Despite the controversy surrounding the sexual-oriented topics, the show was a major critical success. Before its premiere, "San Francisco Chronicle" explained the buzz around the show was due to its creator Kevin Williamson who wrote the screenplays for "Scream" and "Scream 2" and that the show might be "one of the year's tangier hits". He also found "Dawson's Creek" scenically "downright luxuriant" and liked that it "doesn't have the rushed feel of so many teen shows. The edginess is in the situations, not the pacing." "Variety" wrote that it was "an addictive drama with considerable heart...the teenage equivalent of a Woody Allen movie—a kind of 'Deconstructing Puberty'". "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" called it "a teen's dream". "The Dayton Daily News" listed Capeside as a television town they'd most like to live in. "The Seattle Times" declared it the best show of the 1997–1998 season and said it "belongs to the small-pantheon "My So-Called Life", "James at 15" and to a lesser extent, "Party of Five" and "Doogie Howser, M.D."