“The O.C.”
wraps up a season that featured relationship twists, a girl-girl
kiss and George Lucas with a finale that show creator Josh Schwartz
says is “all about family.”
On the last episode
(8 p.m. ET) of the Fox teen drama’s second season, several
story lines will climax, including the building marital difficulties
between Sandy and Kirsten Cohen (Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan).
Also likely to boil over is the impending brotherly feud between
Ryan and Trey Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie and Logan Marshall-Green).
“Everything
is coming to a head,” Schwartz recently told The Associated
Press. “It’s really emotional and family driven.
It’s all about family.”
Schwartz adds that he
didn’t even give the cast the last page to the script
until they were shooting. Also, some old faces might pop up
for the finale.
“You’ll
start seeing people from the past reappearing — not who you’d
expect. And I think it’s going to tie together the last few
years.”
Those
last few years have been successful ones for “The O.C.”
and Schwartz, who at 28 is one of the youngest executive producers
in TV. After Fox gambled by running the show’s first season
during the 2003 summer, the “new 90210” caught on among
young viewers as well as many critics who applauded the intermingling
of both teenage and parent characters.
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Fox recently confirmed that the “The O.C.” will be back
for a third season. Though it rarely brings in top ratings (6 million
watched last Thursday, compared to 26 million for “American
Idol”), it is consistently popular for younger (and advertiser
friendly) demographics.
“The
O.C.” has also spawned several soundtracks featuring its now
trademark indie rock — which Schwartz says has become an attraction
in its own right: “It’s another reason to watch the show.”
Bands
like Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse and the Killers have also
frequently played cameo gigs at the show’s local hangout,
the Bait Shop.
This
season also saw a controversial and much-hyped kiss between Marissa
Cooper (Mischa Barton) and the Bait Shop bartender Alex (Olivia
Wilde). But Schwartz says it was never meant as a ratings grab.
“The
ratings weren’t even in our mind,” he says. “It
was promoted in a way, I guess, that would make people think that,
but it wasn’t really about just watching two girls kiss. It
took a lot of episodes to unfold and build. ... It was about so much
more than just a kiss.”
Relationships
will continue to build next season, which Schwartz and the show’s
writers have already begun to plot
Though
the young producer says he at first struggled this year to match the
expectations, he claims the show “found itself this year”
and has only higher hopes for season three — when Seth Cohen
and friends enter their senior year in high school.
“That’s
just so epic,” says Schwartz. “If you’re doing this
kind of show, this is the year.”
