Fri Aug 15, 5:38 PM ET

LA Weekly

Heat - The O.C., Camille Paglia, Thomas Hardy, Pocket Pool

By Brendan Bernhard LA Weekly Writer

Its summertime, and the old attention span isnt what it used to be. With the beach beckoning, and half the western world slapping on suntan lotion and annoying foreigners, its hard to nudge ones cranium into a working mode. So The O.C. , the new teen soap opera on Fox (Tues., 9 p.m.), seems well-timed. It has just the right mix of waxed chests and minimally covered breasts to make you feel as if youre gamboling in the waves yourself.

Young Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) is the hero of the tale, a smart 16-year-old from the working-class neighborhood of Chino, whos been abandoned by his mother and rescued from the streets by idealistic public defender Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher). Cohen puts Ryan up in his palatial digs in Newport Beach, much to the consternation of his wealthy wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), whose money allows them to live in such a ritzy domicile in the first place.

It seems that Ryan is the first kid from the wrong side of the tracks ever to have been seen in Newport Beach, and his presence causes a furor. The girls fall in love with him, and the boys, with the exception of Sandys nerdy teenage son, Seth (Adam Brody), all hate him. There are fights. There are long, lingering glances, particularly between Ryan and Marissa (Mischa Barton), the beautiful girl next door. And, for the grown-ups, there are questions. Should they take care of Ryan permanently, in effect adopt him as a second son, or, having introduced him to deluxe living, return him to Chino to look for his absent mother? What, in short, are the rich folk of Newport Beach made of? Theyre big on kindness in the abstract every party they attend seems to be a charity ball of one kind or another but will they extend a bit of concrete, personal charity to one unlucky kid who desperately needs a home?

Given the talents involved Doug Liman ( Go ,Swingers ) and McG, who sounds like a car but is apparently a director ( Charlies Angels )The O.C. should be a lot fresher and more imaginative than it is, and far less self-conscious and studied. As Ryan, McKenzie overdramatizes absurdly at times, if only with his eyes, which seem to have attended acting school all on their own. Theyre constantly sliding this way and that, looking up, looking down, suspicious one moment, cautiously interested the next, always at the center of the scene. In the meantime, Marissas eyes are no slouches in the drama department either, and when the two of them are in the same room, its like a pas de deux for eyeballs.