In Memoriam: The OC

It is with great sadness that the blizzog reports the untimely passing of “The OC”.  Fox cancelled the series yesterday after four years of sometimes dreadful, sometimes spectacular television.

At its best, “The OC” gave us some of the best network television in the last decade.  Smart writing, deliciously scandalous plotlines, and flawed but endearing characters propelled the series into the stratosphere when Fox brought it into our living rooms in the fall of 2003.  Though the show’s fish-out-of-water premise was hardly new, “The OC” served it to us in a way we’ve never seen before.  Ryan Atwood’s struggle to make it as a poor, hard-luck kid from Chino suddenly thrust into the ritzy, silicon enclave of Newport Beach was The Outsiders meets Dirty Dancing meets “90210” 2.0, and it was fantastic.

At its worst, “The OC” gave us Oliver.  Season 2 gave us a precipitous drop in quality from the magic of the first season, but in many ways it was inevitable.  Few shows have enjoyed a first season with the end-to-end quality of “The OC”’s freshman effort, so replicating that vibe in the sophomore season was a tall order.  From the aforementioned Oliver debacle to Caleb’s illegitimate daughter Lindsay dating Ryan, Season 2 fell flat and gave us hearty doses of the unevenness that would carry over into Season 3.

Though Season 3 was better than the second season, the show continued to take a dark turn as we saw signs of Kirsten and Sandy Cohen that nobody liked.  Kirsten’s alcoholism and Sandy’s shady business dealings put too many chinks in the armor of the couple that had always been the moral center of the show.  And then there was the fact that Marissa and Marissa’s feelings and how Marissa and everyone else felt about Marissa’s feelings just totally took over the show.  Though killing her off in the season finale was too little too late, it was still the right thing to do and I firmly believe the show is better for it.

Speaking of which, this fourth season is the best since the first.  Somehow series creator Josh Schwartz has completely re-imagined “The OC” universe and made it totally work.  The season premiere, the Thanksgiving episode, and the fantasy episode with Ryan and Taylor in “coma lites” are easily in the Top 10 episodes of the series.  Since Fox only ordered 16 episodes this season and the writing was clearly on the wall, “The OC” has done what “Scrubs” did last year, which is to say, “screw it, they’re going to cancel us anyway,” and pull out all the stops.  It has worked like a charm.

Though I’m really sad that “The OC” is coming to an end, I can’t say that I’m shocked.  I’d like to blame Fox, who has a history of pulling shows before giving them a chance to flourish (*cough*, “Fastlane“.  *cough cough*, Firefly), but this one really rests on the shoulders of Josh Schwartz.  If he had kept things on a tighter course through seasons 2 and 3 we probably wouldn’t be here today.  That said, this guy is an amazing talent.  At age 26, he became the youngest guy to ever create an hour-long drama, and I think we’ll see more great things from him down the road.

So farewell, “OC”.  You gave us some bad times, but you also gave us Chrismukkah, Seth and Sandy Cohen, the Ryan Atwood beat-down hoodie, and “Welcome to the O.C., bitch.”.  How can we not love you?

Peace out, yo.  You’ll be missed.

Related Posts:
“The OC”
”The OC is Pissing Me Off”
”’The OC’ Season 3: Early Impressions”
”TV Mini-Rants”