So nostalgic!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DerFMSOxuiv/

They both go to Berkeley!

With all this talk of the cast wanting to return, I think the best way to go about reviving the show is through Seth’s comic books. What do you think? It’ll stay true to the show’s canon while also giving them an opportunity to explore outside that realm and even introduce new characters and bring old characters back. I think diving back into where we left off decades later won’t hold up, even though I’d be excited to see the characters again. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Just kidding. There’s a ton of stuff they should fix!

As said, did Marissa really think that this should be a surprise after bringing Luke as her date to Calebs party at the Cohens while it looks like she is interested in Luke after her wanting to choose.

Creds to cinegallaghers on TikTok!

My husband is watching Marshals on Paramount+ and I told him Trey looks so good! He was like who is trey? I was like he was Ryan’s brother on the OC and he laughed and was like I didn’t realize that. 🤣🤣

He does look so good! 🫠🫠

MEGATRON

The OC showrunners/writers kind of killed their own show, and I will die on this hill.

I think there was a lot of pressure from Fox to maintain the ratings of the Season 1 premiere. But plenty of shows experience a sophomore slump and can still be successful and profitable. I think that pressure was unfair, especially considering how unique The OC was when it premiered.

Honestly, I don’t think there were many shows like it at the time. In a weird way, I think its success helped pave the way for shows like Desperate Housewives and eventually the Real Housewives franchise. Audiences clearly enjoyed getting a glimpse into the lives of wealthy, privileged people and all the drama that came with them.

Fox literally had a hit on its hands, but instead of letting the show develop its own identity and build a loyal audience, the network seemed obsessed with chasing ratings. Constantly moving the show around to different time slots certainly didn’t help either.

But the writers deserve plenty of blame, too. They had some great storylines and somehow managed to fumble them.

Let’s start with Lindsay. Caleb having a secret love child was a great setup for family drama, but they made her storyline such a boring drag. They never fully committed to making it as dramatic as it could have been. Instead, we got Caleb having what felt like a million heart attacks that season. That was drama, sure, but not necessarily the kind of drama I think audiences wanted from that storyline.

And then they killed Caleb.

I wasn’t even particularly attached to him, but I don’t think killing him did the show any favors. The OC was good at introducing side characters who could bring drama and sometimes die by the end of the season. While that can get repetitive, it’s different from killing off foundational characters who’ve been part of the show’s identity for years. I think they lost more than they gained by killing Caleb.

But nothing compares to the decision to kill Marissa Cooper.

I genuinely don’t understand how anyone thought killing one of the show’s main characters after three seasons was a smart move when they were trying to keep the show going.

Whether you loved Marissa or found her frustrating, she was central to the show. Her relationships with Ryan, Summer, Julie, and everyone else were a huge part of what made The OC what it was.

Killing her felt like a decision you’d make when a show was ending and wanted one final shocking moment, NOT when you were trying to retain an audience for more seasons.

Yes, people might tune in initially to see the aftermath, but that’s different from convincing them to stay. Season 4 suddenly had to sell audiences on a completely different dynamic, with Taylor becoming a much bigger part of Ryan’s life and the characters navigating a very different stage of life.

I actually think Taylor could have been an interesting character without Marissa having to die. The writers could have developed Ryan and Taylor’s relationship without making Marissa’s death the catalyst for such a drastic change.

I’ve read the reports about Mischa Barton having problems on set, and obviously, we don’t know everything that was happening behind the scenes. But I still think the way the show handled her departure was a huge gamble. Fox and the writers were already struggling to maintain the audience, and then they removed one of the characters who helped make the show successful in the first place.

The fact that the network ultimately canceled the show during Season 4 makes me wonder what they expected to accomplish. I also think the cast getting antsy about staying on the show probably had more to do with the overall situation than simply being tired of playing their characters. Maybe some were ready to move on, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the increasingly messy writing and declining momentum contributed to that feeling.

Season 3 was already getting messy toward the end, and Season 4 felt like the writers were trying to reinvent the show instead of understanding what made people fall in love with it.

At the end of the day, I LOVE The OC. It’s genuinely one of my top five favorite shows, and I still put it on when I want something super 2000s. The music, fashion, relationships, and ridiculous drama will always have a special place in my heart.

But I genuinely think the people in charge played a huge role in running a show with so much potential into the ground.

Between Fox’s obsession with ratings, the scheduling decisions, wasted storylines, Caleb’s death, and ultimately Marissa’s death, it feels like the show was constantly sabotaging itself.

Shows have to evolve, but there’s a difference between allowing a show to grow naturally and making drastic changes that alienate the audience you’re trying to keep.

Does anyone else feel like The OC was its own worst enemy? I honestly think it could have lasted longer if the network and writers had made different decisions, and I’m still annoyed about it years later lol.

If this is a spoiler for anyone than guess what, it was spoiled for everyone weeks before it aired.

When season 3 was a going on, it was widely known Marisa was going to die at the end of the season. I remember it was appointment television that night to watch Marisa die.

It would be ridiculous for any show today to promote a character dies before it happens. So why then? Am I forgetting this was common practice for shows then or did Misha Barton publically announce she wasn’t coming back?

The graduation song

ALL I SEE IS SETH AND RYAN. Random picture i saw…Does anyone have any idea what this is from?

This pic from twilight came up on my feed, and I was like wait a second…..
The actor who played James in Twilight also played Volchok lol. I recently just finished The OC.

I get it, i really get it. Imagine for 25 years you hear just one series that you did when you were very young, it must be exhausting but at the end of the day that is what made you famous and it is a teenage series and of course there will be new generations of people that will watch the series and talk about reunion, One Tree Hill cast does it all the time. They are going reunion after reunion, nobody is mad that someone are asking them about series that literally made them a career.

Last sub postings on this are many years old so worth bringing up again? but I am shocked at there being 4!!!! actors in season 3 of the OC who were also in Twilight

Cam Gigandet
Nikki Reed
Jackson Rathbone
Justin Chon

It’s almost too many to be coincidental?

The degree of weakness and muscle atrophy from being immobile for that long would be significant in real life, even for a young person. I realize the show doesn’t have room to throw in an irrelevant plot about Trey rehabilitating, but it still has me fried. Sincerely, a physical therapist 😂

Can I just say that I started season four and I have three episodes left, and this is by far the funniest season of the show. Half the time, I can't believe the bits I'm watching are real. Because what do you mean Che got Summer kicked out of school, then came to her house and handcuffed himself to her, and Kaitlin helped the popular guy discover he was gay, and not even ten minutes later he's hooking up with taylor's "date," and don't even get me started on the dialogue. Ryan has said bitch more times this season than any of the previous three combined. The show used to use humor, mainly provided by Seth, Sandy, or Summer, as a crutch for the extreme drama and tragedy it would commonly make its main point. The characters were always unusually aware of truly how dramatic and insane their lives were, in a self-aware and almost dismissive manner, which is exactly what made me like the show so much in the first place. It's what made it different from similar genre dramas. But season four is almost a comedy in its absurdity. I am having so much fun. Its lighter, which is a given since its the final season and also shorter than the others, but its almost as if the writers AND directors suddenly decided to give it their very best in a completely unhinged way. The bit where Ryan keeps seeing Taylor in various scenarios as daydreams is EXTREMELY INSPIRED. The insomnia montage was just beautiful. Che as a character is top five for me, Chris Pratt gave it his absolute most. WHEN HE THOUGHT HE WAS IN LOVE W SETH OH MY GOD. Taylor is such a sweet and entertaining character, and as much as I found myself very upset by Marissa's death, I can't imagine the same level of humor if she was here. She was always so misguided and depressed, and almost passive. Things kept happening to her. Taylor has a lot of soul, and she's perfect. Anyway, I am having the time of my life so I just thought that I would drop here and share, and see if you all felt the same way about this season or if the consensus is that it sucks.

Ok, ok, this might have been said here a thousand times, but I don't care.

Watching The OC for the first time as an adult, and even though the series other seasons have some flaws, the fourth season is just plain bad.

Having Taylor as a main character, her stupid French lover, the Che plot, holy fuck, the series lost all its "suspense" aspects and the more grounded storytelling. Everything in season 4 is lame, supposedly funny and cringe. What a way to finish a serie.

First time viewer of the show and I can say that Seth is the primary example of why you should never give a man who's been pining after you for years a chance. Why? Because at some point in that relationship, he's gonna punish you for it. They won't admit it out loud but they've been secretly holding a grudge for all the years they've felt entitled to you and they cannot wait for the opportunity to reverse the roles and make YOU chase after them. This man had Summer in a Wonder Woman costume and STILL chose another girl. He went to her for an ENTIRE summer and he had her up on that bar confessing her love to him looking like a damn fool just for him to say "I don't love you anymore" all cuz he was too much of a chicken and embarrassed to tell her he didn't get into Brown (which was his fault btw for getting high and skipping the interview). That man HATED Summer and couldn't wait to embarrass her at any opportunity that he could. And once you realize that there's actually nothing romantic or flattering about someone who has placed you on a pedestal and idolized you while not knowing the first thing about you, you actually realize how inherently dehumanizing that is. Cuz they don't really see you! They see the delusional fantasy that they've built up about you in their head. And they're gonna be the quickest one to devalue you. So ladies, if a man in your dms kept trying to ask you out for years, keep his ass there!

Edit: The fragile "nice guys" in the comments getting mad and outing themselves are proving my point about them🤣🤣

So he just died and holy shit I laughed way too hard. That face! Oh man that "whoa noooo" face, wow. Oh man. The way he just..ah man all of it cracked me up

Watching the podcast, Patrick Norris who directed The Heights, when asked about the Ferris wheel kiss, he told Ryan to think of Luke before the kiss (probably joking) and then saying that a love story between the two would have been a good idea. I was kinda shocked, as I’ve never heard of a possible romance between these two. Did you guys watch this episode with Norris and what did you think about the “Think of Luke” part?

When he said it, I was like, since when does Ben have to think of Luke to kiss Mischa? Hellooo

I miss when cast photoshoots felt like an extension of the show itself. They weren’t just promotional pictures—they captured the characters, their relationships, and the whole atmosphere of the series.

Half the fun was overanalyzing who stood next to whom, how everyone was posed, and whether any of it hinted at what was coming. Please tell me I wasn’t the only one treating these photos like clues. 😂