The O.C. - General Discussion

[Klaw]

So glad we have this thread. I miss talking about the O.C.! Here are my U.O.s

* I loved the Oliver storyline - it's one of my favorites in the whole series. I love how Ryan and Luke bonded over their suspicions of him. "Just let me know, and I will DROP the Great Gatsby"

* I liked the Rebecca storyline as well. I know it annoyed people but there it is. Although soapy, I thought it said a lot about being middle-aged and dealing with your past and present. And Sandy wasn't so saint-like, which was interesting to watch. He really was drawn to her even if he didn't want to be.

* Turning Kirsten into an alcoholic was a mistake, IMO. I just thought it was stupid. Soap Operas go so quickly into casual use to full-blow addiction, I just find it boring.

*don't know whether this is UO or not, but I did not like Lindsay. I liked the idea of her but I thought the actress was irritating and I didn't get why Ryan fell so hard for her. Meh.

[Klaw]

On 3/31/2016 at 10:02 PM, WhosThatGirl said:

They played the finale today. That montage.  Still gets me everytime. Those last minutes are really what this show was.

So agree with this! I really think the O.C. finale montage was one of the best ever. I'm glad the show went out as strongly as it went in. I rewatch S4 sometimes just to  build up to that great final ep. Seeing Ryan make it and do well and be in a position to pay it forward was great! And I loved him and Taylor so knowing that they would (probably) end up together also gets me! *sniff*.

 

On 5/2/2015 at 10:49 AM, AndySmith said:

Ranking the seasons, from best to worst:

 

1 - Lots of fun, and just a great soap overall

4 - Doesn't quite hit the highs of season 1, but still good fun

2 - Hit or miss

3 - Alternates between boring and just plain bad

I am copying this in full because ITA with this ranking. They really, really, really almost killed the show with S3. The whole Johnny BS was just so, so, so bad. It's a wonder that they came back as strong as they did to finish out the series in S4 (of course, it didn't hurt that Marissa was dead).

[idiotwaltz]

The first eight episodes of Season 1 were golden. Years later, the last 5 mins of the S1 finale still slay me. 

[WhosThatGirl]

45 minutes ago, idiotwaltz said:

The first eight episodes of Season 1 were golden. Years later, the last 5 mins of the S1 finale still slay me. 

Season one really felt like more than one season. The first episodes were perfect and I often wonder if it’s because it was shot in a vacuum like experience. They shot it and put it on tv with no outside input until later on in the season. Few shows get to do things like that now.

 The first season was really such a great season.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Rachel Bilson with Bill Hader at the Golden Globes:

 

[LemonSoda]

O.C. fans, Is the complete series worth $14.99? It’s on sale on iTunes and I need another series to binge. 

[Cranberry]

1 hour ago, LemonSoda said:

O.C. fans, Is the complete series worth $14.99? It’s on sale on iTunes and I need another series to binge. 

The entire series for just $15? Yeah, definitely. The first season is actually really good TV, in my opinion. The rest is fine; I just didn't like it as much as season one.

[LemonSoda]

1 hour ago, Cranberry said:

The entire series for just $15? Yeah, definitely. The first season is actually really good TV, in my opinion. The rest is fine; I just didn't like it as much as season one.

Yes, the whole series. They do sales a lot and I usually buy a few when they get down that low. This is a series I never got to see during its original run but seems to get referenced a lot. 

Edited April 28, 2020 by LemonSoda

[BetterButter]

 

[Hiyo]

My rankings:

Season 1

Season 4

Season 2

 

Season 3

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke are launching an OC podcast in April!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM2pRnmHWJd/

[shantown]

52 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke are launching an OC podcast in April!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM2pRnmHWJd/

I've already got so many podcast recap shows I want to listen to (and binge watch the old shows) but this might get bumped to the top of my list. I miss this show so much!

[Avabelle]

I’ve been listening to this and it’s pretty good. I’m glad Melinda is doing it with Rachel as she seems more prepared and gives the episodes direction.

it’s really interesting listening to the BTS snippets like Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde were nearly cast as Ryan and Marissa.

[Asp Burger]

I'd never seen season 4 until just now, on HBO Max. I had loved this show early on, thinking its peak was much better than 90210 and Dawson's ever were at their best. I'm not sure when I stopped watching. I think the last one I watched when it originally aired was the one in which Ryan went on a road trip with Sadie to request money from her uncle. That was hardly the worst episode I had seen; I just thought the series had lost its way from what I had originally liked. Season 3 was dreary and just no fun at all. I still don't want to watch the rest of season 3. I know the CliffsNotes.

I enjoyed season 4, although it had its share of problems. I liked Ryan and Taylor for the actors' chemistry and the basic idea behind them, even though I don't think they were written very well. Their obstacles and misunderstandings were often unconvincing. Julie's triangle with Bullit and Frank had too many reversals and layers of complication, right up to the end. Chris Brown (playing a supporting character for Kaitlin) is truly one of the worst actors I've ever seen, and I've watched daytime soaps. But I mostly like this season because it sends the characters off into the sunset in a nice way, and it restores humor to the show.

I continue to believe what I felt back in 2003-06: the best things about The O.C. were Ryan (one of my favorite "youth drama" characters ever), Seth, and the adult characters (Sandy, Kirsten, and Julie above all). I don't think these writers ever did a great job with their handling of young women. Any of them. Marissa was just the most conspicuous example.

Edited June 27, 2021 by Asp Burger

[Asp Burger]

I looped around to season 1. I hadn't seen any of it since it originally aired.  

This pilot is one of the most beautifully directed I've ever seen. Of course, it's Doug Liman (who also did the first post-pilot episode, "The Model Home"), who's an accomplished filmmaker.  

The early episodes remind me how great and different this show was in 2003. The parents were different from those of the other famous youth shows of the '90s and '00s. They weren't just there to be in support of the kids, like the Walshes and the Leerys usually were. They had meaty storylines of their own, and sometimes the young characters weren't even aware of those stories. Good actors like Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan were not squandered. 

I love the subtlety of some of the writing, like the episode title "The Model Home" having more than one meaning. Not only the display house in which Ryan camps out (before it gets burned down) but the way the Cohen family looks from his viewpoint.

Also, in the next episode after that, they kind of leave us to see for ourselves that part of Kirsten's acquiescence to taking Ryan in is that she's a rescuer herself, with Jimmy and the $100,000 loan. Jimmy is someone of her own world, her roots; she doesn't want to see him struggling. Sandy has nothing like that long history with Ryan, but he's drawn to him because he sees his own roots.  

"Pilot weirdness" is always fascinating. I'm trying to remember if the Cohens' Latina maid is ever seen again. She's not in any of the next three or four I've watched so far, and I don't remember them having servants.  

The older actors are all just there from the first episode with their characters. Total pros. The younger ones are still figuring it out. That may not be all them; it could be the writing too. Adam Brody's Seth is more subdued and shy than he will be later. Benjamin McKenzie has some Judd Nelson mannerisms and expressions (did someone tell him to watch The Breakfast Club for inspiration?) that will vanish quickly. Mischa Barton is warmer and brighter in the pilot than the way I think of Marissa. It kind of makes me regret that Marissa so quickly turns into a tangled fog of pulsating yearning in the shape of an underfed woman. I don't think they wrote to her strengths (and I do think she had some) with this constantly needy, tragic character.

[Egg McMuffin]

Season 1 was amazing. And I really loved the underlying theme to the show - people helping other people. Once I realized how it permeated so many of the stories, it made me realize why I like this show better than 90210.

I liked season 4 as well, though I agree it was flawed. I really really wish they had just sent Marisa off into the sunset at the end of season 3, rather than kill her off. Her death cast a huge pall over season 4. It’s hard to be lighthearted, which the show really needed at that point, when so many of your main characters are in mourning. The show did stick the landing, though, with an excellent finale.

[Hiyo]

I liked season 4 quite a bit, overall a very good season and almost as good as season 1. It was a nice soft reboot and I wish we could have gotten another season with the show as it was.

Season 1 was great, but unfortunately it also had Oliver, which, ugh.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Hiyo

[Asp Burger]

My take on the Oliver arc (I just rewatched it after 17 years) was that the concept wasn't so bad, but the execution was. The only character who came out of that mess looking better than he went in was Luke. At the point when Sandy was expressing to Kirsten that maybe it had been a bad idea to take Ryan in (because he had broken into the office at the Harbor School and later assaulted Oliver), I thought, just, no.  

However, extreme minority opinion here, I'd have liked to see a one-episode Oliver return down the line. Not obsessed with Marissa or still causing trouble, just better and getting on with his life. I'm kind of a sucker for redemption, and I did like the culmination with Ryan talking him into surrendering the gun.

[Asp Burger]

It's a wild piece of trivia that the final two episodes of Oliver's story ("The Rivals" and "The Truth") had the highest viewership numbers of all four seasons, and it wasn't even close. "The Rivals" did not even air in a sweeps month, but it was up almost 4 million from the previous episode. I guess those episodes lent themselves to exciting-looking commercials and fan chatter about how the story of the crazy kid was going to end, and it drew in some casual viewers? 

The least-watched episode was the season 4 premiere, "The Avengers," with Ryan fighting in a cage. Of course, that was the first Marissa-free episode.

[Cranberry]

On 7/1/2021 at 8:52 AM, Kyle said:

I really really wish they had just sent Marisa off into the sunset at the end of season 3, rather than kill her off.

I felt like that was cruel to the, like, five of us who actually still liked her character despite it all. She was leaving anyway; there was no need to kill her.

I liked the budding Ryan/Seth/Marissa friendship in The Model Home and wish we'd gotten more of that. Things went downhill with Marissa's character pretty early on, didn't they? By halfway through the first season, I was already tired of her constant need to be rescued.

[Avabelle]

Yeah agree re Marissa.

Listening to the rewatch podcast I honestly think Rachel Bilson still had a thing for Adam Brody.

[Kel Varnsen]

So I started rewatching this show last night as my wife found a fancy complete series DVD box set on FB Marketplace for $20. I watched it when it was on back when I was in my mid 20s and liked it, but I was surprised at how good it still was. Especially since my standards, and my entertainment options, have massively increased since then. After 2 episodes, some of the dialogue is kind of silly but the story is good and the acting is solid. Plus it is weird how these first two at least had endings kind of like a Netflix show where it is not necessarily a cliff hanger but definitely open ended endings. The kind of thing Netflix would do to make you binge watch.

Also watching this made me realize it is too bad that Ben McKenzie didn't become a bigger star, because even from the start here he is good. Yes I know he was the lead on Gotham, but at the same time it's is not hard to draw a pretty much straight line from Chris Pratt guesting on The OC to him becoming an A-list movie star.

[Miss Bones]

On 7/23/2021 at 3:53 AM, Avabelle said:

Yeah agree re Marissa.

Listening to the rewatch podcast I honestly think Rachel Bilson still had a thing for Adam Brody.

I'm feeling this way too.  If I were Leighton Meester, Adam's wife, listening to the podcast, I would be a little annoyed how Rachel is constantly talking about how Adam is so great, and funny, and cute, and talented, and has such great music taste.  She's even commented on being jealous while rewatching, when she sees Seth and Anna kissing.  It's awkward, and I feel embarrassed for her, a lot of the time.

That said, I am enjoying the podcast, and they have a good guest stars.

[Teresa Mahmoud]

Hi all. I’m glad I found this thread.  I used to post on several message boards for The OC back in the day (some which are no longer in existence). 
 

I re-watched the show this year for the first time in 10 years (I had seen it way too many times before that lol). 
 

One of my unpopular opinions is that S2 is my favorite season. For me, the order is: 

S2

S1/ S4  (tied) 

S3 

Also, I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion per se, but it sometimes seems like an unpopular opinion online:  Ryan is my favorite character and Sandy was a close second.  Luke is probably my third favorite character and I love the Ryan/Luke friendship and wish it would have developed more.  I write Ryan/Sandy and Ryan/Luke fanfiction (doing one now where Ryan and Luke are roommates at Berkeley)  

I wasn’t into Seth/Summer though I love them as individual characters. I would have been cool with Ryan/Summer or Ryan/Anna. I liked Lindsay. 

I think Ben McKenzie is a good actor, and I’ve seen a lot of people put him down over the years which I never understood.  

 

 

 

[Avabelle]

20 hours ago, Miss Bones said:

I would be a little annoyed how Rachel is constantly talking about how Adam is so great, and funny, and cute, and talented, and has such great music taste.

Agree. Maybe she’s just nostalgic and I appreciate her honesty since in the one tree hill podcast they don’t mention Chad and Sophia at all BUT it definetly comes off too intimate at times as though they’re still close.

[Avabelle]

Listening to the Adam Brody podcast and he discusses Misha and how she was let go - was she let go from the show? I thought she chose to leave. 

[Glade]

On 7/22/2021 at 8:18 PM, Cranberry said:

I liked the budding Ryan/Seth/Marissa friendship in The Model Home and wish we'd gotten more of that. Things went downhill with Marissa's character pretty early on, didn't they? By halfway through the first season, I was already tired of her constant need to be rescued.

Yes, that was also all we would ever see of a potential Seth/Marissa friendship, and that is a real shame.  Keeping Ryan/Marissa and Seth/Summer an endless double date instead of a group where everyone is friends with each other was really a waste.   I'm not sure if the rumors that Misha was trying to get fried by acting poorly (which was a dumb idea obviously if true,) but she spent the entirety of S3 awkwardly standing and fidgeting her way through every single scene like she didn't know what she was supposed to be doing and it was part of what made S3 so bad.  I was already sick to death of the' will they/won't they' relationship between Ryan and Marissa, so I would rather she had just left or died in s03e01 instead of dragging it out.

[Kel Varnsen]

So we are still on our rewatch and about half way through season 3, and man as much as I remember people complaining about the Oliver storyline, the whole Johnny storyline is so much worse. Johnny is such an annoying sad sack (and a dumbass who thought he could rob a convenience store to pay for surgery). Plus for a show known for running through plotlines really fast, the Johnny story seems like it will never end. I am on episode 11 and I still have 3 more long episodes to go before his death.

[Egg McMuffin]

Oh yeah - Johnny is way worse than Oliver, and season 3 is the nadir of the show.

I rewatched the first 10 episodes of season 1 over the past few weeks. So well done. One thing I wish they had done differently: they could have made Kirsten’s acceptance of Ryan much more gradual. I think there was some drama to be mined from them slowly getting to know each other, and Kirsten gradually accepting him. Instead, by the end of the third episode, Kirstin declares that Ryan is now a part of the family, and they move on.

[Avabelle]

On the most recent podcast they were asked if they had any nice memories of working with Mischa. Melissa told a nice storyline. Rachel Bilson told a story about how she went to a party with her which ended up being how she met z Hayden Christensen. I think it’s Rachel in general but there’s not many stories she can tell about people where I don’t feel like she’s low key insulting them or trying to make them look bad. The just of the story was that Mischa had the hots for Hayden, beelined for him and he essentially had to ask her to to introduce him to Rachel. The question was to share a nice memory - even though introducing her to the later father of her child is theoretically nice she could have put Mischa in a better light.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 12/5/2021 at 8:56 PM, Kyle said:

Oh yeah - Johnny is way worse than Oliver, and season 3 is the nadir of the show.

I made it past Johnny which is good, although Marissa's downward spiral is even worse. Although I appreciate everyone else realizing what a high maintenance pain in the ass she is.

[Egg McMuffin]

I’m rewatching season 1. Oliver has only been in three or four episodes, and already I wish that he’d be beheaded in a horrific accident.

[Kel Varnsen]

I am enjoying season 4 a lot more than 3 (which is how I remember the first time I watched it). The only thing that bugs is I have a hard time believing that Sandy and Kiersten can maintain such a luxurious lifestyle on his salary as a public defender and whatever she makes with the dating service. Especially since Caleb left them nothing.

[Athena]

10 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I am enjoying season 4 a lot more than 3 (which is how I remember the first time I watched it). The only thing that bugs is I have a hard time believing that Sandy and Kiersten can maintain such a luxurious lifestyle on his salary as a public defender and whatever she makes with the dating service. Especially since Caleb left them nothing.

It's been many years since I watched this show, but I got the impression that Sandy and/or Kirsten was good with money or knew to hire someone good to manage their money. Their house was probably paid for and Kirsten must have taken a high exec salary working for the Newport group all those years. I could see them saving a lot and having good investments to fall back on. Maybe Sandy had the foresight to not rely on Caleb's inheritance for whatever reason.

[Egg McMuffin]

I liked season 4, too, especially after the mess that was season 3. But since it was a short season to begin with, I wish the first few episodes didn’t have to be spent cleaning up the Marissa mess (another good reason she should have been sent away.

I never thought much about Sandy and Kirsten’s high-class lifestyle post-Caleb, but you made a very good point. I guess they figured Marissa’s end was sad enough - the audience didn’t want to see everyone poor too!

[Kel Varnsen]

13 hours ago, Athena said:

It's been many years since I watched this show, but I got the impression that Sandy and/or Kirsten was good with money or knew to hire someone good to manage their money. Their house was probably paid for and Kirsten must have taken a high exec salary working for the Newport group all those years. I could see them saving a lot and having good investments to fall back on. Maybe Sandy had the foresight to not rely on Caleb's inheritance for whatever reason.

It wouldn't be too hard to explain but it would be nice if they had a line or two explaining it. Something like how they always suspected Caleb wouldn't leave them anything so they saved a ton, or they were still silent partners in the Newport group, or how even with Sandy messing up the hospital proposal the other Newport Group divisions were in good shape, so they sold the money and made a good profit which Jimmy told them to invest in a tech startup that took off. 

Because in season 4 they still live a very high class lifestyle. And the house is probably paid for and was purchased relatively cheap if it was part of a Newport group project. But there is still house maintenance/operations, taxes, school tuition, and luxury cars. And I doubt a dating service is a huge money maker.

[Avabelle]

One thing that surprised me on the podcast was learning that they fired Mischa - I always thought she opted to leave herself.

[Egg McMuffin]

I’m on season 2 now and it’s striking how quickly this show lost its magic. Who thought it was a good idea to introduce new unpleasant characters (Alex, sourpuss Lindsay) or make existing characters so unbearable (Marissa, Seth)? Seth’s behavior is particularly bad - he abandoned Summer for three months, and then won’t leave her alone and let her be happy with her new boyfriend. Lindsay’s arc is a head scratcher, too. They introduce her and tie her directly to the family. Then she disappears at midseason and is never heard from again. That’s when the new, underwear-model version of Trey shows up. I would have rather seen more of Zach, a likable character who could have existed as part of the gang even without dating summer.

I’m tempted to skip ahead to season 4, because I remember really disliking season 3.

[Hiyo]

Quote

I’m tempted to skip ahead to season 4, because I remember really disliking season 3.

Not the worst idea.

[Egg McMuffin]

I finished season 3. I thought it would get better after Johnny kicked the bucket, but it only got worse: Ryan and Marissa’s breakup out of nowhere, Marissa’s dalliance with bad boy Volchek and drugs; Ryan’s dull new girlfriend Sadie; Seth and Summer’s umpteenth pointless breakup and reunion; Sandy and Matt’s dull machinations at The Newport Group; the Cohen’s martial problems and Kirsten falling off the wagon. Too dark. They forgot about what made the show fun.

Season 4 is an improvement but seems like a show without a purpose. The kids have graduated and the writers are desperately searching for a reason why they should all still be in Newport instead of at college.

[Avabelle]

Did Kirsten relapse again in season 3?

[Egg McMuffin]

Yeah, she relapsed at the end of the season, when Sandy was ignoring her to focus his attention on building a new hospital and he was in bed with shady characters (turning into her father). She was shown progressing from a couple of drinks to passing out again. But this wasn’t brought up again when season 4 started.

[Egg McMuffin]

I’d forgotten about Kevin Sorbo as Ryan’s father. C’mon - I’m supposed to believe that Kevin Sorbo’s character - refined, handsome, and well spoken - is Ryan’s jail bird father and was married to Ryan’s mother Dawn (a character the show did get right).

[Kel Varnsen]

On 2/2/2022 at 4:09 PM, Egg McMuffin said:

Season 4 is an improvement but seems like a show without a purpose. The kids have graduated and the writers are desperately searching for a reason why they should all still be in Newport instead of at college.

I just finished the rewatch last week. I liked season 4 but man they sure decided to drag out Ryan and Taylor getting together. Which was annoying since they were fun together but there were so many roadblocks in an already shortened season it was annoying.

Also speaking of alcoholism, one thing that I really noticed on my rewatch was how much of an alcoholic Marissa was. It seemed like there were so many scene where she is casually taking a hit from her flask or at home in her room drinking that have nothing to do with the plot.

[Kel Varnsen]

Also I realized yesterday that the show missed a great chance for an easy cross-over joke. Because one of Bullet's Texas named sons should have been Arlen. I mean King of the Hill was still on at the time (on the same network). Plus the creator of KotH was working on The Office at the time with Mike Schur who was married to one of The OC writers (JJ Philbin) , and he was even in an episode.

[RealHousewife]

On 1/9/2022 at 5:39 AM, Avabelle said:

One thing that surprised me on the podcast was learning that they fired Mischa - I always thought she opted to leave herself.

Oh wow. I thought she wanted to leave and move on to other projects. 

[Athena]

On 3/28/2022 at 1:34 AM, RealHousewife said:

Oh wow. I thought she wanted to leave and move on to other projects. 

 

On 1/9/2022 at 6:39 AM, Avabelle said:

One thing that surprised me on the podcast was learning that they fired Mischa - I always thought she opted to leave herself.

I remember being on TWOP at the time when this happened and there was speculation about a bit of both. Mischa herself said she left due to other offers and bullying. She had an interview with E Online about it last year. It sounded like the producers themselves did not know what to do with the character (which is evident with her character arc from S1-3) and Mischa's career was taking off so she left. It still sounds conflicting for her on how she handled it. Considering her age at the time, it sounds like they just fired her/let her go and made her think she had a decision in the matter.

I was sad to hear that she was bullied by "men on the set". She doesn't detail it. Rachel and Melinda were both perplexed after the interview came out and tried to be open about it citing Mischa's age and pressure at the time. I think at the time when the show aired and other "sources" have said that Mischa was not getting along with people on set and that she was often late to work, etc. She was young and didn't really seem to be handling fame as well.

I can only judge the character and the acting/ I was fine with them killing off the character because the writers really didn't know what they were doing. Secondly, the acting was really lackluster. I haven't really seen the actor is anything else but she didn't seem to be enjoying it either.

[Artsda]

The actor who played Volchuck gave an interview years back saying how miserable they all were, young and  acting how they wanted to not be there at all. From the interview it sounded like his opinion of Mischa was worst of all of the rest, so the firing for what ever behaviour she was up to in season 3 makes sense. 

I had started to re-watch and other than Oliver season 1 was so good, I'm at the Lindsay/Alex era now it's the downhill start. I also don't get if Theresa supposed to be the same age as Ryan, why she acts like she's 25. Working, living in hotels, engaged to Eddie, why isn't she in highschool. 

They should have focused on the integration of Ryan more like season 1, with the lighter storylines of moving in The OC. Instead of the dark and depressing of 3 and by that point the ratings tanked and show wasn't renewed.

[Egg McMuffin]

I thought they should have stretched out Kirsten’s acceptance of Ryan longer. She didn’t want him around for a few episodes and then by episode 3 or 4, she basically flipped a switch and was OK.

[marie]

I can't believe I'm rewatching this, but on the topic of Marissa's death, I still think it was the right call. If anything, it should've happened earlier. It gave S4 a whole new energy and I'd have loved to see a S5 where the characters got to fully move on from the grief stasis they were in to the true next phases of their lives. Watching S4, it's actually wild to me how in such a short span of time Julie and Kaitlin feel more like mother/daughter than Marissa/Julie ever did, how much more I believe Ryan loves Taylor for who she is and not just because it's a drama trope he has to fulfill like with Ryan/Marissa, and even how much more Summer and Taylor feel like actual friends than she and Marissa did.

I get saying "just ship her off", but man, I really would've hated having the threat of her return hanging over all the characters' heads and the likely forced Ryan/Marissa endgame they'd have shoved into the last scene. I vastly prefer that everyone was allowed to move on.