The cast and producer of the popular
Fox soap "The O.C." showed up at press tour with little
information to feed TV critics, preferring to keep everything a surprise
for the Nov. 4 second-season premiere of the Orange County, Calif.-set
soap. The biggest challenge facing the show in year two? A new time
slot: 8 p.m. Thursday opposite "Friends" spinoff "Joey."
Get those VCRs warmed up.
"We have our fan base,
and I think they're going to come with us," said "O.C."
creator Josh Schwartz. "I think we're going to be able
to build on that audience and expand."
"The O.C." has
been praised on several fronts, particularly for its willingness
to incorporate humor into the largely humorless world of the
prime-time soap and also for giving the adult characters,
not just the teens, substantial story lines.
"A world where
teenagers are geniuses and the world's a better place without those
pesky adults would not ring true, especially in a [real] world where
there are high stakes and that's full of anxiety," said star
Peter Gallagher, who plays patriarch Sandy Cohen. "Fortunately,
[Schwartz] wanted to tell both sides of the story."
Interestingly, "The
O.C." has had wide appeal, not just with female teens, usually
the core audience for a teen soap, but also with teenage boys. Adam
Brody, who plays funny Seth Cohen, said he was on a golf course
recently and was approached by a gaggle of 16-year-old Seth Cohen
wannabes who all shared Seth's indie rock interest.
"I was surprised how many people
this character is speaking for now," Brody said.
Melinda
Clarke, who plays vixen mom Julie Cooper, got an interesting reaction
from one fan at the show's wrap party. Last season Julie had a brief
affair with Luke (Chris Carmack, now departed from "The O.C."),
her daughter's teenage ex-boyfriend.
"This
young man and his friend were sitting at a table, and he grabbed my
arm and said, 'I want to say thank you. Because of you, I'm dating
my best friend's mom,' and the friend next to him was rolling his
eyes. ... Every time I'd see him across the room he'd mouth, 'Thank
you!'"
This
much Schwartz would divulge about next season: Sandy's ailing mom,
played by Linda Lavin, will return.
"The nana really popped for people,
and therefore I think it's safe to say the chemo's working,"
he said.
And look for fewer fistfights.
"We're going to slow down the
storytelling some this year," Schwartz said. "There won't
necessarily have to be a brawl at every black-tie affair."
Fans hungry for more "O.C."
stuff might want to check out "Stop Being a Hater and Learn
to Love 'The O.C.' " ($9.95, Penguin), an unauthorized guide
to the series by Alan Sepinwall, TV critic for The Star-Ledger of
New Jersey. A boxed set of the first season of "The O.C."
will be released in October.
