was a father. Throughout the second half of the season, Jake and Peyton's relationship comes off as platonic, before they suddenly share a brief kiss before he leaves Tree Hill to protect his daughter - and the entire time Peyton and Jake's relationship was developing, she was still in a WillTheyOrWontThey situation with Lucas, the one she was canonically in love with. The following season, they get together with basically no build up and by making Peyton suddenly being in love with Jake out of nowhere and the show even acts as if they were an epic romance in the waiting, but their history really didn't lend itself to all that.

** Jake and Peyton. The characters didn't interact for the first half of season one, before they started to become closer after Jake publicly revealed he was a father. Throughout the second half of the season, Jake and Peyton's relationship comes off as platonic, before they suddenly share a brief kiss before he leaves Tree Hill to protect his daughter - and the entire time Peyton and Jake's relationship was developing, she was still in a WillTheyOrWontThey situation with Lucas, the one she was canonically in love with. When they get together the following season with basically no build up and by making Peyton suddenly being in love with Jake out of nowhere, the show even acts as if they had been an epic romance in the waiting, but their history didn't lend itself to that at all.

** Brooke and Lucas fall into this even ''twice'' during the first three seasons. The show makes a point that the characters have never really interacted prior to Lucas joining the Ravens, with their relationship being one-sided as Brooke falls for him over the course of a six week long relationship that largely takes place off-screen and with half of the on-screen relationship spent with Lucas either cheating on Brooke with Peyton or in a coma, while the story makes it clear that Lucas doesn’t love Brooke, but he’s in love with Peyton. After the truth comes out about Lucas cheating on Brooke, she's openly hostile towards him for the remainder of the first season (to the point she pretends to be pregnant to take revenge on him for his betrayal) while he basically ignores her and then they barely interact over the course of the first half of the second season (which is even set right after season 1 with no time jump between the season 1 finale and the season 2 premiere). Despite all this, Brooke seems to still be interested in him even though she openly admits in several occasions that she knows how unhealthy her feelings for him and their relationship were, while Lucas suddenly decides that he's truly interested in her out of nowhere in the second half of the season.

* SophomoreSlump: After a powerful first season, the second season gave us the undoing of Lucas and Nathan's close relationship, two [[TheScrappy Scrappies]] in the form of [[JerkAss Felix]] and [[{{Wangst}} Anna]], the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Haley becoming a rock star for no reason and Keith (once again) allowing himself to be screwed over by his younger brother. If not for the introduction of [[UnpopularPopularCharacter Chris Keller]] and Brooke's CharacterDevelopment, most people would consider the season a complete write off.

* VindicatedByHistory: Season 2. Whilst the season as a whole is considered the weakest among the four set in High School and the first six of the show in general, it is viewed little more favorably following [[SeasonalRot Seasons 7 and 8]] or the [[TooBleakStoppedCaring melodrama heavy Season 9]]. However, in the years since the series ended, Season 2 has gained a wider appreciation for Anna Tagarro's ComingOutStory, and the rare positive portrayal of an LGBTQ+ character in [[TurnOfTheMillennium an early 2000s produced series]] who doesn't suffer from a [[BuryYourGays tragic end to their story]].

** After Lucas and Peyton's LongDistanceRelationship becomes strained after a year spent apart, Lucas attempts to save the relationship by proposing - only for Peyton to ask him to wait another year, feeling it's too soon. Lucas takes this as an outright refusal and breaks up with Peyton by leaving her in their hotel room without so much as a note saying goodbye. Come Peyton's return to Tree Hill after three years, she still wants to repair the relationship, even after she watches him say "I do" to another woman and he drunkenly accuses her of ruining his life after being left at the altar in said wedding. Then, Lucas ''finally'' apologizes to her for what he’s done and, despite everything, Peyton forgives him, prompting him to propose again and this time she accepts. Fortunately, they are able to successfully rekindle their relationship and now both mature enough to reach a definitive stability, ending up HappilyMarried one season later.

** Season 7 is considered a huge step-down from the previous season, mostly because of Creator/ChadMichaelMurray and Creator/HilarieBurton‘s departure as Lucas and Peyton were two of the five original core characters of the show. Besides, fans generally weren't receptive to several storylines as it felt like the show was just recycling plots as Clay being stalked by Katie was the third such storyline, whilst other storylines just felt as if they were being dragged out - the storyline of Nathan being accused of cheating on Haley whilst on the road took the entire first half of the season to resolve, whilst Brooke and Julian's relationship drama lasted for most of the season. Whilst the storyline dealing with the death of Lydia James and Haley's subsequent depression was well received and generally considered the high point of an otherwise mixed season, when taken alongside other storylines like Brooke's infertility and Alex's attempted suicide, the season just comes off as rather bleak.

** Peyton. A lot of the fanbase loves her, while many ''despise'' her... Though basically ''all'' her haters are die hard [[DieForOurShip Brucas fans]] who in fact hate her just because Lucas always chose her over Brooke, so…

** [[InvokedTrope Intentionally invoked]] with Chris Keller - Brucas fans initially liked him, thinking he was there to be Peyton's new love interest, until they realized he was there to cause problems for Nathan and Haley, at which point this happened. The show would later invert this situation with Julian, by introducing him in a way that made it appear he was there to cause problems for Lucas and Peyton, before revealing he was there as Brooke's new love interest, at which point he became very loved.

* MemeticMutation

** Brooke in Season 1 - whilst not an outright villain, Brooke is easily at her most antagonistic over the course of the first season. Despite this, Brooke quickly became a popular character and was retooled into a more sympathetic character the following season.

** Lucas for Jake[=/=]Peyton and Julian[=/=]Peyton fans.

** Nathan for [[PlatonicLifePartners Haley/Lucas]] shippers.
** [[InvokedTrope Intentionally invoked]] with Chris Keller - Fans initially liked him, thinking he was there to be Peyton's new love interest, until they realized he was there to cause problems for Nathan and Haley, at which point this happened. The show would later invert this situation with Julian, by introducing him in a way that made it appear he was there to cause problems for Lucas and Peyton, before revealing he was there as Brooke's new love interest.

* ShippingGoggles: Brucas fans have a habit of vilifying Peyton and arguing that it's all her (and, to a lesser extent, Lucas') fault that Brooke & Lucas split up at the start of season 4, with Brooke being completely blameless. Never mind that Peyton was willing to hide her feelings for Lucas if Brooke were to admit that she was in love with Lucas - something she repeatedly refused to do - and that it was ''Brooke'' who wasn't willing to fight for the relationship and broke up with Lucas.

** Nathan and Haley. They get together during the first half of the first season of the show and are still together at the end of the season finale, with only a brief period covering part of the second and third seasons having them separated. A significant portion of their storylines deal with their struggles to pursue their dreams whilst staying together as a couple, or the difficulties they face as a married couple in high school.