When did the parents on teen soaps get sexy?
A decade ago, parents were there to offer comfort, threaten groundings
and dispense warnings about unplanned pregnancy while they folded
the washing. A mother would be seen wandering in from the garden,
secateurs in hand, to arrange fresh-cut flowers in a vase and negotiate
an appropriate curfew for the school dance.
Now these parents of teenagers pash on screen,
talk about their sex lives and have affairs. They also look so young
and foxy that you can only assume that they conceived their children
when they were still in primary school. Or possibly infants school,
given that their teenage children look and act like 23-year-olds.
The O.C., which is effectively Beverly
Hills 90210 at the beach, is among the more extreme examples
of this phenomenon, where the love lives of the parents -
and even grandparents - are almost as important to the story
as those of the glamorous teens who drive expensive cars and
attend charity benefits on yachts.
In this episode, parents Kirsten and Sandy Cohen
try to schedule time for sex. Sandy must toss up between keeping
the appointment with his wife and working late with a sexy colleague
who appears to be gagging for it. Meanwhile, in convoluted soapie
style, it appears that the Cohens' adopted son's girlfriend's mother
may be having a liaison with Kirsten's father.
Raunchy parents and grandparents aside, this
episode deals with timeless themes including "are we girlfriend-boyfriend
yet?", "I wish my parents weren't getting divorced!"
and "I so don't believe I have a secret crush on a nerd".
