Having watched this entire series twice. Once when it aired back in 2003 and now in 2021, I can honestly say that they don't make shows like this anymore. The plot line is simple and at times predictable with high volumes of unnecessary drama. But it has a deep honestly rooted in realism. The characters and plot line actually feels real. This is one of those teen drama's that even after almost 20 years feels fresh.
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donadey199027 February 2021
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tapio_hietamaki27 March 2017When 'The O.C.' aired, it was a phenomenon. I can only imagine what the craze was like in America, but here in Finland it aired when I was in high school and the teachers would talk about it in class. Everybody watched 'The O.C.' and it's no wonder why.
It's not like the show is the pinnacle of television, there are certainly many flaws in it. Some seasons are better than others, some characters are annoying and others totally irrelevant, some plot lines are stupid and some unrealistic, and some jokes fall flat. Actually, the whole premise lacks credibility. A wealthy lawyer adopts a criminal teenage boy because he sees something worthwhile in him? But the show is lovable for its familiar early 2000's music and fashion and its charming and memorable characters. Every teenage boy wants to be confident and good-looking like Ryan, while relating to his tortured brooding. If you don't identify with the nerdy Seth, you will at least know somebody who is exactly like him. The girls are equally familiar and rounded characters, from the troubled and sheltered Marissa to the carefree and sexy Summer and the intelligent and adorable Anna. I'm sure that even now, a decade later, it would still be easy to get into a heated discussion about who should've ended up with whom and how horrible it was that a certain character died... -
alie-hunter5 April 2020The scenery, clothes, and music transport back to simpler times of my youth. While most of the storylines revolve around the "core four", the writers did a great job of also writing quality material for the adults. Compared to other parents on teen dramas, Sandy and Kirsten are extremely involved in their kids' lives and hold them accountable for mistakes. They also gave the adults heavy storylines. Try watching Kirsten spiral into alcoholism and not cry. One of the most well-written characters on the show is Julie Cooper and she started off as a guest-role. That said, there were some pit-falls over the course of the 4 seasons. One of those being the Marissa/Alex and DJ/Marissa arcs. Both were just opportunities for Marissa to off Julie. The show was filled with many classic scenes, most occurring in the Cohen's kitchen, which makes the Cohen family one to root for... "Yoga-lates". The series is a great "Quarantine and Chill" watch if you can get your hands on a copy.
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McGonigle4 September 2003When my girlfriend told me she was going to start watching this show, I figured it would give me 60 minutes a week to myself. But when I actually watched part of the first or second episode, I was surprised to find myself starting to get drawn in.
Here's what I like about this show: First, the kids talk like kids (even if some of them look like adults!). I don't know about anyone else, but after Dawson's Creek and The Gilmore Girls, I find it refreshing to see a show about teenagers who have trouble expressing themselves instead of speaking in pithy, self-aware sound bites.
Second, this show does a believeable job of presenting the class issues involved in having a "poor kid" move in with a "rich family". Others have pointed out that it avoided the initial cliche by having the two teenage boys become friends, but later episodes have shown that in spite of their friendship and common interests (e.g. comic books), there are still deeper issues of class and sexuality that show how different their "worlds" really are.
And finally, I was surprised to see that the writers were actually able to make me care about the problems of the rich characters! (The adults, anyway). For too many nighttime soap operas, portraying the "problems of the rich" are just a way to get us "unwashed" types to sneer at the "problems" that money brings ("I wish I had those problems!"). In "The O.C.", the writers actually explore questions of money, class (again) and love in the various adult couples in a way that brings Jane Austen to mind; we can relate to the struggles the characters are going through even if their day-to-day lives are completely foreign from our own.
All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable TV soap opera that doesn't require you to check your entire brain at the door. -
lilasalovaara3 January 2018This might sound silly but i'm not lying or being exaggerating - this tv show changed my life. It gave me a good feeling for the rest of my life. I could watch this show many times all over and all over again without getting bored or tired.
Everything about this show is perfect, everything! The views, the music, the far-out characters, the lines, the sets, the clothes and THE MOST OF ALL - THE CAST!!
I remember starting watching this show around the time when i just got a depression. I would sleep and then in between drown myself into this blue world of drama and comedy. This show got me through it. This show made me feel alive and became as my passion.
This show was never long-wided, NO WAY! You never knew what was about to happen. This show had everything - excitement, funny humor, drama, thriller and love!
I'm so thankful for Josh Schwartz making this show because it LITERALLY CHANGED MY LIFE. I MEAN, LITERALLY. I admire it and look it as a perfection. I've showed this show to all of my friends and they thought that this is at least very good! I also managed to turn the other one into a fan.
I want everything to watch OC if they haven't seen it because this show gave me a lot and still means a lot to me! No kidding! -
dannijohnson4 October 2018I have so much love for this show! I started watching it about a year after it came out and have re-watched it probably once a year since. No other teen show has been able to do what the OC does. Not only does it follow the drama that unfolds in the lives of a group of teenagers but, it shows that people from different backgrounds can come together and forge unbreakable bonds. The friendship between ryan and seth is one of my favourite things to watch unfold. Alot of the time teen dramas focus on the relationships between female best friends so, its really refreshing that in this instance the main relationship was two guy mates. The support and love that they showed to each other was heart warming. Kirsten and Sandy cohen.......urgh! I just love them! Their relationship to the outside world looks perfect but when you delve deeper into the show you see that they too have their fair share of problems. But no matter what they always work together to get through those bad times. I think thats a very vital thing to portray to the youth of today as, most people struggle to understand that a relationship takes alot of work, trying and understanding. We're only shown these perfect couples leading perfect lives and, this relationship was genuine. My only negative about this whole show is that there just aren't enough seasons! I would loved to of had another couple of seasons because this is my all time favourite show from my teenage years.
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juju-962248 August 2023This is quite the cultural melting pot - and I'm not just talking about Chrismukkah. It's half soap opera, half teen drama, brought together in a fast-moving, wise-cracking, pop culture-referencing, blink-and-you've-missed-it comedy-drama in the 'Gilmore Girls' mold. Plus the soundtrack rightly spawned a good half dozen compilations.
And it really is a case of 'blink and you'll miss it' as the crazy merry-go-round of incestuous, will-they-won't-they relationships play out. By and large it's silly fluff with the occasional dark moment, but it's always entertaining. The characters are great, Adam Brody's Seth being the standout performance.
I actually missed this show completely when it first aired and am currently only on Season 2... so far, so good. -
felipepm1712 August 2020We just need to pretend that the show ended one season earlier
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ComedyFan201029 September 2014I started this show with not very high expectations and must say the first few episodes just made me cringe. I found it unrealistic, cliché and it involved some bad acting from the younger actors. But it rapidly gained on quality and the story lines just sucked me in. The show has both good and bad times. It went down in the season three and the beginning of season 4 made me think that it will turn into garbage. But once again they gained on the entertainment and I felt sad at the end saying good bye to the characters I now loved.
And I must say I didn't always love them. Some characters, like the main one Ryan, I had a love/hate attitude towards. Mostly love, but there were times when I wished somebody would kick his ass and though he was annoying. Then there was Summer. Oh man, did I not like her in the first seasons! But her character went through some great development as at the end I loved the girl.
And there were characters that I always cared about. Julie, a bit of a villain but the one that one just can't dislike. A strong, beautiful woman who can manipulate everyone and yet has a kind heart. And Sandy! Isn't he the kind of dad many would wish they had? And Seth, one of the best characters on the show. He makes us laugh and we love him.
The show is a sort of a soap opera with concentration on teens. But the adults also play a huge role in this one, which makes it even more entertaining as I haven't been a teen for a long time. And it manages to keep the viewer watching with fun stories and with characters we love. -
RavenGlamDVDCollector31 August 2015First off, to state something quite clearly, I disagree with the legions out there who criticize Mischa Barton as Marissa Cooper. Look, I have studied this show, especially her performance. I have scrutinized her every move. The girl is poetry in motion. I think "the actress has a difficult streak" but that is her personal life, I am talking Marissa Cooper here, and she did great! It is grossly unfair to discriminate against her because or your own petty jealousies, people. I think she gave Marissa more than just a dash of Mischa and it worked. Marissa comes across as "not exactly thrilled with this world", somewhat aloof, and that's the Mischa Barton trademark and that's what many of you can't take. Look at her performance again and you'll see how much she gave the character.
I would not have bought this series had it not been for my considerable interest in anything MISCHA. I had seen lots of photos of her and she was my driving force for obtaining the DVDs. Believe me, the style of the show is a long way off from being my kind of thing, especially with the first half of the pilot episode. I am now halfway through the third season (incidentally, with all my reading about the show I know the drastic outcome, the fate of Marissa, although thankfully not the exact details) and I've become a fan of the Captain Oats/Princess Sparkle bit as well, and I think highly of Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan so I am a true O.C. fan BUT BUT BUT it would never have happened were it not for Mischa. So I will leave it up to the other fans to enthuse about the rest of the show. It is just so damn fashionable to kick sand at Mischa that I find it my solemn duty to defend her performance. Everybody who knows The Raven knows she is my muse for the female lead in my own novel, so lay off!
Prior to writing this, I saw ep. 15 of #3 and just allow me to mention that if Willa Holland as Kaitlin Cooper was merely a story arc, ooh big mistake. I can check out on Wikipedia now to see if she's coming back, but I won't add yet another season spoiler. Obviously, the producers would have seen she is the added injection the show needs (debatable, actually, I find Mischa to induce an overload of just-sit-there-in- amazement) and especially as Ms. Barton is scheduled to not be part of the final season, Willa should become main cast. I know it is past history. But please don't e-mail me the outcome. -
SnoopyStyle19 September 2013Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) is a young man from the bad side of town who got arrested for his brother's mistake. Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher) is his lawyer and he decides to take him into his own home. His wife Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) isn't sure, but their kid Seth (Adam Brody) just love the fact that he has a friend. Ryan falls for the girl next door Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). It's love at first sight.
This is the biggest teen soap of its time. It's popularity is still shocking. I'm surprised that teen soaps aren't being churned out all the time by the networks other than CW. This show burn bright and burn fast. It lasted only 4 seasons, and was quickened by the death of Marissa Cooper at the end of season 3. I still don't know who's brilliant idea that was. Maybe Mischa Barton was tired of the show. Who knows? But it ended the show prematurely. Not to say that the show had long legs. Creator Josh Schwartz had design the show to burn through all the teen clichés real quick. By the 3rd season, it had run short of the easy story lines. I was waiting for the evil twins to turn up. -
The O.C.-one of the best shows ever and forever, and that's why: not only is it an encouraging, positive show that lifts you up when you need to watch something to forget the world and its cruelty, it does so without being destructive/not at the cost of other people/values. There is no clumsy, obvious affirmative action (which is always reverse racism underneath), there is no bashing of Europeans/non-Americans for the sake of a nasty political agenda/clumsy propaganda, there is no twisting of historical facts (especially European ones), no turning European legends into villains and so on. And yet, it is a thrilling, entertaining, sometimes thought-provoking show – yes, it can be done, and it can be done successfully and artfully. True, there have been shows about teenagers in rich neighborhoods before, true, there have been shows about unlike couplings/brothers. There have been shows about noble criminals and teenage romance. But this show unites it all in a unique and charming way, and adds a lot of heart and soul and smartness. This is not just a dumb teen/romance/hypocritical family show, these are beautifully written, round (and perfectly cast) characters with heart and wits – entertaining and educating at the same time (without being overly didactic). This is the show I would recommend to parents to show their kids in order to show them how to behave in the world. A truly uplifting, funny and also instructive show – for viewers and writers alike, this is how it is done, you can entertain/be entertained without violence and xenophobia. A plus!!
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brynners-8326619 March 2018This show is great. It is emotional, funny, dramatic, corney and hooking. There is a lot of struggle, love and life happening the whole time and you grow to love all the characters. However I honestly feel like the 4th season ruined the show. It turned really weird and different than the other seasons and I am really disappointed with how it ended. It didn't even seem like the same show by the end.
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happy_honda8819 September 2006I don't understand how this show has become so popular amongst the teenage viewing population. First of all, the actors are at least 10 years older than the characters they play. E.g. Ryan is supposed to be 17 years old or there abouts but is played by a 28 year old actor. It's just not convincing to see typical high school students looking like post-graduate university students. Perhaps Ryan, summer, seth and co. were all too stupid to graduate highschool the first time and have had to repeat for the 10th year in a row? Generally, the quality of the dialogue is shocking at least compared to deep and meaningful dialogue in dawsons creek. This show is overrated and is one of the worse i have seen. You may diagree... but to each their own!
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eirefaerie20 November 2003It is at times corny, melodramatic, predictable, unbelievable as hell and sugar-coated. And yet? It works.
This show, which by all accounts should have been written off as a redo of good ole' Bev Niners, is funny, quirky and absolutely delightful. Somehow, over the first few episodes, it turned from being a guilty pleasure to just a genuine pleasure. This is largely due to the combined talents of Peter Gallagher, Kelly Rowan, Adam Brody and Ben McKenzie. They work as a family. They're funny. They're sweet. And somehow, Peter Gallagher is hot!
Adam Brody's ad-libs, Ben McK's baleful glances, Kelly Rowan's endearing nature and Peter Gallagher's eyebrows all add up to a fantastic hour of television that I await all week. The writing is quick, the acting (for the most part) is great and the in-jokes crack me up. Despite its silly premise, this show is pretty smart. And endearing. And really, really funny.
Would a public defender ever adopt his young client? No. Would ador(k)able, funny, smart Seth Cohen ever be considered unpopular? Probably not. Does Tate Donovan even look old enough to drink, let alone have a teenage daughter? Nah. My advice? Get over all that, sit back, and enjoy being entertained.
Cause this is how we do it in Orange County. -
mattjamesstoddart-228646 May 2020You really can't go wrong with The OC!
Great characters, writing, location and style! Full of teen angst, family dynamics, love, heartache, tears and laughter.
If I had to rate the seasons from amazing to just ok, they would be;
1 - Season 2 2 - Season 1 3 - Season 4 4 - Season 3 -
sebalcocksa10 December 2016At first I didn't think I was going to enjoy this show but after a few episodes I found myself completely hooked and unable to stop watching it.
I thought it was going to be a very typical high school drama show but it wasn't at all as I expected it to be.
I think anybody at any age can watch it and enjoy it thoroughly.
The only thing that bothered me was that they made up problems that where very unlikely to happen in real life.
You also got very attached to the characters.
It is one of the best series that I have watched. -
I just finished viewing the very last episode of one my most favorite TV shows that's known as 'The O.C.' and wanted to share my thoughts on what it meant to me and why! It grabbed my attention from the very first episode with incredible acting and a great cast with awesome chemistry amongst them and with a quirky and witty scrip and also showed fabulous taste in fashion and makeup which was fun to look at all the time! Great indie bands featured in the background always seemed to strike up the right mood and accentuate the emotional drama occurrences during the show! It introduced me to some fabulous artists which I've since become fond of (ie. 'Phantom Planet', 'The Killers', & 'Imogen Heap' to name a few!) It affected me on a personal level with the story lines of family conflicts, relationships, parties, and reminded me of my high school days gone by, and every single season finale (and several episodes) seemed to cause me to bawl my eyes out they were so meaningful! Unlike other family drama shows it had the guts to show the hard topics in honest ways and from the perspective and young and old teenagers and adults and parents which made it unique! Every character was important in their own way and every character developed and dealt with their own struggles and challenges and although new ones came and went it never affected the show's story and direction! I'll admit this past season was a bit different without one of the main characters 'Marissa' who was killed off at the end of the past season but that didn't change the show as I feared it might...instead it kept it's integrity with the core characters who still reminisced and looked back fondly on her character who in a way was still there in their memory! I'm extremely pleased with how they ended the show completing everyone's story in a creative and positive way that encourages all of us in the real world to follow our dreams no matter where they might lead us! A lot of people who didn't follow the show might have thought it was cheesy but it wasn't at all! It was light hearted and silly when it needed to be to balance out the tough topics it dealt with! It came along a head of it's time perhaps and wasn't appreciated fully for it's full worth in the TV industry! I don't watch any other family dramas (I used to watch 'Once & Again' which was sadly canceled as well!) and there will never be a show that will fill the hole it's left! It was such a different show than every thing else on TV and I will sorely miss it! I feel sorry for those who may not have had the privilege of being touched by the show and it's story lines, script, acting, characters, music, etc... because it was truly a one of a kind!
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wierded6 June 2020Absolutely love the OC. Lots of nostalgia watching this after Sixth Form back when I was 15/16. Seasons 1 and 2 were great, 8.5 respectively, however Season 3 really let the OC down. The Jonny storyline was so so boring, give me Oliver even!
Season 4 however, is possibly the BEST season of all. Rewatching them all through lockdown and it's just amazing. Very funny and the OC at its best. Definitely worth a watch - it's currently available on Amazon Prime. So sad it got cancelled after Season 4, I feel it had really found its footing again with Taylor, Bullit et al -
jls269830 August 2005Another season has come and gone, and, with twenty-four episodes of drama, heartbreak, and product placement to choose from, I present my "WHO CARES?" awards for the SECOND SEASON of "The O.C." Read them at your own risk, for they contain many spoilers.
Best Character: Summer Roberts. Summer's really come into her own this season: she has had to juggle two boys, Zack and Seth, who proved consistently to be higher-maintenance than she is; has had to pose for and play the role of a diminutive comic-book heroine named Little Miss Vixen; has had to alternately comfort and advise Marissa, her terribly self-absorbed best friend; and has had to face her own foibles in the company of Orange County's wealthy and powerful--i.e., on-again, off-again boyfriend Zack's family. Not bad for one season.
Worst Character: DJ. There was fierce competition for this year's title. But DJ, the gardener-for-hire who functioned--nominally--as Marissa's rebound boyfriend in some early second-season episodes, nearly caused me to stop watching the show. Luckily for me, and for all of humanity, he quickly became a footnote.
Best Couple: Sandy and Kirsten. To watch a couple so thoughtfully and, at times, shamefully go through the highs and lows of their twentieth year of marriage may sound to some as painfully boring television, especially for what is ostensibly a teen drama; but all of the other characters in the O.C. orbit around the Cohens in one way or another, and when Sandy and Kirsten start to unravel, bad things happen in Orange County.
Worst Couple: Alex and Marissa. After facing another failed relationship in DJ, Marissa decides that, in searching for her next romantic partner, her own gender shouldn't be off limits. Thus her turn to Alex, who, after a relationship with Seth proved to be a non-starter, succumbs to Marissa's charms during an exciting hand-holding session at the Bait Shop. Unfortunately for Alex, Marissa's just playing a game of "Just Kidding!" and quickly dumps Alex when she turns into the same sort of domineering jerk Marissa's previous love interests were--sans Ryan, of course. This angle of same-gender relationships could've been more seriously explored, but, alas, Marissa is most definitely not the character to do it with.
Dumbest Plot Twist: Marissa falls for Alex (from the episode "The Second Chance"). Since Marissa's supposed romantic infatuation with Alex was a purported stunt by the writers to breathe new life into the show in order to combat lackluster mid-season ratings, the entire plot line lacked credibility from the start. The coupling is not developed and is quickly dropped. A far riskier move would have been to put Marissa and Alex together--and keep them together.
Cleverest Plot Twist: Trey completes his jail sentence and arrives at Newport (from the episode "The Brothers Grim"). Besides symbolically functioning as a constant reminder of Ryan's past, Trey is a veritable gold mine of delicious O.C. plots. The writers must have had smiles on their faces as they answered these questions: How do we get Ryan to stop being such a restrained milquetoast and return to his beat-'em-up ways? Shove Trey in the pool house! How do we get an old-fashioned, girl's-floating-unconscious-in-the-pool O.C. party going? Throw a birthday bash for Trey! How do we throw some much-needed tension into Marissa's relationship with Ryan? Have Marissa shoot Trey right in front of him, spawning dozens of new plot threads for next season!
Best Kiss: Summer and Seth (from the episode "The Rainy Day Women"). Admittedly, it was corny--Seth, attempting to fix his home's satellite reception during a rare rainstorm, sliding headfirst down the side of his McMansion, his fall broken by a tangle of ropes, encounters Summer who, after ditching Zack and his family at the airport to be with Cohen, kisses him, upside-down, Tobey Maguire-Kirsten Dunst-style, after partially pulling off his (oh, no) Spider-Man mask worn to ward off those deadly droplets of rain--but, nonetheless, it was the most memorable, albeit derivative, kiss in a season of rather unmemorable, derivative kisses.
Best Looking: Mischa Barton (plays Marissa Cooper). Due to the unrelenting thrashing her acting and character takes, not just by me but by many, many others around the world (she is called a "Bot" in some quarters because of her wooden performances), I figured it was time to relay something positive about Ms. Barton; therefore, I hereby anoint her the best looking of the bunch.
Worst Promotional Tie-In: The Ford Mustang. After receiving a new red Ford Mustang coupe at the beginning of the season, Coop (Marissa) mysteriously gets a second red Mustang, this time a convertible, to conveniently park in the background of shots. Oddly, the coupe and the convertible are never seen on-screen at the same time, but alternate.
Best Actor: Peter Gallagher (plays Sandy Cohen). Sandy is the moral center of the show, and Gallagher deftly handles the nuances and the broad strokes of the character.
Best Actress: Kelly Rowan (plays Kirsten Cohen). Ms. Rowan, whose character Kirsten lurked in the background through so much of last season, has this season been thrust into a central role in the story. Kirsten's descent into alcoholism is, entirely to Rowan's credit, heartbreaking.
Worst Episode: "The Distance." The first episode of the season was undeniably the season's most insipid. The seemingly insurmountable obstacles set up at the conclusion of season one are quickly and easily resolved here. And, considering their history, Seth and Luke hamming it up together struck me as a tad disingenuous. Just a tad.
Best Episode: "The Dearly Beloved." In this season-ender, Caleb gets a funeral (to complement his season one-ending wedding to Julie) and Kirsten gets a new, detoxicated home. Everyone doesn't live happily ever after, especially Marissa, who must come to grips with her murderous ways in a reconstituted household complete with the ever-annoying Jimmy "Hey Kiddo" Cooper. Bring on Season Three! -
angelachaddoud19 December 2021I've watched this over 3 times!! Me and my husband watch this every year, it's got highs and lows, struggle love and heartbreak.
Im not good with my words but all I gotta say is just watch it! I can never get sick of this show! It brings back good memories of the early 2000s it's got one of the best soundtracks I've Shazamed so many tracks and everytime I listen its reminds me of this show!
Love love love wish they made more shows like this. -
First of all, this rating is not by IMDb's crazy standards. This show has some real weaknesses that are reflected in my rating. Yes, I loved the characters, and the story has some really thrilling moments that I could have never predicted, but you have to look past the surface to truly judge it fairly. And that's why it comes short of being a proper good show (which, to be fair, most shows aren't anyway).
So, what are these flaws I'm talking about? Well, basically every single episode bases its story line on one simple mechanic: One character tells their partner or friend a lie, and this is later discovered and creates conflict. Also, the plot devices usually arise from a character doing something really stupid, that makes no logical sense. Obviously, this is more noticeable when it comes from, say, Ryan or Sandy, than when Seth or Summer do it. Either way it's a sign of lazy writing, and very much along the mainstreamed and mediocre line of most similar shows. Not saying it's a deal breaker, but it definitely separates decent or good shows from great ones. No matter how much we like the characters, we can't just look past obvious flaws in a show, like so many people on this site do (just look at Friends, it's rated almost 9/10, which is absolutely absurd).
Another big plus are some of the turns in the overall plot or main story that we follow through a season. There are some really dramatic and touching moments that I though were very well executed. And I guess that is what lifts this show past just having great characters, and makes me think of it fondly and with assurance that I will remember it.
I recommend this to anyone who can withstand some bad writing and illogical turns to experience all the good that it has to offer, which again, can be said for a lot of shows. -
ebodge24 January 2008This is a show I have made fun of since it's inception a few years back. The joke is on me now. I was forced to watch some episodes, and I mocked them as I watched them. Then something crazy and unpredictable happened. I was hooked. Luckily, the OC isn't an illegal substance, or I'd be in prison right now. The characters start off annoying and painfully flawed, but it doesn't matter. The acting can be corny at times, but the show is genuinely engaging and you like and hate exactly who the writers want you to. Yes, it's manipulative, but scarily addictive. I'm still asking myself why as I plow through 8 episodes in my attempt to close off season 1 in a few days. Who cares. I can't stop. This show is vastly underrated by film and TV snobs such as myself. But don't think I'll tell my friends. This is the definition of a guilty pleasure...
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kosmasp14 October 2007The O.C. (or O.C. California, as it's called in Germany) did get off to a good/great start. The characters were refreshing, they did work with/against one another and you had fun watching it. Even if you're not used to the lifestyle of the rich and beautiful. OK not everyone is rich in this series of course (but they do look "astonishingly" enough very pretty ...
Seriously though: What works kinda nice at the beginning starts to wear off ... Season 3 was weak, so it was no wonder, that the show got canceled. It was more of a wonder, that they even got the go-ahead for a (shorter) fourth series (finale). Or in other words: There's only so many problems that you can go through without them repeating themselves.
But enough about the bad things. The humor was always a big plus on the show and it worked out quite well. And it did exactly what it promised: Entertain it's target audience (and then some) -> teenagers (especially girls of course), and for that it receives my 7/10 points! -
vertigo_141 September 2005The O.C. was yet another program susceptible to the hype, and by the beginning of the second season, had used in almost predictive repetition pretty much any dramatic ploy the writers could conjure up to lure audiences into a Thursday night with the Cohens and friends. But, the audience is primarily composed of teenage and twenty-something females who were drawn to the show specifically for its unsophisticated teeny bopper qualities and exaggerations, I'm not sure why the show's creators try so hard and, having done so, they near completely nullified the effectiveness of the few good actors on the show (namely, the Cohen parents). By the end of the third season, the show had become almost as trite and insipid as an episode of Seventh Heaven that even those characters who were initially interesting (Seth, for example) had become just as irritating as the rest (although, I would say Rachel Bislon's character Summer, although originally an annoying character rose in the ranks of tolerability despite the rest of the young castmates). In the end, I have to wonder, what kind of bad mojo the people of Newport were playing with, because they seem to have bad karma at every turn that make the victimized female leads of Lifetime's made-for-TV movies seem like a paradise. Why would anyone want to even hang around them? Everything that even seems remotely good suddenly takes a nose dive into something that either ends in swimming pool fist fights before a crowd of stunned, and formally dressed, onlookers, or it will end with a jail term, death, or some kind out to avoid any of those fates. I guess Marissa was right when she told Ryan in the first episode that he could get in less trouble had he stayed in Chino.
Although I had higher expectations for the show by the middle of the second season, if the entire third season is any indicator, expect more of the same.