I don't think it was ever a spoof per se, just very self-aware (cf. references to The Valley). One problem is the way the show began to make its sensational elements boringly tragic rather than breezily fun.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 19 June 2007 19:18 (sixteen years ago) link
oh they always had tragic stuff - marissa oding in tj etc
― sunny successor, Tuesday, 19 June 2007 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link
(OC on every afternoon on the Soap Channel, BTW)
yeah! i got excited when i saw the first ep on soap but when i went to make a series recording i thought 'duh - dvds.'
― sunny successor, Tuesday, 19 June 2007 19:22 (sixteen years ago) link
I think maybe "boringly" is the key word in my post there. Marissa ODing in TJ was kind of hilarious.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 19 June 2007 19:36 (sixteen years ago) link
After three months, I'm done with the show. Watched the finale last night.
I don't know what you people saw in Season 4. Kaitlin was awesome, but I couldn't bring myself to care about Taylor or her and Ryan's relationship at all. I guess I just missed Marissa drama. :(
Also, the finale was pretty silly with the exception of Ryan walking around the empty Cohen mansion, all Kirk Cameron in the Growing Pains finale, which totally made me tear up.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 19:23 (sixteen years ago) link
I had stopped watching it by the time Marissa died, but wasn't it really weird to kill her off?
― I know, right?, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 19:27 (sixteen years ago) link
I suppose. I never really understood if Mischa Barton wanted off the show, or what.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 19:36 (sixteen years ago) link
She was being a pain in the ass to work with. Showing up to filming late, partying, commenting "uh, I don't know if I want to keep doing the show", etc. No great surprise that when they got around to dealing with her, they didn't just send her character away but killed her off. (my reacting to when the car exploded: man, they really want to kill her)
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 21:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, definite shades of McLean Stevenson. Also, TV's not shy about killing off characters in general these days.
― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 21:32 (sixteen years ago) link
No great surprise that when they got around to dealing with her, they didn't just send her character away but killed her off.
Yeah, they could easily have sent her off with Jimmy so she wouldn't have to appear in Season 4, anyway. I kind of liked how the first few episodes of Season 4 were all about Ryan and Summer and Julie dealing with the aftermath, and taking their time doing so. It was only when Taylor became one of the core characters, someone we were supposed to care about instead of a goofy guest star, did the season start sucking.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 21:38 (sixteen years ago) link
Am I the only person that keeps reading this as "The OCD"?
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 21:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Also, Che stuck around a few episodes too long, too. He was fine as the impetus for Summer's activist streak at Brown, but his arc should've ended when he got Summer kicked out of school. There was no absolutely no need for him to come to Newport and go on stupid adventures with Seth. And his appearances in Ryan/Taylor's coma dream and as Summer's champagne-fueled hallucination could've been fun if they didn't scream "9-episode contract."
― jaymc, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 21:44 (sixteen years ago) link
kaitlin really was the best character during the last season, with julie and, yes, ryan coming in a close second and third
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 22:14 (sixteen years ago) link
"I mean, I make fun of everyone. Usually 'cause I'm high."
― jaymc, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 22:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Evil Kaitlin was awesome. Kaitlin With A Heart, less so. (Kinda like Evil-then-Needy Taylor, awesome; Main Character Taylor not so much) I still haven't watched the last five or six episodes.
― milo z, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 22:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Kinda miss this show.
― a cross between lily allen and fetal alcohol syndrome (milo z), Friday, 24 September 2010 03:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Can't believe this shit isn't available on Hulu, Netflix or Amazon Prime.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 24 August 2013 22:58 (ten years ago) link
iirc s4 and 5 of this just went straight camp (not an oxymoron) to get away from the awful melodrama of 3, but 1 and 2 were genuinely sweet and funny teenpulp. i was in high school and i wasn't ashamed.
― one yankee sympathizer masquerading as a historian (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 25 August 2013 04:53 (ten years ago) link
peter gallagher was really terrific.
and julie cooper.
― one yankee sympathizer masquerading as a historian (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 25 August 2013 04:54 (ten years ago) link
melinda clarke. is her name. she was great.
― one yankee sympathizer masquerading as a historian (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 25 August 2013 04:57 (ten years ago) link
lololol i thought this thread was 64 posts i'll get out of underdog-championing tone
― one yankee sympathizer masquerading as a historian (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 25 August 2013 04:58 (ten years ago) link
point is i own s1 and 2 on dvd
― one yankee sympathizer masquerading as a historian (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 25 August 2013 05:03 (ten years ago) link
Thursday, August 7, 2003 10:55 AM (11 years ago) Bookmark
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 20:57 (nine years ago) link
i miss this show, i think i have seasons 1-3 on DVD tho
― Bus Sex Teen Busted After Queef Beef (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 21:33 (nine years ago) link
Shailene Woodley was the original Kaitlin!?!?
― Randall "Humble" Pie (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 21:36 (nine years ago) link
Somewhere in storage I've got tapes of at least the first mini season complete with all commercials left in. What a fascinating time machine watching them would be.
― Randall "Humble" Pie (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 21:39 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, but she really didn't get much screen time at all until her "return" as the bad girl. (xpost)
― Bus Sex Teen Busted After Queef Beef (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 21:42 (nine years ago) link
First ep is free w/ commercials on Amazon, it's holding up pretty well
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 21:43 (nine years ago) link
Forgot how good "Into Dust" is used in the pilot
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 21:47 (nine years ago) link
well
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 21:48 (nine years ago) link
Now up on Hulu along with Dawson's Creek.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Sunday, 8 May 2016 15:56 (eight years ago) link
Just realised that they are different things.
― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Sunday, 8 May 2016 16:01 (eight years ago) link
It's been ages since I watched or rewatched a network melodrama. There are so many episodes, holy shit. Ryan and Marissa have already broken up for the first time and it's barely halfway through the first season. Seth and Anna have a relationship for three episodes!
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 21 May 2016 03:50 (eight years ago) link
Apparently the Cohen house burned down during the Woolsey Fire last year. Seems about right for plot line.http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2019/04/19/the-cohen-mansion-from-the-o-c/
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 19 April 2019 21:00 (five years ago) link
Adam Brody shows up in Shazam btw as the adult superhero alter ego of one of the kids. I hadn't seen him in so long it took a while (and the credits) for me to feel confident it was him.
― akm, Friday, 19 April 2019 21:07 (five years ago) link
Ryan Atwood’s book on crypto grifting is out today.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 18 July 2023 17:37 (ten months ago) link