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] Boston Globe,[2] The New York Times,[3] among others.

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 (2325
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.[4]

The network officially renewed South of Nowhere for a third season, and 16 episodes had
been ordered.[5] 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.