Jonathan Storm | A juicy Orange County soap opera

By Jonathan Storm
Inquirer Columnist

'This is how it's done in Orange County," yells the mean rich kid, as he and his buddies kick the out-of-town poor kid silly.

You didn't know that Orange County, Calif., home of zillionaires and right-wingers - who are usually one and the same - was also a branch of the 'hood, where the threat of assault lurks on every corner?

Well, it's not. And not just because the young folk are too busy gagging on silver spoons to learn much about violence. The area's gated communities are built with curvy roads to keep them from looking like developments and scaring away wealthy would-be transplants. So there really aren't many corners on which anything can lurk.

But enough of this concern for realism. The rich kid and the poor kid aren't denizens of Orange County, but of The O.C. , the first show of the new TV season, which premieres almost two months before fall does, at 9 tonight. It's a prime-time soap opera heavy on teen action. And it's on Fox.

Only a misguided English teacher from the last century, or maybe one of the show's self-aggrandizing producers, would try to find authenticity in this entertaining trash that, in the tradition of all great TV serials, is somehow frothy and sordid at the same time.

The poor kid, who comes from the depraved squalor of Chino, Calif. (and don't you think Fox will get deluged with letters from that city's chamber of commerce?), is adopted by the public defender with the big heart, who is married to the high-powered businesswoman, who makes so much money they can afford to live in ritzy Newport Beach with their son, the Nerd.

His next-door neighbors are the absurdly beautiful daughter and her parents, the domineering mother and a father who has men in black suits knocking on the front door. These gentlemen callers are from neither the Mafia nor the FBI, but a much darker outfit: the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This high-priced cheeseball, we learn, almost married the Nerd's mom back in the day.

So the pump is primed.

In tonight's episode, most of the rich kids drive outrageous cars and snort piles of cocaine before forming various sexual groupings. The better-behaved ones just strip down and get drunk or maybe smoke pot.

Taking umbrage to suggestions that his show is nothing but Beverly Hills 90210 set 10 years later and a couple of hours down the highway, executive producer McG, the hotshot Hollywood action director, told critics last month: "It's a more accurate portrayal of what really goes on in these communities."

Why critics would seek sociological commentary from someone named McG is anybody's guess, but the Charlie's Angels film director has demonstrated he can put candy on the screen and money in the showbiz bank. The O.C. may help him enhance a reputation dimmed by this summer's Angels sequel and last fall's failed Fastlane on Fox.

In addition to Peter Gallagher, Kelly Rowan and Tate Donovan as the grown-ups, the show has a potential major heartthrob in Benjamin McKenzie, as Ryan, the troubled poor kid, and Mischa Barton as Marissa, the hot neighbor. At 17, she's on the short list to be Hollywood's next big thing. TV-heads may remember her as Katie, Jessie's crush object, on Once and Again .

She's still risky business.

"I think I could get in less trouble where I'm from," Ryan says.

"You have no idea," Marissa replies.

Hemmed in by postseason baseball in the traditional fall-premiere period, Fox has decided to see whether The O.C. can develop a loyal Tuesday-night audience now that will follow the series to its more challenging Thursday-night neighborhood in the fall.

But Fox has never been religious about keeping to its announced schedule. The O.C. could wind up anywhere by November, except - given its enticing array of misguided and attractive adults and teens - on the network shelf.

Contact television critic Jonathan Storm at 215-854-5618 or jstorm@phillynews.com .Television The O.C. Tonight at 9 on Fox

Last Updated Sat, Aug 16, 2003