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

Nah, it didn't jump for me there. Because, no matter how wrong Ryan's behavior was in the "real world," every time he did something like that, he had what could best be termed vigilante justification. Somebody had been wronged.

It was still, to me, Marisa's death. That's when it was no longer must-see for me. Right there.

 

Shotty has a point, and here is the main problem with Marissa's death. For three years, they pushed this idea that the show was all about two things: family and the friendship of the core four kids. You kill one of them off, and suddenly it kind of invalidates all the good times they had together. The time they spent the night in the mall, the night in the model home, the time in the crummy Mexican hotel, all those Chrismaukas together, by killing off Marissa it's sort of like saying all those important moments where friendship was supposed to make everything better was all a farce, because Marissa was just going to die a fiery death at the hands of minor character anyway. I'm not sure what exactly would have been lost by simply putting her on a boat (other than, you know, logic) and having her leave the show. Barton was still under contract. That way they could have brought her back for the last few episodes of Season 4. They might as well have had Oliver shoot her in the head. Schwartz said the show needed to reinvent itself, and it was a bold move, I guess, but it kind of sullied the memories of the first two seasons.

The other problem was the betrayal of the Sandy character, one of the all-time great TV dads. Despite all the lesbianism and drugs and sex, The O.C. was essentially a family show. It was practically like the Cosby Show in the way it taught life lessons, because Sandy always did the right thing, and was the moral backbone keeping the Cohens together in this swirling community of greed and lust. So what happens in Season 3? They have Sandy quit his law practice and run the Newport Group, where he starts to lie and bend the rules to "build hospitals" or whatever. Then his marriage deteriorates and that stupid Jeri Ryan plot tried to drive Sandy and Kirsten apart. It just felt sloppy.

 

Easy ... I never watched 90210. Not a single episode. The GF at the time thought it was a stupid show. Something about actors in their 30s playing high school kids struck a nerve for her.
Other popular shows I never watched...
Murder She Wrote, American Idol, Survivor, The OC, The Amazing Race... The list is almost endless.

 

Man, if my suspension of disbelief couldn't kick in once in a while, I might never watch TV...

 

As I've said before, 90210 messed up twice -- first when it failed to give Steve Sanders a bloody death at the hands of a never-to-be-revealed-or-mentioned-again assassin, and then later, when it failed to turn Steve Sanders into a bloody assassin who bumped off the rest of the gang.

 

That is always funny.

Maybe he could have been the original Carver.

 

If Dallas can (spoiler alert ahead) turn Mary Crosby and Morgan Brittany into gun-wielding attempted murderers, then Steve Sanders should have literally tasted the blood of someone at some point.

 

I think it's funny you gave a spoiler alert for a show more than 20 years old.

 

The young-uns may be watching the reruns, unaware of what's to come.

 

That's not really been the case of late for Fox. Yes, it jumped heavily into the reality show market with some shady-ass shows a few years back, but they've done pretty well of late.

"24" and "House" immediately come to mind. "Prison Break" is a damn good show. "The O.C." wasn't anywhere close to terrible the first two seasons.

The problem for Fox has been that the throw-away, bullshit shows that they put on the air to fill space keep doing better than the shows with decent storylines and casts. Perfect example: People are watching "Standoff," but no one checked out "Arrested Development," "Reunion" or "Vanished." (I'll admit "Vanished" is a weak entry here, but the original plan was solid. The lack of audience forced the writers to change shit up and do dumb things -- none of which worked.)

And the reality shows Fox now puts on the air aren't any worse than the reality shows on other networks. Hey, you might hate "American Idol," but the damn show is pulling in Super Bowl-like numbers every week. Tough to argue with that.

 

dog, I wouldn't throw out "Standoff" as an example of what's bad. It's been pretty good.

 

Apparently they're over now. Maybe that's another reason the producers decided to pull the plug -- they figured "One Tree Hill" had already cornered the market on former real-life couples remaining on the same show.