Tuesday, August 5, 2003

The Globe and Mail

Teen spirit: A hot Fox drama pulls back the orange curtain

By CATHERINE DAWSON MARCH
Saturday, August 2, 2003 - Page 2

This time of year you're always in the mood for a day at the beach. If it is Newport Beach in Orange County, Calif., a community known for the lifestyles of its stinkin' rich and famous, that's even better.

Fox's new drama, The O.C., is as welcome as a cold beer on a hot day, or a hot show on a yawning summer schedule of reality shows. The bonus for viewers of a certain Gen-X vintage is that it's just as good as the trendsetting Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. Honest. There may be less camp, but it's more filling.

"Look, we're flattered," says the one-named producer wonder, McG. "But this show is a more accurate portrayal of what really goes on in these communities, what these kids are up to while the parents are away."

"We are not going for classic soap in terms of melodrama. Within every scene we are looking for the reality," says director/executive producer Doug Liman. Liman (Swingers) and McG (Charlie's Angels) are the big shot visionaries hired to make the pilot a hit with the kids. They teamed up with series creator Josh Schwartz who thinks he's improved on the teenage, nighttime soap opera.

The premise goes like this: Ryan Atwood is from the wrong side of the tracks. His legal aid lawyer sees that Ryan is smart and has promise. Ryan reminds Sandy Cohen of himself when he was growing up in New York. Against his better judgement Cohen (played by Peter Gallagher) gives young Ryan his card. "If things get to be too much, call me," he says. Ryan calls. Cohen picks him up and brings him home to the Newport Beach mansion where he lives with his wife and teenage son. It's a classic fish-out-of-water scenario, and this tough urban fish (played by newcomer Benjamin McKenzie) makes an impression on the rich suburban enclave. The bored little rich girls find him dangerously tantalizing, and Cohen's wife (Kelly Rowan of Toronto) thinks he's going to steal her jewelry. "He really does come from trying circumstances this kid hasn't had anyone to believe in," says the 26-year-old Texan who plays the bad boy with a heart of gold.

At a press tour last month, McKenzie made more than a few TV writers weak in the knees. He's got that pretty face and brooding sensibility best embodied by James Dean and, in the pilot, the comparison is played to the hilt. McKenzie updates Dean's red jacket and white T-shirt with a hoodie under a leather bomber. He slouches against a wall in hip-hugging jeans and he drags on a cigarette. Instead of Natalie Wood, it is actress Mischa Barton, the rich girl next door, who asks the stranger his name: "I can be whoever you want me to be," purrs Ryan as he slinks into the hearts of Fox viewers everywhere.

Stories in The O.C. revolve around the kids just entering their last year of high school. The parties, the relationships, the cliques and the parents. Unlike Brandon and Brenda's missing-in-action mom and dad in Beverly Hills 90210, creator Schwartz says you can't tell a good story about teenagers if you leave out their parents. "We will watch these two worlds intersect with each other," he says, adding that the core of the show is this father-son dynamic between Cohen and Ryan.

That's good news for veteran actor Gallagher, who only took the role after laying things on the line with creator Schwartz "The first thing I said to him was, 'You've got to promise me that I'm not just going to be toting surf boards and driving fancy cars. You are going to see me in the courtroom.'"

While the meaty promise of Cohen's legal career excites Gallagher, he's still a good 30 years older than the demographic Fox is aiming for with The O.C. There's a reason why the young and beautiful cast far outnumber the pretty moms and pops. "Listen, we're not doing Chekov or Ibsen." says McKenzie. "This is a drama on Fox."

The O.C.

Tuesdays, 9 p.m., Fox, CTV;

repeats Thursday, 9 p.m., Fox