November 4th is fast approaching, and we all know what will be happening then: the vote for President will be at a stalemate and the parties will be throwing around unfounded accusations of voter coercion and suppression? That is possible, but “The O.C.” returning to the Fox Lineup is definite.
I have been waiting entirely too long for the return of SoCal’s finest. I was under the impression that the Fall TV season kicked off in Mid-September, but in the warped world of Fox, this wasn’t so. The nascent sense of excitement that entered my body Mid-August was quickly quelled when I visited the official “The O.C.” website and found out that November 4th was the date of the season premiere. I somehow managed to amuse myself for the past couple of months, but the day of reckoning is finally upon us.
The pending return of quick-witted Seth (Adam Brody), brooding Ryan (Ben McKenzie), sassy Summer (Rachel Bilson), drab, but visually-appealing Marissa (Mischa Barton), and everyone’s favorite TV dad, Sandy (Peter Gallagher), brings a smile to my face. The show to me is an amalgam of two of my favorites, “90210” and “Saved By the Bell.” It exhibits the gritty landscape of the California uber-rich as “902010” did, but also has the cartoon-like innocence of “Saved By the Bell.” I think much of this is owed to the characters played by Brody and Gallagher. They are part of an Aristocratic class, but make every attempt to distance themselves from it. In doing so, they give the show a light-hearted quality. Sandy remains detached by being a surfer-dude and working as a public defender while Seth maintains his outsider status by reading comic books and listening to Bright Eyes in the solitude of his bedroom. Sure, the Walsh family was alien to Beverly Hills, but they were trying to fit in with the neighborhood, and not mock it like Sandy and Seth are.
Gallagher also lends legitimacy to the show in that he is a real actor. His filmography speaks for itself, with “American Beauty,” and “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” being his most visible works. Gallagher’s real-life experience even seems to carry over into his TV persona. His is the character that everyone runs to; they seek out Sandy for his sage advice, they seek out Sandy for his comforting presence. I don’t think any other cast member that plays an adult on the show comes even close to “B” celebrity status. Tate Donovan, Jimmy Cooper on the show, did do some forgettable movies like “Love Potion #9,” and also appeared in a few episodes of “Friends” as Rachel’s love interest, but has neither the star-power nor the charisma to attract an adult audience; Gallagher does.
If there is a young actor on the show who may come close to achieving the success that Gallagher has, it is Brody. What is most appealing about Brody is his ability to improvise lines. When the show was in its infancy, I used to marvel at how the lines would flow so naturally from Brody’s mouth. I had never seen a character on TV tell a joke with the fluidity of Brody - he later came out and stated that he ad-libbed many of his lines. I think this is great because it gives the show a little more realism than your average dramedy. One of my favorite improvisations was when he and Summer (Bilson) were walking out of his bedroom and he said something to the effect of, “and that’s my bed over there to the right.” The line would not have sounded good if scripted, but Brody really made it happen there. That is also a good example of how Brody makes every scene worth watching – when Brody’s on camera, I don’t feel as if I’m just waiting for the next scandalous hook-up or drunken punch-out – I’m actually waiting on his every word.
I’ve only seen Brody in “The O.C.” and the coming-of-age skate-boarding comedy, “Grind,” and although he plays the nerdy, smart-allic skater in both vehicles, I think he has the talent to land roles that will help diversify his body of work. My limited backup for making this claim is the comparison made by Bill Simmons of ESPN’s Page2. Simmons compares Brody to a young Tom Hanks and says that Hanks, in his youth, was fairly one-dimensional as an actor, and not nearly as versatile as he is today. Simmons suggests that “The O.C” may serve Brody in the same way that “Bosom Buddies” served Hanks - as a stepping-stone to superstardom.
Don’t be fooled by this slightly homo-erotic love-fest for Gallagher and Brody; the show is not fault-free by any means. Anyone that has seen Mischa Barton act can tell you that the show is not perfect. Barton’s character, Marissa, exists for the sole reason of having an “are they on or are they off?” romance that is required of every teen dramedy. The creator/writer/director, Josh Scwhartz, may have envisioned the Ryan and Marissa romance as the cornerstone of the show, but the re-emergence of Gallagher and emergence of Brody takes pressure off of this precarious relationship. Precarious in that “will it last?” and in that “can this really be the basis of the whole show?” I feel that the relationship scenario was responsible for the demise of “Dawson’s Creek,” that and the awful dialogue by Kevin Williamson. The Joey-Dawson thing was the only foundation in the house that was “Dawson’s Creek,” and although it did last about 5 full seasons, the final 4 seasons required some major repair.
And yes, much of “The O.C.” story-line from the first season was over-the-top. I would be doing the readers a disservice if I failed to mention this. I will cite 3 examples:
1) Oliver, the rich, preppy, sociopath becoming dangerously obsessed with Marissa, and no one but Ryan noticing. She met the kid at therapy! I think they managed to squeeze like 6 episodes out of this – and don’t be surprised if he’s back for season 2.
2) Luke and Julie Cooper involved in a steamy affair. This plot-twist was to be expected as Luke’s character was becoming utterly useless by the end of the season. His contract probably called for a certain amount of face time, and the writers were forced to do something about this. Hot-sex with an older woman – why not?
3) Ryan going back to Chino with his ex-girlfriend because she’s pregnant and he thinks that there might be a small chance that the kid is his. It’s obvious to everyone that Ryan is going to come back to the O.C. This may have worked as a series finale, but as the season 1 finale? Nice try, but all my years of television-watching have made me very cynical.
Although these plot-lines were ludicrous, I’ve come to expect this from a show of this nature and I can’t really be angry about them. But the one episode that did anger me was the one in which they met their counterparts from the cast of “The Valley”, a Fictional Television Show set within “The O.C.,” a Fictional Television Show. This attempt to convey self-awareness was valiant, but not warranted for a first-season. Josh Schwartz deserves some credit for his attempt to poke fun at how big the show had become, but making this move so early in the show’s life was more arrogant than anything else. I am willing to forgive, but not forget.
If this season of “The O.C.” is as exciting as the trailers make it out to be, and it probably won’t be, Thursday night will have just become a little “hotter.” And let’s hope we have officially chosen a President by 8 PM EST because “The O.C.” may be overcome by other events.