In a recent posting, John W. ...
The O.C.
Question: In a recent posting, John W. said he was surfing all channels and only reality was on during the summer. I agree on how pathetic it is, but does anyone remember a little filler show that aired two summers ago? Reality wasn't such a hit, and there was nothing else on, so people watched a show called
The O.C. Wouldn't you think networks would look at things like that and throw a decent show on during the summer? Thankfully, there's FX providing us with some entertainment.
Answer: Yes, FX rescued me this summer, all right. And no question,
The O.C. was the perfect show to be launched in the summer. Those with especially long memories will remember that Fox also scored big when it started
Beverly Hills, 90210's second season in the summer of (gulp) 1991, which helped that show become a long-running hit. But for every one of those, there's a piece of unwatchable flotsam like last summer's
North Shore — and virtually every other show Fox premiered last summer, during its disastrous "year-long season" experiment. The networks still aren't likely to waste expensive first-run dramas or comedies during the low-volume summer months, unless there's a good reason, like giving
O.C. a strategic head start. It may well be a self-fulfilling prophecy — no good shows, so no one's watching — but the economics of the business, at least for now, still mean that most of what you get during the summer is cheap-to-produce, easy-to-ignore reality filler.
