Hart of Dixie: Distractingly Set in Stars Hollow

Hart of Dixie is a charming little weekly romantic comedy, whose main fault is that they don't even try to hide the fact that it is clearly filmed on the same set as Gilmore Girls, and I find it super distracting (I have the same problem with Pretty Little Liars-- I keep expecting to see Lorelai or Miss Patty or Lane pop around a corner).  There's no Miss Patty, but it *does* have Carl Winslow as a slightly effete gossip blogger.  So there's that.





But really, it's a great show, so long as you realize it's not really set in "the South" so much as "a fictional kooky town, not unlike Stars Hollow."  It's about a doctor from New York who (in a hilariously implausible turn of events) is sent packing from her cardiothoracic surgery internship to be a general practitioner in a small town and "learn about the patients."  Because someone who just spent 5+ years learning to be a heart surgeon is TOTALLY QUALIFIED to be a general practitioner.  It's not like they're two totally different types of medicine, or anything.  And besides, I really don't care if the person operating on my heart is a "people person" or not.

ANYWAY, my point is that this show is utterly charming, and even in the midst of all the small town wackiness and romantic comedy plots, they have people acting like real people and actually making adult choices (sometimes).


Rachel Bilson is Zoe Hart, and also completely unable to play an unlikeable character.

Remember the beginning of The OC where Summer
was a bitch who left a drunk Marissa on her porch?
So glad they stopped that.

Zoe Hart is a flashy New York doctor stuck in a quirky small southern town, although the only identifiably southern qualities of the town are 1) the accents and 2) the repeated references to the Alabama-Auburn rivalry, which is literally all I know about Alabama anyway.*  Anyway, it's a fish-out-of-water story, as she tries to convince people to trust her-- despite her big city ways, namely thinking that formal shorts are "a thing"-- and falls in love with both George (the inconveniently engaged lawyer) and Wade (the inconveniently attractive redneck neighbor).  Zoe rents a house from Lavon Hayes, who is literally the best thing about this show.

* I'm kidding, Cmac.  I promise.  I also know that the correct answer to "Alabama or Auburn?" is ROLL TIDE.


This is George, the guy you're supposed to want her to be with but he's engaged for the first season.

George, remember when you were Jason Street on Friday Night Lights
and you broke you back and then started playing wheelchair rugby RIDICULOUSLY
early for someone with a spinal cord injury?  I mean, I love that show and they did some
great things with dealing with that injury early on, but like 6 months later you're trying out
for the OLYMPICS? COME ON.  Also, where is Riggins?  And Smash?  WHERE IS TAMI
TAYLOR?  Clearly, I need to do a FNL post because I HAVE THOUGHTS about that show.
Also, I need to finish it because I got distracted and only finished three seasons.

As I mentioned above, I have a hard time separating George from Jason Street, so like half my thoughts about him are along the lines of "WHY ARE YOU WALKING DID YOU GO THROUGH WITH THAT MEXICAN SURGERY AFTER ALL?" and not related to Hart of Dixie at all.  The other half of my thoughts are "damn, he's really funny.  Like, way funnier than I thought Jason Street could be."  Okay, so my thoughts on George are 100% FNL related.  Anyway, he's a lawyer and engaged to Lemon because there needs to be an obstacle to him and Zoe getting together.



Wade, the implausibly cultured redneck.

He takes his shirt off a lot, because the CW knows what pays the bills.

Look, I love Wade.  He's charming and funny and he and Zoe have some great chemistry.  Plus, the actor is far better at the whole "acting" thing than the usual CW beefcakes are, so props for that.  Wade makes up the other third of the Zoe-George-Wade love triangle, because this whole damn show is essentially 8 billion love triangles all playing out in overlapping succession.  It's great, really.  And I like Wade.  But I can't get past the pure FANTASY that is Wade.  A charming redneck bartender who has progressive social views?  UNLIKELY.*

*I grew up in a small town.  There are good guys there, I'm not denying that.  I just can't buy it, okay?



Lemon Breeland, the improbably named nemesis.

No, I don't know why she dresses like
an extra from The Help.

Lemon is engaged to George because they were high school sweethearts and that's just what you do when you're from a small town.  Unfortunately, she's in love with Lavon (who wouldn't be?  He's the greatest) and also a crazy person.  She's borderline insanely villainous at first, although they soften her up after a while and she gets more "charmingly crazy with just a hint of psychopath" than "oh my god she'll murder them all" as the first season progresses.



Lavon Hayes, Mayor of Bluebell and User of the Third Person.

Lavon has style to spare you guys.

Despite his tendency to refer to himself in the third person, Lavon Hayes is the best.  His position as mayor appears to be somewhat akin to a monarchy, as he mostly does weird ceremonial things like lead parades and then occasionally singlehandedly stop another town from encroaching on their turf.  Lavon is wonderful through and through, but my *favorite* thing about him is his friendship with Zoe.  He's not secretly in love with her and he's not gay-- he's just her best friend.  They get each other through breakups, help each other with work problems, and are generally an incredibly functional and well-written male-female platonic friendship.  He also has great clothes and usually a matching hat.  All hail Lavon, Mayor of Us All.


Annabeth, not Annabelle like I thought until I started writing this up.

After Lavon, Annabeth has the best clothes in Bluebell.
Mostly because she isn't worryingly prone to formal shorts like Zoe
or cast-offs from Mad Men like Lemon.

Mostly, I'm posting about Annabeth because I love almost every single thing she wears, but along with Lavon, Annabeth is co-captain of Team Being The Best Damn Friend, ever.  There's one episode where she's shitty to Zoe but I'm going to ignore it because when they made Lemon less crazypants they also used Annabeth to humanize her.  And Annabeth is a damn good friend to Lemon.  Damn good.  Plus, they talk about things that are not men, which is rare (especially for a show that is essentially a romantic comedy in weekly form).  


Verdict: Perfectly Awesome, so long as you're not expecting Shakespeare.  I mean, this is the CW, people.  Lower your expectations.