Marissa gets kicked
out of school! Summer gets a new nemesis! Sandy takes over the business
he once despised!
Just another
year in "The O.C." Or, in the case of all the things just
mentioned, just another month.
The Fox series, which
opens its third season tonight, plans to cover a lot of ground,
creator Josh Schwartz says. And after tying up a couple of
loose ends (albeit not too tightly) in the season premiere,
the show will dive into a year of changes for the Cohens and
those around them.
This
year is senior year for the teen characters, "and with senior
year comes all that sort of angst and anxiety, all that sort of
epic teen drama -- who am I, where am I going, what's gonna happen
to us?" Schwartz says.
The
premiere resolves the legal questions revolving around Marissa's
(Mischa Barton) shooting of Ryan's (Ben McKenzie) brother Trey (Logan
Marshall-Green). But fallout from the incident will continue to
affect the characters -- starting with Marissa being kicked out
of the Harbor School, thanks to a new dean of discipline (Eric Mabius
of "Eyes," who will have a recurring role).
Marissa's
departure will bring a new character, Taylor Townsend (Autumn Reeser,
"Complete Savages"), into the forefront at Harbor. Schwartz
describes her as a steaming socialite who's been in Marissa's shadow.
With Marissa banished to public school, Taylor takes over as Harbor's
social chair -- much to the consternation of Summer (Rachel Bilson).
"Summer
goes toe-to-toe with her as a sort of symbolic gesture to keep the
Marissa flame alive at Harbor," Schwartz says.
Viewers will get substantial pieces
of these plot threads in the first four episodes. And that's to
say nothing of Kirsten's (Kelly Rowan) journey through rehab --
where she encounters the mysterious Charlotte Morgan (recurring
guest Jeri Ryan) -- or Sandy's (Peter Gallagher) entree into the
Newport Group as a sort of caretaker while his wife is away.
The big steps are by design, Schwartz
says, as "The O.C.," after four episodes in September,
will take most of October off while Fox televises the baseball
playoffs and World Series.
The network wants to leave viewers
wanting more before they go off for baseball.
