‘Cool factor’
In the fictional world of “The O.C.,” things are going to be rough.
Ryan moved away, Seth sailed away, and Marissa drank. As the second season begins Thursday night on Fox, life is tough for the rich and beautiful.
Ah, but in the real world of the “O.C.,” the stars’ lives are splendid.
The show is a ratings hit that has spawned two CD’s, a DVD, splashes across magazine covers and more.
“It’s got a cool factor to it,” says Adam Brody, 24, who plays the once-nerdy Seth.
“There hadn’t been a new, young show in a long time,” says “O.C.” creator Josh Schwartz, 28.
So Fox is riding the show hard. It ordered 27 hours for the first season and 24 more for this season. It’s plugging it into a Thursday slot against “Survivor” on CBS and “Joey” on NBC.
But the network isn’t worried about the competition.
“Viewers will have a whole new set of friends to hang out with on Thursday nights,” says Gail Berman, the Fox president.
Her network had a disastrous fall this year while waiting for the baseball playoffs and the World Series to begin. Now comes its big push.
The comedies – led by “The Simpsons,” “Malcolm in the Middle” and “Arrested Development” – return next Sunday. New Tuesday shows follow with reality (“The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest For the Best”) on Nov. 9 and a medical drama (“House”) on Nov. 16. “American Idol” and “24” await in January.
The first steps, however, are Thursday’s shows: “The O.C.” at 8 p.m. and “North Shore” at 9.
Both have blue skies and taut torsos. Schwartz first recognized that appeal when he reached the University of Southern California.
“As a neurotic, Jewish kid from the East Coast,” he says, “I was in the land of the surfboards. … Everyone is so good-looking here. It’s just the culture of being outside in the sun.”
So “The O.C.” is set in Newport Beach in Orange County, with an emphasis on youth.
To recap: Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie, 26) was a tough teen from Chino who got in trouble when his older brother lured him into a car theft. His lawyer, Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), took him in after his mother split.
Sandy, a Jewish idealist from the East, is married to Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), a rich California blonde. Their son, Seth, was a loner until Ryan arrived.
“He’s getting cooler,” Brody says. “He’s got a hot girl – or did.”
While Ryan romanced the beauty next door, Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton, 18), Seth dated her friend, Summer (Rachel Bilson, 23).
Meanwhile, Marissa’s mom, Julie (Melinda Clarke), made a bedroom tour of three generations. She divorced her husband, dated her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, Luke (Chris Carmack, 23), and then married Caleb Nichol (Alan Dale), the rich father of her neighbor, Kirsten.
It was her fling with Luke that topped a season of extremes. Clarke says one young man told her: “I just want to say thank you. Because of you, I’m dating my best friend’s mother.”
Things won’t be that frantic this year, Schwartz says: “We wanted to slow things down a little bit.”
First, he has to straighten out the problems from last season. Ryan learned that his old girlfriend was pregnant, so he moved in with her and took a construction job. Seth grumbled, then left in his sailboat.
“It was never a question of would Ryan come back,” Schwartz says, “but a question of how – and also how his leaving and … Seth’s absence have sort of torn this community apart.”
In the season opener, some crises are settled and some aren’t. “Marissa still has her drinking problem,” Schwartz says.
In the weeks that follow, new characters will arrive.
Nicholas Gonzales, shown in the opener, is DJ, Marissa’s hunky yard guy. Shannon Lucio is Lindsay, a middle-income kid questioning Ryan’s values. Michael Cassidy is Zach, described by Schwartz as “sort of a WASP Seth.”
Then there’s Olivia Wilde (“Skin”). Her character, Alex, will run a local rock club. That means more bands on camera – including The Walkmen, The Killers, Modest Mouse and The Thrills.