The O.C.

Show name	The O.C.
Caption	Title card Seasons 3 and 4
Format	Serial-Drama
Picture format	480i (SDTV)720p (HDTV)
Runtime	42 minutes
Creator	Josh Schwartz
Executive producer	Dave Bartis (season 1)Bob DeLaurentisDoug Liman (season 1)McGStephanie Savage (season 4; co-executive producer seasons 1–3)Josh Schwartz
Starring	Peter GallagherKelly RowanBenjamin McKenzieMischa BartonAdam BrodyRachel BilsonMelinda ClarkeTate DonovanAutumn ReeserWilla HollandAlan DaleChris Carmack
Opentheme	"California"
Theme music composer	Phantom Planet
Composer	Christopher Tyng, Richard Marvin
Location	Newport Beach, California
Country	United States
Network	Fox
First aired
Last aired
Num seasons	4
Num episodes	92
List episodes	List of The O.C. episodes

The O.C. is an American teen drama series that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons. The series, created by Josh Schwartz, portrays the fictional lives of a group of teenagers and their families residing in Newport Beach in Orange County, California. The O.C. has been broadcast in more than 50 countries worldwide and was one of the most popular new dramas of 2003. The O.C. attracted a strong 9.7 million viewers for its first season, but ratings declined as the show went on. The low ratings led to cancellation in early 2007, after four seasons, and 92 episodes, even after an online petition which gained over 700,000 signatures. Re-runs of The O.C. are now shown on The WB, SOAPnet, and Channel 4.

The show centers on Ryan Atwood, a troubled teenager from a broken home who is adopted by the wealthy and philanthropic Sandy and Kirsten Cohen. Ryan and his surrogate brother Seth, a socially awkward and, initially, friendless teen, deal with life as outsiders in the wild high-class world of Newport Beach, Orange County, California. This includes their often troubled and always dramatic relationships with Summer Roberts, Marissa Cooper, Alex Kelly, Lindsay Gardner, Taylor Townsend, and others. The show also features Marissa's mother, Julie Cooper, and for the first two seasons, her (ex)husbands Jimmy Cooper and Kirsten's overbearing father, Caleb Nichol. School water polo player Luke Ward, Marissa's boyfriend and early adversary to Ryan and Seth, causes problems in the first season. Drama also arises from Marissa's younger sister, Kaitlin Cooper. These main characters have problems and story arcs with numerous supporting characters from their past, workplace, and school.

Production

Conception

In 2002, creator Josh Schwartz met with Joseph "McG" McGinty Nichol and Stephanie Savage of production company Wonderland Sound and Vision. They told Schwartz they wanted to create a television show based in McG's hometown of Newport Beach. Savage suggested producing a police or extreme sports 21 Jump Street-style show, but Schwartz knew little about the genre. Having had experiences with people from Newport Beach during his time at the University of Southern California, Schwartz came back to them with his own characters. The show was pitched to Fox and Warner Bros in August 2002. Fox targeted a summer launch for the show, and Doug Liman was brought in to direct the premiere after McG withdrew due to his scheduling conflicts with Charlie's Angels 2. The show was confirmed for the 2003–2004 schedule in May, and an August 5, 2003 broadcast date was selected in June.

Schwartz, said that inspiration for the show came from being a fan of Larry Sanders, Cameron Crowe and other "quirky character-driven shows like Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and My So-Called Life". Schwartz went to college at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, and later said that The O.C. was "very much based on sort of the experiences I had when I was in college". adding that "The dynamic between Sandy and Seth is very much based on me and my dad."

Filming locations

was one of the primary filming locations for the show.|alt=A photograph of a beach and a pier extending into the sea. In the foreground is a palm tree and a sidewalk, visible on the beach are a lifeguard station and a volleyball net, and on the horizon is a populated hillside.]] Although the show is set in Newport Beach, financial penalties imposed for filming outside the studio zone meant much of the show was filmed in the Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles County region. Many of the beach scenes were also filmed in Redondo Beach and Torrance. Sites in Los Angeles County were used for many different on-screen locations, which include Ryan's hometown of Chino, Luke's father's Portland home, Johnny's fathers Indio office and Tijuana.

For the first episode, "Premiere", the Cohen family home was shot on location in Malibu. A mock pool house was built for use in the pilot, and taken down after filming completed. The Cohen's home was recreated on a soundstage at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach for filming during the rest of the series; the pool was only 4-feet deep meaning that the cast had to act on their knees. External shots of the original house remained in use throughout the show. the filming location was actually Mount St. Mary's College, a private woman's college in Brentwood, Los Angeles. and the University of Southern California was used to represent Brown University. The FAA First Federal Credit Union building in Hawthorne was used to depict the Newport Group in season two. Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes was used three times on the show—twice for a wedding and once for a funeral. The Cohen's original home in Berkeley, which they return to in "The End's Not Near, It's Here" was shot in South Pasadena.

Music

Alexandra Patsavas, who had previously worked on shows including Roswell and Carnivàle, was appointed as music supervisor on The O.C.. Patsavas worked alongside creator Josh Schwartz, in selecting the music to be used. Schwartz said that he had "always intended that music be a character on the show" The O.C. made indie rock a "main focus of the series" and also its marketing plan, releasing six soundtracks throughout the series. In the second season, a fictional new night club and concert venue, called The Bait Shop, was introduced. Bands including The Walkmen, The Killers, Modest Mouse, The Thrills, Rachael Yamagata, Death Cab for Cutie and The Subways all made guest appearances on the show performing at the venue. In addition to having guest artists perform on the show, it also premiered many new music singles from artists including the Beastie Boys, U2, Beck, Coldplay, Gwen Stefani, and The Shins.

Many bands gained exposure through the show which caused increase in sales of their music. Rooney, who were the first band to guest appear on the show, experienced a "200 percent increase in sales" after their appearance. Even artists who just had their songs featured benefited: Imogen Heap became "a household name stateside", and Youth Group, who recorded a song specifically for the show, had "more than 5,000 iTunes downloads [of that track] in its first week" following it being played. However, not all bands were keen to feature on the show. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were asked to perform, but they turned it down because they were worried that it could diminish their credibility. Some fans and critics echoed that sentiment by stating that such appearances and mass marketing techniques are creating sell-outs.

Generally the music was well received. Ben Spier from Entertainment Weekly described the show as a "mixtaper's dream" and Rolling Stone commented that the soundtrack was the reason people kept watching the show. However, Karyn L. Barr from Entertainment Weekly stated that using acts like U2 on a show that dedicated time to indie bands was "selling out." Noah Davis of PopMatters.com criticised the show for neglecting plotlines and replacing them with "the gang's countless trips to the Bait Shop".

Broadcast and distribution

First run broadcast

The first season premiered at 9:00 p.m. (EDT) on August 5, 2003 on Fox, and was simulcast in Canada on CTV. The original, English-language version of the show also aired in other continents. In the United Kingdom, the first episode was aired at 9:00 p.m. (GMT) on March 7, 2004 on Channel 4, but subsequent episodes were first shown on sister station E4, a week in advance of being shown on Channel 4. In Australia, the pilot was first broadcast on the Nine Network but the channel later dropped the show. Network Ten picked up the show and by the fourth season was airing episodes within days of it being broadcast in the U.S. In New Zealand, the show was aired on TV2, and in Ireland it was broadcast on TG4. In South Africa it premiered on April 1, 2004 on satellite television channel Go and was shown on terrestrial channel SABC 3 in December 2006. In India, the English language channel Zee Café debuted the show on December 30, 2005. For the fourth season, in the week before an episode was broadcast on television, it was available via on demand streaming through Fox Interactive Media's MySpace and MyFoxLocal stations.

It was also aired in non-English speaking countries. It aired across Latin America on the Warner Channel. In France, it aired on France 2 under the name Newport Beach. It aired in Germany on ProSieben, in Switzerland on SF zwei, and in Russia under the name OC – Lonely Hearts on STS. In Italy it was shown on Italia 1, with pay-per view channel Joi being the first to make available episodes of season 3 onwards through the digital terrestrial television service Mediaset Premium.

Cancellation

Due to low ratings it was rumored that the show would not return for a fifth season. In June 2006 Fox confirmed that "the current order for The O.C. is 16 episodes", but added that there was a chance to add more installments. In September 2006 Rachel Bilson said that she felt like "the show is over", and co-star Kelly Rowan stated that many of the cast realized the show was close to being cancelled. Rowan said that "when [the fourth season] was picked up for just 16 episodes this year the cast had a feeling the end was near". On January 3, 2007 Fox announced that The O.C. was to be cancelled. In a statement, Schwartz said "This feels like the best time to bring the show to its close" adding that "what better time to go out than creatively on top". Fox launched an official campaign on their website, garnering over 740,000 signatures. There were rumors that the show would be saved, and a move to The CW Television Network was mooted; however, CW president Dawn Ostroff, whose company is partly owned by Warner Bros., confirmed in January 2007 that while the move was discussed, it was decided against.

Media releases

All four seasons are available on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4.

Additionally, The O.C. The Complete Series was released on November 27, 2007 in Canada and the United States, which included the first season remastered in widescreen. The complete series was also released as a Region 2 DVD on November 19, 2007 but did not include the remastered version of the first season. Additionally, the DVD included a note from Josh Schwartz, a printed conversation between Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, two rare bonus discs, a season four gag reel, and Atomic County excerpts.

For users in the US, a regularly changing selection of episodes are available to stream free of charge from The WB's website. For registered members of selected regional iTunes Stores, the complete series is available to purchase and download. These seasons are also available in the US as video on demand from Amazon Unbox. The fourth season was also made available in the Zune.

Cast and characters

The initial season had nine major roles receive star billing. Protagonist Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) is a troubled teenager who is thrust into the wealthy lifestyle of Newport. He is sent to a juvenile detention facility after he is caught stealing a car with his brother Trey Atwood (Bradley Stryker, later Logan Marshall-Green) and Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher) is appointed as his public defense attorney. When Ryan's mother leaves him, he is taken in by Sandy and his wife Kirsten Cohen (Kelly Rowan), who is a powerful businesswoman. came second in its time slot behind the season finale of Last Comic Standing, and was the highest rating show of the night in the 12–17-year-old demographic. Overall season one was the highest-rated new drama of the season among adults aged 18 to 34, averaging a total of 9.7 million viewers. against the likes of Survivor, Joey and Will & Grace, and this is often cited as a cause of The O.C.'s decline in popularity. The move improved Fox's performance at the new time slot, but lost the show viewers, with average viewing figures decreased thirty percent from the previous season to 7 million. With the fourth season not starting until November, the premiere attracted 3.4 million viewers, which was a series low. For the final ever episode 6.7 million viewers tuned in which was 76 percent more than the season average of 4.6 million viewers.

Awards and honors

For the debut episode, "Premiere", Schwartz received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Screenplay in an Episodic Drama, and casting directors Rush and Silverberg nominated in the Dramatic Pilot category of the Artios Awards. Luke's tagline, "Welcome to the O.C., bitch", was placed 83rd by TV Land in its 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases in 2006. The first season picked up four Teen Choice Awards, and was nominated for another two. Additionally it was nominated for the Outstanding New Program TCA Award, and in Australia it won a Logie Award for Most Popular Overseas Program in 2005. For the second season the show was nominated for five Teen Choice Awards, and won four of them, including best drama. It was nominated for the Favorite Television Drama People's Choice Award, and Kelly Rowan won a PRISM Award for Performance in a Drama Series Episode, with Peter Gallagher getting a nomination. The second season finale was nominated for a PRISM TV Drama Series Episode award. The third season was nominated for five Teen Choice Awards and won four of them, including "Choice Drama/Action Adventure Show" and "Choice Actor: Drama/Action Adventure", which Adam Brody won for the third consecutive year.

Fandom and popular culture

The O.C. generated a dedicated and thriving international fan community. Fans of the show, sometimes dubbed OC Groupies, have been active in developing a large number of fan websites and forums dedicated to the program. Famous fans of the show include the Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara, and Princess Beatrice.

One of the reasons The O.C. gained a cult following was the constant flow of references to musicians, films and comic books below the mainstream cultural radar, mainly coming from the character Seth Cohen. One prime example would be in the episode entitled "The Best Chrismukkah Ever" in which Seth creates the 'Seth Cohen Starter Pack' as a Christmas gift to give to Anna and Summer. This starter pack consisted of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, The Goonies, and CDs by Bright Eyes, Death Cab for Cutie and The Shins. Bright Eyes and Death Cab for Cutie are also referenced in a handful of other episodes, more so than any other bands. Seth and friends have attended shows by The Walkmen, Death Cab for Cutie, The Killers, Modest Mouse, The Thrills Tom Vek and The Subways at their local music venue, the Bait Shop. Films referenced include The Goonies, Risky Business, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Blade, House of Flying Daggers, Hellboy and a set of scenes loosely parodying Spider-Man in the episode The Rainy Day Women. Seth also has a large Ben Folds Live poster above his bed, as well as posters for various other bands including Death Cab for Cutie, Black Flag, The Ramones and Nirvana and a Rockstar North poster, creators of the Grand Theft Auto series. Additionally in one scene there is a close-up of him reading the book and the writer Chuck Klosterman was also mentioned quite subtly in one episode, as was Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road. Additionally, Seth and Ryan play a variety of games on their PlayStation 2 console. The most frequent example comes from season one, which includes a handful of scenes showing Seth and various other characters playing a game from the Dynasty Warriors series and Grand Theft Auto III in the Pilot episode. They also make numerous references to various comic books throughout the series, including X-Men and The Legion, and cited Brian Michael Bendis as one of the greatest comic book authors of all time. and in one episode she gets the two of them tickets to see Bright Eyes as a surprise. In the second season, the character Zach is introduced into the show and shares Seth's love of comic books and superhero movies. Marissa spends most of one episode listening to Interpol in her room and in the second ever episode she mentions that she likes punk because she's angry, specifically The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers and The Cramps. In "The Rainy Day Women" episode, Seth decides to dwell on his troubled love life not by listening to his usual obscure indie tastes, but with Boyz II Men's song "End of the Road". Scenes from the show were also shot at the landmark Wattles Mansion located in Hollywood.

Complementary media

The characters and setting of The O.C. have appeared in several official tie-ins outside of the television broadcast, including in print and on the Internet.

Novels

Eight novelizations have been released by the publisher Scholastic Inc. with the permission of Warner Bros. They are:

The Outsider (ISBN 0439660599)

The Misfit (ISBN 0439677009)

The Way Back (ISBN 0439677025)

Spring Break (ISBN 0439696321)

Summer of Summer (ISBN 043969633X)

Bait & Switch (ISBN 0439745705)

'Twas the Night Before Chrismukkah (ISBN 0-439-7457-13)

Cohen! (ISBN 0439745721)

With the exception of 'Twas the Night Before Chrismukkah, written by Andes Hruby, all the books were written by authors Cory Martin and Aury Wallington. In addition to these novels Scholastic also published an official biography book titled Meet The O.C. Superstars (ISBN 0-4396-60602), written by Monica Rizzo.

Several unofficial books relating to the show have also been published.

O.C. Undercover (ISBN 0312331428), written by Brittany Kemp, published by Plexus Publishing Ltd., is a book that includes biographies of the cast, fashion tips, and information about culture trends associated with the show.

Stop Being a Hater and Learn to Love The O.C. (ISBN 1596090065), written by Alan Sepinwall and published by Chamberlain Bros., discusses the merits of the television programme, and aims to give a lighthearted view from all ages of the show.

New Match, the company Kirstin and Julie set up, mentioned a website in "The Road Warrior", and an actual website was set up by Fox. This has since ceased to exist.

Licensed merchandise

In addition to tie-in novels, several other types of products based on the series, such as clothes, toys and games, have been licensed for release. Licensed items of clothing released included T-Shirts, Jumpers, Underwear and Flip-Flops, which are sold from the Warner Bros. store. Other accessories available included keychains, notepads and a Chrismukkah wrapping paper. A partnership with Sephora included one of their beauty editors writing on the official OC Insider site, and the inclusion of articles about their products. An official bath set and "OC Beauty To Go Cooling Set" were released in 2004. In 2006, Gameloft released a mobile game based on the show. AMC Beauty released fragrances in October 2006, named "The O.C. for Him" and "The O.C. for Her" in 0.5oz and 1.7oz versions. LeSportsac, in a partnership with Warner Bros., released The O.C. collection" in August 2006, which was a fashion line of bags and accessories. Elsewhere Screenlife and Mattel launched a The O.C. themed version of Scene It?, a DVD trivia game based on the first three seasons, and Cardinal Games released The OC Game, a trivia board game.

Additionally websites including TheOCInsider.com and Starbrand.tv included comprehensive guides of fashion and styles featured on the show, providing details to customers of how to obtain these items.

Spin-offs

The O.C. has given rise to a number of spin-offs, some developed and others not. Atomic County was a spin-off based on the cartoon characters in Seth's comic book of the same name. It was created by The O.C. writer John Stephens and artist Eric Wight, who was responsible for the comic book drawings featured on the show. In 2005 Schwartz announced he was writing a spin-off which followed the life of Marissa's younger sister Kaitlin at boarding school. It was set to premiere in January 2006, but the airing of the spin-off never occurred. Schwartz attributed this to Gail Berman, president of Fox Broadcasting Company, moving to Paramount in May 2005.

There were plans to turn the show into something of a reverse spin-off. Schwartz being the creative force behind the television series Gossip Girl planned to release a spin-off entitled Valley Girls, originally to premiere in the fall of 2009. Schwartz wanted to tie in the younger versions of the characters from both The O.C. and the principals from Valley Girls to establish a continuity with Gossip Girl.

References

External links

The O.C at Warner TV

Category:2003 American television series debuts Category:2007 American television series endings Category:2000s American television series Category:Fox network shows Category:Television shows set in California Category:Teen dramas Category:Television series by Warner Bros. Television Category:Orange County, California in fiction Category:Wonderland Sound and Vision productions Category:Serial drama television series