The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 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 in syndication on SOAPnet, MuchMusic and Channel 4.
The show focuses on the lives of several teenagers, among whom was 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, an awkward and unpopular teenager about the same age as Ryan, 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 (ex)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 experience 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 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". He also stated that Cohen family in season one resembles his own family life, adding that "The dynamic between Sandy and Seth is very much based on me and my dad."
Filming locations
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. 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 pilot was shot on 35 mm film stock, while subsequent episodes used digitally post-processed 16 mm in order to reduce the cost of production.
The Harbor School, is the local school that the shows adolescents attend. Based on Newport's real-life Corona del Mar High School which executive producer McG attended, the filming location was actually Mount St. Mary's College, a private woman's college in Brentwood, Los Angeles. The campus at the University of California was the location used to represent Berkeley, 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 twice on the show—once 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
Main article: Music on The O.C.Alexandra Patsavas, who had previously worked on shows including Roswell High 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 as a fictional new night club and concert venue, called The Bait Shop, was introduced. It was an undeniable reference to Beverly Hills, 90210's "Peach Pit", and bands including The Walkmen, The Killers, Modest Mouse, The Thrills, Rachael Yamagata, and Death Cab for Cutie 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 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
See also: List of The O.C. episodesThe 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, and in Russia under the name OC – Lonely Hearts on STS. and in Ita
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