Columbia TriStar Television, Outerbanks Entertainment, Sony Pictures Television
Exec Producers: Tom Kapinos, Greg Prange, Paul Stupin, Greg Berlanti, Kevin Williamson
Created by: Paul Stupin and Kevin Williamson
A friend texted a photo of this week’s cover of Entertainment Weekly commemorating the 20th anniversary of the iconic 90s show, Dawson’s Creek.
I immediately fired back with the ‘I remember everything’ gif featuring Joey and Pacey. There is only one team here and it’s Team Pacey. And there is only one emotion and it’s angst, teen angst, and in 1998, I was living for every strained-face moment of it. I have never lived on a creek, run an inn with my older sister, or climbed up a rooftop nightly to sleep over at my male best friend’s house, so I can’t say I exactly related. But Dawson’s was serving up some serious angst and as my numerous scrawled through journals could attest, our shared angst ran deeper than any creek.
It pains me that the following generations with the smarts and curiosity to stream this Gen X gem will not be able to sing along with Paula Cole to the opening credit classic ‘I Don’t Want to Wait’ (with the exception of the finale). This track appropriately set up viewers for an ugly cry, courtesy of the original ugly cry hero, Dawson Leery. The song agonizes, ‘I don’t want to wait for our lives to be over…’ What? This is what I was singing at the top of my lungs on my mom’s couch. The image of this makes me want to hide my head in a Totino’s Party Pizza. Which is probably how the producers felt when they lost the rights to the song after the show’s original run. With no paddleboat of my own to storm off to, I’ve been ugly crying ever since.
Paula Cole aside, do yourself a favor, grab a pint of cookie dough ice cream and whatever 5 for $5 frozen pizza you can get your hands on and enjoy the squirm-fest that is the ‘90s OG classic, Dawson’s Creek. Your Capeside pals Joey, Dawson, Pacey, and Jen await!