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Dawson's Creek




  Caption ''Dawson's Creek'' intertitle
  Format Teen Drama
  Camera Single-camera
  Runtime approx 45 minutes
  Creator Kevin Williamson
  Starring James Van Der Beek <br> Katie Holmes <br> Joshua Jackson <br> Michelle Williams <br> Kerr Smith <br> Mary Beth Peil
  Opentheme " I Don't Want To Wait " by Paula Cole (seasons 1-6) "Run Like Mad" by Jann Arden (international airings of season 1 and DVD versions of seasons 3-6)
  Executive Producer Tom Kapinos<br>Greg Prange<br> Paul Stupin <br>Kevin Williamson
  Network The WB
  First Aired January 20 , 1998
  Last Aired May 14 , 2003
  Num Episodes 128
  Num Seasons 6
  List Episodes List of Dawson's Creek episodes
  Tv Com Id 192
  Imdb Id 0118300
  Website http://wwwdawsonscreekcom


''Dawson's Creek'' is an American Primetime Television Drama which aired from January 20 , 1998 , to May 14 , 2003 , on The WB Television Network . The lead production company was Sony Pictures Television . Reruns of the show are currently seen in the US in Syndication on TBS and on The N .

Aimed at a '' and an inspiration for many variations on the teenage Angst theme, including'' The O.C. '' on Fox ."

''Dawson's Creek'' generated a high amount of publicity before its debut, with several television Critic s and Watchdog groups expressing concerns about its anticipated "racy" plots and dialogue; the controversy even drove one of the original production companies away from the project, but numerous critics praised it for its realism and intelligent dialogue that included allusions to American television icons such as '' The Dick Van Dyke Show '' and '' The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''. By the end of its run, the show, its crew, and its young cast had been nominated for numerous awards, winning four of them. The series is known for the verbosity and complexity of the dialogue between its teenaged characters—who commonly demonstrate vocabulary and cultural awareness that went beyond the scope of the average high school student, yet that is combined with an emotional immaturity and self-absorption reflecting actual Teens . This precociousness has been a staple of a number of teenaged-themed shows since, notably including '' Gilmore Girls '' and '' The O.C. ''


ORIGINS AND REACTION

Kevin Williamson , a native of the small coastal town of Oriental, North Carolina , was approached in 1995 by producer Paul Stupin to write a pilot for a television series. Stupin, who as a Fox Network executive had brought '' Beverly Hills, 90210 '' to the air, sought out Williamson after having read his script for the slasher film '' Scream ''—a knowing, witty work about high school students. Initially offered to Fox, the network turned it down. The WB, however, was eagerly looking for programming to fill its new Tuesday night lineup. Williamson said "I pitched it as '' Some Kind Of Wonderful '', meets '' Pump Up The Volume '', meets '' James At 15 '', meets '' My So-Called Life '', meets '' Little House On The Prairie ''". The show's lead character, Dawson Leery , was Williamson's Doppelgänger : obsessed with movies and platonically sharing his bed with the girl down the creek.

(" episode (c. 1997).]]

setting, and stunning Cinematography —I can't get past the consuming preoccupation with sex, sex, sex".'' Syndicated columnist John Leo said the show should be called "When Parents Cringe," and went on to write ''"The first Episode contains a good deal of chatter about Breast s, genitalia, Masturbation , and Penis size. Then the title and credits come on and the story begins".'' Tom Shales , of '' The Washington Post '' commented that creator Kevin Williamson was ''"the most overrated wunderkind in Hollywood"'' and ''"what he's brilliant at is pandering."'' In his defense, Williamson denied this was his intention, stating that "I never set out to make something provocative and racy".

The confessed in interviews she had to consult her dictionary when she read the scripts.

While never a huge ratings success among the general television population, ''Dawson's Creek'' did very well with the younger demographic it targeted and became a defining show for the WB Network. (The first season's highest ranked episode was the finale, which was fifty-ninth, while the highest rated was the second episode, scoring so well only because there was no programming on the other networks, which were carrying President Clinton's State Of The Union address in the midst of the Lewinsky scandal.)


SEASON OVERVIEW


Episodes

See Also: List of Dawson's Creek episodes




CAST


Principal cast



Recurring Cast



Additional Cast Members



Notable Guest Stars





MUSIC

The theme song, " I Don't Want To Wait " was written and performed by Paula Cole . For the first season, international broadcasts used "Elsewhere", performed by Jann Arden , but switched to Cole's song for the remainder of the run. The producers originally planned to use "Hand in My Pocket" by Alanis Morissette for the theme (it was, in fact, used in the original pilot) but she would not grant them permission and Cole's song was substituted. There were two soundtrack albums.

Because the producers failed to secure the rights when the shows were produced and did not wish to pay for them later, some of the songs that aired in the original broadcasts (and are used in the syndicated run) were replaced in the DVD edition of the show despite the show having a signature sound. Starting with season 3, "I Don't Want To Wait" (the series opening theme song) was also dropped from the DVD releases, to be replaced by Jann Arden's "Run Like Mad".


STYLE

''Dawson's Creek'' was shot like a motion picture using a Single Camera and often filmed on location, rather than being largely studio bound. The series used soothing colors, similar to '' Party Of Five '', rather than the cold, harsh look of shows such as '' The Practice ''. While most of the episodes were conventional, there were two '' Rashomon ''-like episodes exploring a story from differing perspectives, and the somber fifth season episode "Downtown Crossing" featured only one regular, Joey, and her interaction with a mugger. The fourth season episode "The Unusual Suspects," was filmed as a Film Noir detective story—complete with camera work and music appropriate to the genre. At times, ''Dawson's Creek'' was deliberately self-conscious, as when Eve tells Dawson she is Felicity , beginning a discussion of why Dawson doesn't like television shows, which concludes with his observation that they cut away when the best part comes—immediately demonstrated by Eve, about to kiss him, is interrupted by the main titles. It also made fun of itself on other episodes besides that one, especially the finale, when Dawson is the creator of a tv show called "the Creek."


AWARDS

Dawson's Creek was nominated for fourteen awards, including ALMA Awards, Casting Society Of America Award s, Golden Satellite Award s, TV Guide Awards, and YoungStar Awards. Joshua Jackson won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Actor three times and the show won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Drama once. The series also won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Drama Series.


SPINOFF

The show had, in the words of television experts Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh , a "semi-spinoff", '' Young Americans ''. The protagonist of ''Young Americans'', Will Krudski ( Rodney Scott ), was introduced in three episodes at the end of the show's third season, as a former classmate of Dawson, Joey, and Pacey, who had moved away some years before and had returned for a visit. He was never referred to or seen before or since. ''Young Americans'' was made by the same company as ''Dawson's Creek'', Columbia TriStar Television , and appeared in ''Dawson's Creek's'' timeslot when it went on hiatus during the summer of 2000. The reason the show is considered a semi-spinoff instead of a true spinoff is because Will was not originally created for ''Dawson's Creek''. He was added to ''Dawson's'' solely to setup and promote the series ''Young Americans''.

A rumored spinoff entitled "Capeside," which would follow Joey Potter as she returned to the Cape as a teacher was scrapped after Katie Holmes turned it down.


BROADCAST HISTORY


International

The show also aired in numerous international markets, listed here with the premiere dates: Brazil , March 3 , 1998 ; the United Kingdom , May 2 , 1998 ; Israel , September 1 , 1998 ; Poland , September 6 , 1998 ; Norway , September 11 , 1998 ; Switzerland , December 27 , 1998 ; Germany , January 3 , 1999 ; Italy , January 3 , 1999 ; Croatia , September , 2001 ; France (on TF1 ), January 10 , 1999 ; Australia , January 19 , 1999 ; Romania , February 28 , 1999 ; New Zealand , June 25 , 1999 ; Hungary , September 11 , 1999 ; Spain , 2000 ; Serbia , 2000 , Turkey , 1999 and Portugal , April 8 , 2001 , Chile on 2000 by MEGA.

The show originally aired in the UK on Channel 4 but later moved to Five for the last two seasons. In 2007 Five's sister channel FiveLife began airing reruns on weekdays at 7pm.


RATINGS


U.S. ratings

Season US Ratings Network Rank
1 1998 6.6 Million The WB #121
2 1998–1999 5.4 Million The WB #118
3 1999–2000 4.0 Million The WB #122
4 2000–2001 4.1 Million The WB #120
5 2001–2002 3.9 Million The WB #134
6 2002–2003 4.0 Million The WB #134


TRIVIA




CREDITS


Filming locations

Filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina , at EUE Screen Gems Studios and on location around Wilmington. College scenes in the fifth and sixth seasons shot at Duke University , Durham, North Carolina , and additional shooting was done in Raleigh, North Carolina . In 1999 some scenes were shot on the University Of Richmond campus. The fourth season episode "Eastern Standard Time" also did location shooting in New York City , including at Grand Central Terminal .

Wilmington benefitted greatly from the show. In addition to the money brought into the community by the project, it attracted attention to the city as a filming location and boosted tourism. The visitors' bureau distributed a special guide to sites used in the show. When the program was cancelled in 2003, the news was reported on the front-page of Wilmington's daily newspaper, the ''Morning Star''. Many photos and addresses of the actual filming locations can be seen at the Dawson's Creek, Ghosts of Wilmington Website http://www.geocities.com/dcghosts


Production credits

Created by Kevin Williamson .


Production companies

Produced by Columbia TriStar Television and Outerbanks Entertainment . Originally, Granville Productions and Procter & Gamble Productions were producers, but left the show before it aired.


Executive producers

Executive-produced by Kevin Williamson , Paul Stupin , Charles Rosin , Deborah Joy LeVine , Jon Harmon Feldman , Alex Gansa , Greg Berlanti , Tom Kapinos , Gina Fattore , Jeffrey Stepakoff .


Producers

Episodes were produced by Dana Baratta , Greg Berlanti , Janice Cooke-Leonard , Alan Cross , Zack Estrin , Gina Fattore , Jon Harmon Feldman , Maggie Friedman , Darin Goldberg , David Blake Hartley , Tom Kapinos , Drew Matich , Chris Levinson , Paul Marks , Drew Matich , Shelley Meals , Rina Mimoun , Steve Miner , Gregory Prange , Jed Seidel , David Semel , Cynthia Stegner , Jeffrey Stepakoff , Dale Williams , Mike White


Writers

Episodes were written by Dana Baratta , Greg Berlanti , Hadley Davis , Gina Fattore , Anna Fricke , Maggie Friedman , Alex Gansa , Diego García Gutiérrez , Liz Garcia , Laura Glasser , Holly Henderson , Tom Kapinos , Rina Mimoun , Jason M. Palmer , Jed Seidel , Jeffrey Stepakoff , Liz Tigelaar , Mike White , and Kevin Williamson


Directors

Episodes were directed by Lou Antonio , Allan Arkush , John Behring Sanford Bookstaver ,
Arvin Brown , Jan Eliasberg , Michael Fields , Rodman Flender , Morgan J. Freeman , Dennie Gordon , Bruce Seth Green , Joshua Jackson , Joanna Kerns , Peter B. Kowalski , Perry Lang , Michael Lange , Nick Marck , Melanie Mayron , Robert Duncan McNeill , Steve Miner , Jason Moore , Joe Napolitano , Patrick R. Norris , Scott Paulin , David Petrarca , Gregory Prange , Krishna Rao , Steven Robman , Bethany Rooney , Arlene Sanford , David Semel , Kerr Smith , Sandy Smolan , Lev L. Spiro , David Straiton , Jay Tobias , Jesús Salvador Treviño , Michael Toshiyuki Uno , and James Whitmore Jr.


BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

Darren Crosdale's ''Dawson's Creek: The Official Companion'' (Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel, 1999) (ISBN 0-7407-0725-6), thoroughly chronicles the show, but only covers events through to the end of the second season. Scott Andrews' ''Troubled Waters: An Unauthorised and Unofficial Guide To Dawson's Creek'' (Virgin Publishing 2001 (ISBN 0-7535-0625-4)) also covers the series thoroughly but it includes all episodes up to the end of Season Four and, because it is unofficial, is freer with both criticism and praise. A less thorough book from about the same time, aimed at teens, is ''Meet the Stars of Dawson's Creek'' by Grace Catalano , which has more about the show than the title would imply. Andy Mangels's ''From'' Scream ''to'' Dawson's Creek: ''An Unauthorized Take on the Phenomenal Career of Kevin Williamson'' (Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 2000) (ISBN 1-58063-122-3) covers the show well but omits later seasons.

Other references include:


EXTERNAL LINKS