South of Nowhere

South of Nowhere is an American teen drama television series created by Thomas W. Lynch. Aimed primarily at teenagers, it first aired on November 4, 2005 and was one of six original series on The N. The second half of the third and final season aired October 10, 2008 and the final episode aired on December 12, 2008. Live webisodes were also created to accompany each episode in the season 2 storyline, and were seen exclusively through The N's website on the Click.

The show follows the lives of the members of the Carlin family (Paula, Arthur, Glen, Clay, and Spencer) as they adjust to moving from Ohio to Los Angeles, California. One of the main focuses include the relationship between Spencer Carlin (Gabrielle Christian) and her bisexual friend, Ashley Davies (Mandy Musgrave). The close friendship between Ashley and Spencer led Spencer to question her own sexuality, a subject which created controversy before the show first aired. It was the first series on The N to deal with such a subject relating to the primary characters. South of Nowhere was positively reviewed by Variety.^[1]

Background

Like many of the other shows on TeenNick, such as Degrassi: The Next Generation, this show tackled edgy and realistic subject matters for a teen drama like homosexuality, racism, abortion, adoption, homophobia, drugs, teen drinking, drug dealing, sexual identity, teen pregnancy, death, hate crimes, arrest, infidelity, contraception, college, domestic violence, stress, stepfamilies, peer pressure, sex, military and religion, love, and relationship, romance, friendship and high school.

Each episode of South of Nowhere is half an hour in length with commercials (23–25 minutes of actual program); the pilot episode was one hour (approximately 46 minutes of actual program). The N initially ordered 11 episodes of the series. Many people thought that The N cut the season in half, but all they did was give South of Nowhere a four-week break. The show returned to The N's lineup in January 2006 with the remaining episodes from the original order to air. During the break between episodes, interviews were shown with two of the stars, Gabrielle Christian and Matt Cohen, during commercial breaks.

The second season was originally set to begin on October 6, 2006, but was pushed up to September 29, 2006. Its season premiere followed the sixth-season premiere of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Ratings for the second season were up by 35% from season 1 and on November 17, the series reached a high among teens with a 2.16 rating.^[2]

The network officially renewed South of Nowhere for a third season, and 16 episodes had been ordered.^[3] Eight episodes aired from August 10, 2007 to September 21, 2007.

On February 27, 2008, it was officially announced on the N'sider podcast that South of Nowhere was to be canceled after the end of season 3. On February 28, an official announcement was made at the show's website that this will be the last season.

"Things change. It doesn't always seem good, but change they do. South of Nowhere has been a great journey. A show like this could not have existed ten years ago on youth oriented television or any television for that matter. But exist it does, because things change. I have loved my experience with The N for having the courage and vision to air South. I love the fans for allowing me to tell real stories about their lives. I love all of the producers, writers, directors, and crew who took the series into their hearts and participated in SON as more than a 'job'. I love the cast and how they dimensionalized the characters and created real people that you as fans could relate to and feel for as they reflected your own lives. I especially love Spashley, The name you gave to the two lead characters. To be able to create a show called 'Excellent,' 'groundbreaking' and 'impossible to resist' is rare. To create a show that touches the hearts and lives of a generation is a gift. Thank you for allowing me and Spashley into your hearts. And remember, things change, so there's no telling where the stories of Spashley will show up next.
Love and Respect-Tom Lynch Creator / Executive Producer

Promos began airing in March 2008 stating the show would be returning April 11. However, on March 21, it was announced that the final half of the third season had been pushed back to the fall. South of Nowhere returned for the remainder of its third season on October 10, 2008 and ended its run on December 12, 2008.

Episodes

Cast

• Gabrielle Christian - Spencer Carlin
• Mandy Musgrave - Ashley Davies
• Matt Cohen - Aiden Dennison
• Chris Hunter - Glen Carlin
• Danso Gordon - Clay Carlin (Seasons 1-2, guest star in Season 3)
• Rob Moran - Arthur Carlin
• Maeve Quinlan - Paula Carlin
• Austen Parros - Sean Miller (Seasons 1-2, recurring Season 3)
• Valery Ortiz - Madison Duarte
• Aasha Davis - Chelsea Lewis (Season 2-3, recurring Season 1)
• Eileen April Boylan - Kyla Woods (Season 2-3)

Music and media

Music

• The show's first season theme song was "I Don't Wanna Know (If You Don't Want Me)" by The Donnas.
• The show's second and third season theme song is "Wasted" by L.P.
• For iTunes and Amazon, the first season theme music was replaced with "Lift Me Up" by Gena Olivier.
• The song used in the trailers leading up to the show's airdate was "No Money Fun" by Oly.
• The song used repeatedly, including in the episode "The Morning After", is "Reasons to Fall" by Lauren Hoffman. (Another song by Lauren Hoffman "Ghost You Know" was used).
• The song used in early promos for season 1 is "Perfect Vision" by Montag.
• The song used in the first promo for season 3 is "Deep" by Ben Broussard.
• The song used in the promo for the last half of the series is "Goodbye" by Secondhand Serenade.
• The song used in the episode "Girls Guide To Dating" (also titled "Girls Guide To Dating Girls") is "Something In Me" by Katelyn Tarver.
• The song used in "Behind The Music" is "What I Wouldn't Give" by Skylar Grey.
• The song used twice ("Saturday Night Is For Fighting" and "The It Girls") is "Hollywood" by Conex.^[4]

Media

South of Nowhere is available to download online on the "TV Shows" section of Apple's iTunes Store (not available in Canada) and the episodes are formatted for use with the Apple iPod. The show is also available for download on Amazon Unbox service and viewable on a compatible PC, TV, or portable video player. On all of these copies, the first-season episodes have had the opening and closing theme music replaced with different music (noted above).

All episodes, as well as the webisodes, can be streamed on The N's video service "The Click".^[5] However, this service is only available in selected countries. It is not available in Canada. Episodes can also be viewed on Logo's official website.

DVD releases

Nickelodeon and Amazon.com struck a deal to produce DVDs of new and old Nickelodeon shows. Amazon will be making the discs, cover art, and disc art themselves.^[6]

Season 2 was released on September 16, 2008, through Amazon.com.^[7] Season 1 was released on October 21, 2008.^[8] These contain the same edits as used on Amazon Unbox. Season 1 does not feature opening credits for the majority of the episodes, though the accompanying music track, "Life Me Up," is used in the closing credits for each.

Season 3 was released on June 16, 2009 through Amazon.com.

Reception

South of Nowhere received positive reviews.

Syndication

Reruns aired on MuchMusic in Canada in 2011 until 2012. Reruns aired on TeenNick in the United States from 2008-2010 and then again in 2012. Since 2012, the series hasn't been broadcast on any other television station since.

References

External links

• Official website
• South of Nowhere at the Internet Movie Database
• South of Nowhere at TV.com
• South of Nowhere cast interviews and episode recaps on After Ellen