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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The O.C.!

18:39 / 07.01.04

I haven't really watched this show, but everyone I know says it's terrific. Everyone says "You think it's gonna be as dumb as 90210 or Melrose Place, with beautiful women but an awful story and cheesy soap crap, but this show is really well-done!" And apparently they have comic book fans writing it, because one of the lead kids loves comics and gets all these hot girls. Discuss! Anyone seen this? I feel like I'll watch it eventually since everyone - even TV critics who would never normally praise a primetime soap - say it's really fun & quality!

18:48 / 07.01.04

While I have enjoyed this show since the beginning, it got hugely improved when it came back from it's summer break, because during that time the creators realized what a gem they had in Adam Brody as Seth Cohen. He gets a lot more screen time now and well deserves it. Seth is comic-collecting, Magic the Gathering-playing geek who truly doesn't understand how he has ended up scoring two of the hottest girls in town.

Without the character of Seth, I think the OC would be merely an above average teen soap opera (i.e. Dawson's Creek with a little edge, Buffy without the supernatural). With him, it's one of the funnest shows on tv.

20:32 / 07.01.04

This show has filled the void left by Buffy for me, and really overtaken it in terms of quality performances and plot.... The characters are all very relatable and addictive. Seth is wonderful, but I really think I feel for Ryan... Watch it and let me know, bub.

20:37 / 07.01.04

i think at least one person who was involved w/buffy (writing, producing? dunno) is involved w/the o.c.
i like this show, it actually has a dry wit, quite often. mostly cos of seth's character, but also his dad. also i enjoy going back and forth...which one would i want...seth? ryan? seth? ryan? is this what it was like for straight guys to watch gilligan's island, or three's company? seth is so cute n'smartassed, and sweet, but ryan is so tough and sexy and street.
so yeah i watch it, but it ain't no everwood, which has just totally raised the bar as far as tv goes for me ever since i first saw it last season.
i hardly watch tv, oddly enough it's my mom that got me into these two shows.
oh, no one start talking about everwood, ok, if you want to, start a thread. i'd love an everwood thread, but maybe i'm the only one.

Matthew Fluxington

15:31 / 08.01.04

Eh, I don't get the hype about this show. I've watched it a few times, and about half of last night's episode, and I just can't enjoy it. It's just really really boring and average, and all of the shows that it's taking its cues from I never enjoyed either. It sort of depresses me that this show is popular and has all of this hype while on the same network, Arrested Development (which could very well be the best American sitcom of all time, and is on par with the quality of The Office) is struggling.

I agree that Adam Brody is the best thing about the OC, but he was a lot better on Gilmore Girls, which is a much funnier and better written show. And though I catch Everwood just as infrequently as I see The OC, I think Praying Mantis is definitely right in saying that show is better too.

15:54 / 08.01.04

Flux, I also loved Adam's character on Gilmore Girls, but he was lucky if he got four lines per episode on that show, and there was no character development for him there.

Matthew Fluxington

16:26 / 08.01.04

True, but Lane Kim >>>>>>>> either of the two girls he's in the love triangle with on that show.

Lane Kim rules forever.

06:40 / 08.03.04

So this just premiered on British television last night on Channel 4 and I have to confess I was pretty much immediately hooked. Hot boys, California, human disasters - what's not to like?

12:15 / 08.03.04

It made me feel like I needed to floss my brain incase I developed head plaque.

15:53 / 08.03.04

I like the O.C. and Gilmore Girls. I'm just hooked on the WB teen drama genre (of which the O.C. is a part of)

Adam Brody was probibly better on Gilmore Girls but he gets to do a lot more in O.C. But its too bad that he's not on Gilmore Girls now because the plot about Lane right now is so great. She should get her own show, especially since Jess's show didn't work out.

Gilmore Girls is the best of this genre (except for Smallville which may or may not be a part of it) because of its hyper-intellectual dialouge, which is so unrealistic but so entertaining. The bombardment of cultural references to communism, Sex Pistols, etc. is just what makes the show so great. O.C. is still good too.

The funny thing about this genre though is how uber-attractive the guys are. Way more than the girls. Tom Welling, the guy in One Tree Hill, ect. I'm a straight guy, but Damn! The guys in these shows are just so hot.

16:16 / 08.03.04

One funny thing about the O.C. is that I lived in Orange County last year and I don't recognize any of the places. I went down to Newport Beach plenty of times.

Of course I'm not a rich attractive native Californian so I guess I wasn't allowed to see those parts.

10:36 / 29.03.04

it's only recently started in the uk but i'm already hooked, the show may have that sort of unrealistic side 2 it but it is good entertainment, and the guys are so hot my favourite is seth he is so funny and cute.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:15 / 29.03.04

I was thinking of starting an OCUK thread, but since there aren't major unpredictable spoilers here yet, maybe just the one will do?

Anyway, even though I know of a whole bunch of British 'Lithers who will instinctively hate it, The O.C. has become my favourite show on tv. I think I'm just a sucker for class conflict and that old Great Expectations schtick. Or maybe I just have to support a show that has young Californians smoking (although that might have been the first episode only, I haven't seen Ryan or Marissa light up since, correct me if I'm wrong). Whatever, the fact is that the little piano "tinkle tinkle tink" and shot of Ryan brooding through a car window has become one of the highlights of my week.

I think a lot of the show's appeal rests on the strength of the three male leads: Peter Gallagher (and his eyebrows), Adam Brody and especially Benjamin McKenzie. Television Without Pity have dubbed him "the Rich Man's Russell Crowe", and they're not wrong. He's got that whole sensitive thug thing down pat. Obviously it often shades into camp but I think that has to be deliberate - c'mon, he skulks about brooding in a wifebeater with a black eye, it's bordering on porn for a certain demographic (male, female, whatever), I'm sure...

The only real weakness I can see in the show so far is that the younger female characters (or actors, at this stage it's hard to distinguish where the fault is) aren't quite up to scratch. They need to make the blonde hipster girl who gave Seth a confidence boost into a recurring character (okay, I hear that they do - this is good).

06:47 / 03.04.04

while this is without question my favorite new show of the past 5 years, one thing needs to be done: Marissa must stop being so fucking dumb. She seems to be getting a little better, but the whole Oliver debacle and its fallout made me want to smack her. Out of the entire cast, she's the only character that I really feel no sympathy for.

and yes: anna must be brought back.

07:22 / 03.04.04

re: marissa and her drama, i think that whole shit w/oliver was wayyy overplayed. like two episodes too long. rather than watch that shit, i'd prefer the scene w/summer and seth by the lockers anyday, w/all it's unspoken subtext. hmm i'd elaborate but perhaps for flyboy i've already said too much. and i don't want to spoil anything for him or anyone else.

08:58 / 03.04.04

Well the woman who plays Anna was on The Grill at about 0030 this morning while I was waiting for Futurama, so she doesn't really sound like a bit part.

That said, The Grill can probablly only afford to get one-show characters in, so maybe.

18:18 / 03.04.04

I don't necessarily think Marissa has acted out of character for a 16 year old who's been sheltered as to how the real world works for most of her life... I mean, first she finds out her dad committed fraud, it becomes more and more apparent that her mom is a psychotic bi-atch who will stop at nothing to get her way (no matter who gets hurt in the process), her b/f cheats on her with one of her good friends after she loses her virginity to him, and then this new guy she likes (Ryan)is prone to some serious violence/drama everywhere he goes... On top of it all, every move she makes is scrutinized/criticised, and for whatever reason despite the right intentions generally falls flat to boot. Fuck, with Oliver I think she really just WANTED to believe that he was the first person she met who would be just like her, u know? Understand her, and help her work through her problems. Meanwhile... I mean, they both have pretty big issues, it's just that Oliver had absolutely no control over himself, while she's holding herself together (just bearly). People need to remember that she's been through a lot, and also that she does seem to have clinical depression which can make her judgement somewhat compromised... But I think in the end that she's going to need Ryan to get her passed that, as much as he needs her to help him work through his own issues (re: trust problems, overcoming anger issues, etc). They're a good couple not b/c they "look cute together" or whatever else, but b/c they have the opportunity to really do wonders for each other to look inward and grow from their demons, and they prompt as much just being in each other's lives. That, I think, more than anything, is what I see in them as a couple and what I can relate to the most...

21:14 / 03.04.04

Hm. It looks like we're starting to need to diverge the threads again between the UK and the US audiences for the O.C. Perhaps we should do what we do with the Comics forum and start a thread per episode for some of the more commonly enjoyed dramas? Then people can start reading it when they're ready? I don't know if we really get enough discussion, but I suppose we might...?