by Travis

As I write this, it is the holiday season. For those who celebrate any holiday, it is usually a time to be thankful for even the slightest of good things in one’s life; as well as a time to be hopeful that the bad things will get better even if only slightly. That explains why so many people will always be thankful for South Of Nowhere.

On the night of November 4, 2005, South Of Nowhere debuted on a little network called The N (now Teen Nick) with seemingly little chance to make a big impact. It may not be known and loved by the masses, but all who know it, love it love it. South fans are thankful for all the show has given them. It means something different, but equally powerful, to everyone it has touched; including those who it helped make the bad things in their lives even slightly better.

The fan’s joined the journey with South Of Nowhere on November, fourth, 2005, but it started long before that. It started long before the cast and crew began working on the project too. It all started with a conversation that the show’s creator, Tom Lynch, had with a friend years ago.

Tom shared the details of that conversation in his statement about what was then the third anniversary of SON’s final episode.  “The series originally came to me when one of my best friends told me his fifteen-year-old son had come out to him. I asked my friend how he reacted. He said he asked his son how he knew he was gay. His son looked back at his father and said, ‘Dad, how do you know you are straight?’”  A similar line was used in the show when “Spencer” was first trying to make sense of her homosexuality.   

It’s amazing to imagine how many thoughts we’ve had in our lives. How many thoughts must we have forgotten? How many things have we forgotten that we would have sworn at the time that we couldn’t possibly ever forget? It seems like time tries to make us forget. We never know how long we’ll remember, but there are some things too important to forget. So, you forget about forgetting them. Sometimes without even knowing why, we hold on to them. Other times, the reason is clear. You know it’s too important to forget. You know you should share it. You have no way of knowing the outcome, but you are sure it matters.

That’s what South was for Tom. A conversation planted a seed of thought, that thought became a show; the show became a saving grace for so many people who were struggling just like the then fifteen year old son of Tom’s friend. That’s why I think that the slogan on TomLynchCo.com is more than public relations… “Tom Lynch didn’t set out to be a revolutionary. It just happened that way. “

December 12, 2014 is the six anniversary of the day South of Nowhere was prematurely taken off the air. However, the journey continues. From the moment fans found out that the show was cancelled there have been various efforts to bring it back. The show still attracts new fans from all over the world. Although, all attempts to revive SON have fallen short, the love shared between those who made it happen and the fans shows no signs of dying.

Also, as Tom said in my interview with him back in 2009 when I asked him if it could ever be a series again, “I think all things are possible.” He expanded on that by talking about Kid’s Incorporated. (which was youth oriented music based show he created/produced from 1984-1994 which had some impressive alums including Fergie, Mario Lopez, and Jennifer Love Hewitt)  That show is thirty years old now. But when Tom and I were doing that interview, he said someone had just called him up and asked him if he’d do it again. So, never give up fans!

Finally, South keeps giving hope to all of its thankful fans, and now the collective SoN family has one more thing to be thankful for. Mandy Musgrave and Matt Cohen who met and fell in love while playing Ashley Davies and Aiden Dennison on South of Nowhere  and then later married, have announced that Mandy is pregnant with their first child, a baby boy.

On behalf of fans everywhere, congratulations to the happy couple from the community who you – and the entire cast and crew of South of Nowhere – have touched. It’s been six years since you left our screens, but you are still in our hearts and impacting our lives. Thank you!