ASHLYEE HICKMAN
A&E Assistant Editor
After a lackluster third season and rumors of cancellation looming, “The O.C.” is back tonight with something to prove.
The show that helped put Orange County on the map and Chino at the butt of jokes is now clinging for life, but the once buzz-worthy show was not always struggling.
“I’ve been watching the show since the beginning — it was easy to get hooked,” said sophomore Megan Carolin. “I love the show because of the characters, especially Seth.”
Freshman Lana Kaneakua also jumped on “The O.C.” bandwagon, albeit a bit later than most.
“I’m hooked on ‘The O.C.’ because I like the story,” said Kaneakua, who began watching the show recently after borrowing the previous seasons on DVD from her suitemate.
Since the beginning, “The O.C.” has appealed to a wide audience, including both men and women despite its soap opera feel. This is partly because of its ability to bring something to everybody whether or not they appreciated the story line.
“I had nothing else to watch, and there were a lot of chicks so I watched it,” said freshman Adam Duncan.
Fox network’s “The O.C.” has been able to keep an active local audience even though the show is not exactly socio-geographically accurate.
“We did not call it the ‘O.C.’ we called it ‘Orange County.’ We wanted to watch the show to see what the world would think we were like,” said freshman Meredith Grant, a native of Irvine in Orange County.
However, viewership took a drastic turn for the worse during the most recent season and interest has suffered because of it.
“The third season did lose a lot of the fun that the first two had, especially with Seth having so many issues — he is supposed to be the comedic relief,” Carolin said.
Even Fox seems to be losing faith in the series. The network, which usually orders 22 episodes per season, ordered only 16 for this upcoming season. Network executives claim the reason is because the show began after baseball season, and they wanted to keep the show running as continuously as possible, however some are dismissing the claim as spin, or a cover-up.
Creator and Executive Producer Josh Schwartz attributes the downward spiral in the storyline to the compliance with expectations.
“Last year, decisions were made that weren’t necessarily creative but that were made sort of defensively, so as to not get canceled — ‘promotable’ events were dictating characters,” Schwartz said in a news release.
A new leaf has turned and instead of writing for the sake of ratings, Schwartz said he and his team are using this opportunity to regroup.
Season four opens up with an episode entitled “The Avengers,” and picks up five months after the death of Mischa Barton’s character, Marissa. Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) has moved out of the Cohen pool house and Seth (Adam Brody) is working at a comic book store until he can meet up with his girlfriend Summer (Rachel Bilson) in Rhode Island. Summer has made the biggest transformation — from primped up party princess to tenacious tree-hugger — since her stay at Brown University.
Two new characters have been infused into the core cast, with Willa Holland as Kaitlin, Marissa’s little sister, and Autumn Reeser as Taylor, a high school friend who is slated to be the new comic relief.
Because of Marissa’s death, the characters closest to her have their own battles to face: Julie (Melinda Clarke), Marissa’s mother, is virtually numb due to pain killers. Summer internally struggles with the death of her best friend, which is starting to affect her long-distance relationship with Seth. Ryan uses an unorthodox way of coping by taking up a new recreation of cage fighting. Ryan also struggles with whether or not he should seek revenge from Volchok, the drunken driver who is responsible for Marissa’s demise.
A new problem could face the show this season because “The O.C.” shares the same time slot as ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”— a runaway hit that has even brought the No. 1 anchor “CSI” down on its knees last week to No. 2.
“If it’s between ‘The O.C.’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ I’d pick Grey’s,” Grant said.
Fox may have anticipated this, which could be the main reason they released the season premiere on MySpace a week before the actual television debut.
Still fans are willing to wait it out to see if “The O.C.” delivers.
“I expect that there will be more evolution in the characters to compensate for the loss of Marissa,” said freshman Brandon Gassaway.
Some even say the changes may be good for the show.
“I think it will be interesting seeing how they deal with the characters being in different parts of the country at different schools and still somehow tie the stories together,” Carolin said.
Since MySpace is now a sister company of Fox, shows such as “The O.C.” will be available on demand on the popular site. This alternative way of viewing is not devoid of commercials, but is free from untimely buffering pauses.
Though perceived as a dying brand, “The O.C.” should not be counted out just yet, as Schwartz hinted in the news release that he and the rest of the show’s team have many juicy aces up their sleeves — the viewers just have to give them a chance.
“The O.C.” premieres tonight and runs Thursday nights at 9 p.m.
11-02-2006
