Having wrapped filming on Season 1, The O.C. threw a cast party Tuesday at Falcon on L.A.'s Sunset Strip. There was much for McG & Co. to toast that night, especially since Fox just renewed the hit teen soap for next season. (As if there were any doubt!) Still, Party Boy wasn't in the most celebratory mood. I'm still cross that producers fired hottie Chris Carmack, packing Luke off to Portland last week. How could they?
"Yeah, it's unfortunate," said Benjamin Mackenzie, who plays broody Ryan. "The challenge the producers and writers faced with Luke was they weren't interested in continuing the Luke-Marissa-Ryan triangle too long. So once the triangle worked itself through, they were left with the problem of, 'What do we do with him?'"
Luke's love affair with ex-girlfriend Marissa's mom, Julie Cooper, sure was naughty. "He was great with doing comedy," Mackenzie agreed. "I thought that plotline was a lot of fun, but once that ran out
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Samaire Armstrong would never advocate giving up The O.C. (which, coincidentally, she does tonight at 9 ET on Fox). However, she does recommend tuning in without acting out. Although her character, bootylicious brainiac Anna, is as levelheaded as they come, not all of the prime-time sudser's pretty young things are models of the role variety.
"After the episode where Marissa OD'd on drugs, [the network ran] the whole 'If you're having suicidal thoughts, please call this number' [PSA],'" she recalls for TV Guide Online, "and we actually got a call from the head of the association saying that their calls had increased by 20 or 30 percent — which is a good and bad thing. It's like, does that mean that people who watch our show have a tendency to commit suicide, or are we really helping people?"
All kidding aside, the
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On tonight's episode of The O.C., the clichéd plot device commonly known as Oliver Trask makes a dramatic exit from the hit soap — and not a moment too soon. Fox's first-year dramedy flirted with some serious jump-the-shark territory with its introduction of the cookie-cutter villain, whose only purpose in life was to throw a kink in Marissa and Ryan's blossoming romance. It was a glaring misstep for a show that seems to pride itself on being the thinking person's 90210. To commemorate Oliver's hotly anticipated swan song, we rang up series creator (and recent Writers Guild of America Award nominee) Josh Schwartz to find out what the heck he was thinking.
TV Guide Online: Dude, what were you thinking? Love the show. Hate Oliver. The guy's a cartoon.Josh Schwartz: That's fair. But I make the argument that his actions are coming from a place of lone
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Pity poor Urkel and Screech. Clearly, they were born at the wrong time. Today's TV geeks are such a far cry from the walking punch lines of yore, we're laughing with them more often than at them. And how's this for progress? Some — like Everybody Loves Raymond's unlikely newlywed, Robert Barone — even get the girl. Read on and see for yourself: The tube's new breed of geeks has made it hip to be square.
Seth Cohen, The O.C.:Though his own mom has called this green wallflower a late bloomer, it wasn't long before he put away his toy horse to sow his own wild oats. After all, in the span of a Summer (pun intended), the Chrismukkah elf went from Newport's Most Unwanted to the guy atop two — count 'em, two! — hotties' to-do lists.
Marshall J. Flinkman,
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So far, O.C. newbie Oliver seems like a sweetheart, doesn't he? The kind of ex-druggie you wanna just hug. The sort of mental patient you could bring home to Mom, even if Mom is piranha Julie Cooper. But, according to the poor little rich kid's portrayer, Taylor Handley, there may be something a wee bit sour behind his screen counterpart's sweet smile. "Oliver is very intelligent," the 19-year-old tells TV Guide Online (as if we aren't glued to Fox every Wednesday at 9 pm/ET), "and intelligent people are good manipulators."
In other words, our hero Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) won't want to turn his back when main squeeze Marissa (Mischa Barton) is around Mr. Nice Guy. Says Handley: "There's definitely some tension between Ryan and Oliver since Marissa now has a boyfriend and also a friend — especially because my character is very needy due to his past. It kind of takes Marissa's attention away from Ryan."
The sullen sexpot might as w
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If we learned one thing in 2003, it's that we can't count on our televisions to keep our best interests in mind. How else to explain the unfortunate incident in which TiVo decided that, since we watched Bachelor kissing bandit Bob try out for the Olympic tonsil-hockey team, we must also want to see every single program on the Playboy Channel! So, as we brace for the year ahead, we have elected to make a few resolutions — for our constant companions, our TVs. (What? You didn't think we needed any improving, did ya?) What's more, we suggest that you do the same. After all, an indiscriminate viewer could wind up watching anything! Our solemn vows (and fondest wishes):
The O.C. will air daily. Maybe more often than that, because it is the coolest primetime soap in, like, ever. Way wittier than 90210 even aspired to be, Fox's smash
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Some O.C. cast members would sooner drink Coppertone than hear one more time how much their prime-time soap resembles its Fox forebear, Beverly Hills, 90210. But Rachel Bilson? She isn't one of 'em. "It's so flattering!" the actress exclaims to TV Guide Online. "I grew up on 90210. I was addicted to it!" Just don't call her character, ice princess Summer, the O.C.'s answer to Donna Martin.
"I don't want to be the Donna!" she says, mock pouting. "Nothing against Tori Spelling, but Summer affiliates more with Kelly (Jennie Garth) at the beginning of 90210, when she was the BMW-drivin' bad girl. Donna was way more innocent." And the buxom virgin stayed that way for — gulp! — years. "No, no, no, no!" Bilson squeals. "That is not the case with my character at all!"
Down the line, however, the L.A. native hopes that her star will align less with sitcom scene-stealer Garth's and more with that of a certa
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