Newport Beach

It is one of my favorit series. For the story and for Peter Gallagher and Adam Brody, for atmosphere, love affaires, tension and smart use of the rules of drama. A film about generations, love and friendship. About opportunities and about the way to define them more than use them. Fights and alliances and confessions. And the way for define the meanings of ordinaries lives.

When my girlfriend told me she was going to start watching this show, I figured it would give me 60 minutes a week to myself. But when I actually watched part of the first or second episode, I was surprised to find myself starting to get drawn in.

Here's what I like about this show: First, the kids talk like kids (even if some of them look like adults!). I don't know about anyone else, but after Dawson's Creek and The Gilmore Girls, I find it refreshing to see a show about teenagers who have trouble expressing themselves instead of speaking in pithy, self-aware sound bites.

Second, this show does a believeable job of presenting the class issues involved in having a "poor kid" move in with a "rich family". Others have pointed out that it avoided the initial cliche by having the two teenage boys become friends, but later episodes have shown that in spite of their friendship and common interests (e.g. comic books), there are still deeper issues of class and sexuality that show how different their "worlds" really are.

And finally, I was surprised to see that the writers were actually able to make me care about the problems of the rich characters! (The adults, anyway). For too many nighttime soap operas, portraying the "problems of the rich" are just a way to get us "unwashed" types to sneer at the "problems" that money brings ("I wish I had those problems!"). In "The O.C.", the writers actually explore questions of money, class (again) and love in the various adult couples in a way that brings Jane Austen to mind; we can relate to the struggles the characters are going through even if their day-to-day lives are completely foreign from our own.

All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable TV soap opera that doesn't require you to check your entire brain at the door.

It is at times corny, melodramatic, predictable, unbelievable as hell and sugar-coated. And yet? It works.

This show, which by all accounts should have been written off as a redo of good ole' Bev Niners, is funny, quirky and absolutely delightful. Somehow, over the first few episodes, it turned from being a guilty pleasure to just a genuine pleasure. This is largely due to the combined talents of Peter Gallagher, Kelly Rowan, Adam Brody and Ben McKenzie. They work as a family. They're funny. They're sweet. And somehow, Peter Gallagher is hot!

Adam Brody's ad-libs, Ben McK's baleful glances, Kelly Rowan's endearing nature and Peter Gallagher's eyebrows all add up to a fantastic hour of television that I await all week. The writing is quick, the acting (for the most part) is great and the in-jokes crack me up. Despite its silly premise, this show is pretty smart. And endearing. And really, really funny.

Would a public defender ever adopt his young client? No. Would ador(k)able, funny, smart Seth Cohen ever be considered unpopular? Probably not. Does Tate Donovan even look old enough to drink, let alone have a teenage daughter? Nah. My advice? Get over all that, sit back, and enjoy being entertained.

Cause this is how we do it in Orange County.

This might sound silly but i'm not lying or being exaggerating - this tv show changed my life. It gave me a good feeling for the rest of my life. I could watch this show many times all over and all over again without getting bored or tired.

Everything about this show is perfect, everything! The views, the music, the far-out characters, the lines, the sets, the clothes and THE MOST OF ALL - THE CAST!!

I remember starting watching this show around the time when i just got a depression. I would sleep and then in between drown myself into this blue world of drama and comedy. This show got me through it. This show made me feel alive and became as my passion.

This show was never long-wided, NO WAY! You never knew what was about to happen. This show had everything - excitement, funny humor, drama, thriller and love!

I'm so thankful for Josh Schwartz making this show because it LITERALLY CHANGED MY LIFE. I MEAN, LITERALLY. I admire it and look it as a perfection. I've showed this show to all of my friends and they thought that this is at least very good! I also managed to turn the other one into a fan.

I want everything to watch OC if they haven't seen it because this show gave me a lot and still means a lot to me! No kidding!

OK this show is without a doubt hilarious. The user who said it was boring, i can simply not fathom. Okay, so the storyline may be a little bit of a cliché, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, posh galas every week and people who are too pretty to exist in the real world. But isn't that what T.V is? An escape from the real world? This is the only show the me and my family actually agree on. Why? Because the story lines, although they may seem obvious, are interweaving. (E.G Caleb is kirsten's dad, who is marrying Julie Cooper, the ex-wife of Jimmy Cooper, who was kirsten's high school sweetheart.-OK, when i put it like that it sounds like a sunset beach episode.*shudder-twitch*)

But the point is this, The O.C is different from all those other "Ooh it's sunny, we're rich and pretty but our lives are so hard" shows because it makes fun of itself. Its is not afraid to make fun of itself. It knows that it's a show about a group of beautiful people with loadsa cash but not so much happiness. Bottom line, It's a cliché and there are too many black-tie events, but at the end of the day, it's easy going and will make you laugh out loud. Give it a go.