The O.C., R.I.P.

Probably a good thing that it's ending now...you don't want it to turn into a 90210-type parody of itself where Ben MacKenzie is 38 years old and balding and still picking fights with every other guy along the coast, from Newport to Chino and all points in between.

Or like in Tree Hill, N.C., where the Scott brothers are, I suppose, in their fourth year of Grade 12 and their evil father has more lives than a shelter full of cats.

 

From the (very) little I saw of it, it already seemed to be there. That Ben dude looks 35.

Shut up! The senior year is two seasons long! And just because Dan Scott has had a heart attack and been knocked unconscious in a fire...

Wait til Keith Scott comes back from the dead (though that looks a lot less likely after the most recent episode)

 

Very good point. I can't see that show riding it out past this year, either, just for storyline reality.

And ballscribe, they didn't write Barton off because they were panicking. They wrote her off because they had to; she made it clear she wasn't coming back.

 

The show barely got picked up by the CW last year, but it's ratings have increased this year. Let's face it, what else does the CW--and the starts of One Tree Hill, sans Sophia--have? I can see it going on another year. Though this year has been so melodramatic, it'd be hard to continue.

 

Sophia Bush seems hotter, though I haven't seen much of her outside a Google-images search. Bilson reminds me of the hottest girl in your high school, who goes to the University of Arizona and becomes the hottest girl in her sorority. Her hottness is impressive, but on looks alone, it's kind of a one-note thing. I think what makes her interesting is her comedic timing. She's pretty good at the back-and-forth banter, and sells it better than most actresses trying to seem more clever than their age.

The O.C.'s meta was always part of its charm, but it kind of slipped into long-stretches of self-parody in Season 3 and 4, and the writers obsession with Mischa Barton's character doomed the show and backed it into a corner it couldn't get out of. I'll miss the fact that it managed, at least in Seasons 1 and 2, to be redeaming without being preachy, and somehow embraced both the traditional, tough-guy male archetype in Ryan, as well as the new, nerdy intellectual in Seth for its two heroes.

But it was time for it to go.

 

And BYH, I'm a extremely confident that had you watched The O.C. from the beginning, you would have embraced it. It was very well written, clever and self-reverential in a fresh way. For instance, Bilson's character, Summer, wore a t-shirt once while sitting around the pool that said simply, DONNA MARTIN GRADUATES. There was no reference to it, and it was visible for only a few seconds, the kind of thing if you weren't paying attention to, you'd probably miss, but there it was, a clever ode to the 30-and-over crowd. The main character, Ryan Atwood, liked Journey, for cripes sake. While Adam Brody's character was always name-checking Bright Eyes, Death Cab or Rooney, or whatever indie bad of the moment was cool, the main character still had a thing for power ballads. And when everyone who watched the show made jokes about Peter Gallagher's bushy eyebrows, the writers started making jokes about Sandy Cohen's bushy eyebrows, and Seth's irrational fear of inheriting them. It was the kind of show that made me want to be a television writer. It took itself too seriously, and then mocked itself for taking itself too seriously.

If you're going to pin down the actual jump-the-shark moment, then I think it was in the first episode of Season 2, when Ryan got over Teressa's (fake) miscarriage in about half an episode. There were still good shows after that, like when Seth kissed Summer in the Spiderman mask after falling off the roof, but it seemed too convienent to wipe away all Ryan's problems from the build up of Season 1 in the very first episode of Season 2. It sort of became a running theme though, because when Marissa shot Ryan's brother Trey at the end of Season 2, it was dealt with in one episode to open Season 3. Then Ryan punched Harbor's Dean of Discipline in the face, forcing him to go run Mode Magazine on Ugly Betty with Kirsten's dad, and then Johnny showed up, and the whole show completely unwraveled.

I actually disagree that Marissa's death destroyed the show. I think its been better this year than last year. The girl who plays Taylor is way hotter that Mischa Barton, and more interesting. But whatever. It's done, and that's fine. That first season though? Great stuff.

 

for those unfamilar, byh's obsession with sophia bush is well-founded. great face, dimples and all, and a voice to die for. 8) 8) 8)

but who is this rachel bilson folks speak of? ??? ??? ???

 

And some NSFW pictures, which I will link so as not to get anyone fired.

http://www.rachelbilsonfan.com/wallpapers/rachel-bilson-wallpapers-5-800.jpg

http://technetic.org/upload/files/rachel%20bilson.jpg

http://picshq2.free.fr/Rachel%20Bilson%20004%20-%20Stuff%20(Dec%5B1%5D.%202003).jpg

http://www.theocshow.com/photopost/data/7/1rachel_bilson_1234.jpg

 

DD, if you think I'd like OC, that's good enough for me. Maybe FX will air reruns (hey hey hey) starting next year.

 

thanks, shotglass and dd.

my decisive edge goes to byh's woman, the lovely ms. bush.

 

Wow, this is sad news for me.

My TiVo has several episodes for me to catch up on, so I can't speak to the quality of this season, but I think it was a very well-done series. DD's synopsis was very good. The show was great because it never took itself too seriously.