Fox may have winner with `O.C.'

Summer programming gives early start to show about troubled teen

By R.D. Heldenfels

The new television season gets off to a very early start tonight, when Fox slides The O.C. into its schedule.

The ensemble drama about a troubled teen dropped into a luxurious life in Calfornia's Orange County is getting an early start because of another teen drama.

That was Beverly Hills, 90210, which struggled in its first regular season only to find an audience when Fox put on new episodes during the summer.

Hoping to catch younger viewers who are more than willing to flock to the set even when it's nice outside, Fox is aping the 90210 strategy through the summer telecasts, starting at 9 tonight. (In late October, when Fox has its regular season in place, The O.C. is set to move to Thursday nights.)

That said, don't confuse The O.C. with 90210. Yes, both shows focus on young characters and attractive stars. Yes, both have strong soap-opera elements.

But The O.C. is a smarter, more dramatic and better acted show than its predecessor.

Asked about comparisons to 90210, O.C. executive producer McG said, ``We're flattered.... We hope that we have half the success and half the grip on that specific (young) audience that 90210 had.

``But I think that this show is wildly different, that it's a more accurate portrayal of what really goes on in these communities, and what these kids are up to while their parents are away,'' he said. ``At least, that's certainly our intention.''

Let's not overreach, though. There's a large element of adolescent fantasy in the series, Still, tonight's premiere is very good. The next two episodes are weaker, but far from the worst thing to hit television. And for people wanting relief from the ongoing wave of reality shows, here's a drama that won't waste your entertainment time.

Besides, there's a breakout star in young Benjamin McKenzie, a relatively unknown actor who is at the center of The O.C. While he is a bit too old for his character -- and often looks it -- he is an actor who comfortably invites comparisons to James Dean.

McKenzie plays Ryan Atwood, a poor kid from a shattered family. With nowhere else to go, he is temporarily taken in by his public-defense attorney, Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher). Sandy is also a wrong-side-of-the-tracks guy, but he has married very well.

So now Ryan must deal with the likes of Sandy's son Seth (Adam Brody), a geek among the beautiful people; the beautiful young neighbor, Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), and her nasty boyfriend, Luke (Chris Carmack). Then there are the adults: Sandy's wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), who has old business with Marissa's father, Jimmy (Tate Donovan), to the annoyance of Jimmy's wife, Julie (Melinda Clarke).

The cast sprawls even wider from there, and the series huffs and puffs at times as it tries to serve the many storylines spinning. (Besides the Ryan-Marissa-Luke triangle, for example, there's the complicated quadrangle of Sandy-Kirsten-Jimmy-Julie.)

There are also moments in the first three episodes that I don't buy for a second, especially when activity at a party gets all Dallas among some major characters. Nor was it fun to see a fistfight in every episode.

And Gallagher's hair annoys the daylights out of me. I know he's supposed to be this scruffy guy, but somewhere along the way he could have found a comb.

Still, after three episodes, I am more than a little hooked.

This, too, is a tribute to McKenzie, who knows how to play all the notes in Ryan: the troubled kid, the smart observer, the little boy longing for a parent's love, the punk.

But he's able to play all those notes because the series is trying to provide them. For example, Ryan does not simply slide into a new home in the first episode. There are loose ends that are sorted out over several shows.

And unlike 90210 , where there was a tendency to assign characters a couple of traits and play them endlessly, The O.C. likes its characters complicated and occasionally surprising. That may be something as simple as throwing a curve into one's musical tastes, or as big as how one of them acts in the middle of a crisis.

By the end of the third episode, it's pretty clear that everyone on this show is lost in some way. They're over their heads socially or financially. They have no moral compass or are just discovering one. They can't have what they want, or they don't know what that is anymore.

It is accordingly easy to get lost in the series, too. Sure, it's uneven -- emotionally artful one moment, thoroughly implausible the next. But I'm curious about where these people are going, and if they'll figure out a way to get there.
R.D. Heldenfels writes about television for the Beacon Journal. Contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com .

Last Updated Sat, Aug 30, 2003