Post by I Got Soul. on Nov 2, 2006 10:54:19 GMT -5
It's back on tonight!
Here's a little review to get your juices flowing.
- - -
'The O.C.' fights back
Marissa's death seems to have re-energized this cast and these writers' for season four
By BILL BRIOUX -- Toronto Sun
There are certain truths in television. Move a show, lose 20% of the audience. If you want your show to go four-and-out, cast Jason Gedrick, Ted McGinley or Eric Balfour. Sitcoms are dead -- until the next big one comes along.
Here's another one: Kill off one of your main characters, kill off your show.
All In The Family was never the same without Edith Bunker. M*A*S*H turned to mush after Henry Blake's 'copter crash, ER without Dr. Mark Greene -- bad medicine.
Last spring, pretty but wooden Mischa Barton made a shocking departure from The O.C. Her character, high school princess Marissa, was killed in a car accident.
At the time, the stunt seemed like a desperate ploy to extend a prime-time soap that had slid in the ratings. Here's another shocker -- tonight's fourth season premiere (7 p.m. on CTV, 9 p.m. on Fox) is one of the series' best episodes.
Marissa's death spiked the show's central love story, the Romeo-and-Juliet pairing of the beautiful and privileged girl next door and Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie), the sullen young turk from the wrong side of the tracks.
Tonight's hour, and a peek at two subsequent episodes, suggests that The O.C. is more than okay. Instead of dead-ending the series, Marissa's death seems to have re-energized this cast and these writers.
The story picks up five months later. Ryan, who skipped Marissa's funeral, is still beating himself up -- literally. He lives behind a Fight Club-like bar where he gets pummelled nightly. Marissa's hot mom, Julie (Melinda Clarke), is back on the pills, much to the chagrin of her latest rich hubby (nicely overplayed by Michael Nouri) and her problem-child daughter Kaitlin (Willa Holland). Schemer Julie's latest mission is to get Ryan to track down the dude who drove her little girl to her death.
Blank-faced McKenzie has always run the gamut of emotion from A-to-B. His limited range as an actor fits perfectly with his new persona -- the damaged, grieving lover, stunned into an emotionless shell.
The rest of the Cohens are soldiering on. Kooky Seth (Adam Brody) is moving forward with his comic-book business. He still pines for Summer (Rachel Bilson), now thousands of miles away at Brown University.
There she hooks up with a tree hugger played by Chris Pratt, who demonstrated he could juggle teen hunk/comedy relief as Bright on Everwood.
The Mom and Dad, Kirsten and Sandy Cohen (played by Kelly Rowan and Peter Gallagher), are still enabling all these horny kids, providing food and shelter and well-fueled SUVs. The O.C. always did a good job balancing the mom and dad and kid storylines, and that hasn't changed.
Tonight's show ends with Ryan returning under the Cohen roof to discover that Seth has turned everyone into comic-book characters, with Ryan emerging as the family's unlikely superhero. Ironically, with the death of Marissa, the characters have never seemed less cartoony, more three dimensional.
This series is still cool with the kids -- who will probably get over Marissa a lot quicker than Ryan did.
One new-media note: You can catch tonight's O.C. season premiere, plus the second episode, free on demand at ctv.ca (click on "The CTV Broadband Network"). While Global is already streaming Survivor, Deal Or No Deal and a few other U.S. reality shows, The O.C. becomes the first U.S. drama streamed on a Canadian broadband provider.
Here's a little review to get your juices flowing.
- - -
'The O.C.' fights back
Marissa's death seems to have re-energized this cast and these writers' for season four
By BILL BRIOUX -- Toronto Sun
There are certain truths in television. Move a show, lose 20% of the audience. If you want your show to go four-and-out, cast Jason Gedrick, Ted McGinley or Eric Balfour. Sitcoms are dead -- until the next big one comes along.
Here's another one: Kill off one of your main characters, kill off your show.
All In The Family was never the same without Edith Bunker. M*A*S*H turned to mush after Henry Blake's 'copter crash, ER without Dr. Mark Greene -- bad medicine.
Last spring, pretty but wooden Mischa Barton made a shocking departure from The O.C. Her character, high school princess Marissa, was killed in a car accident.
At the time, the stunt seemed like a desperate ploy to extend a prime-time soap that had slid in the ratings. Here's another shocker -- tonight's fourth season premiere (7 p.m. on CTV, 9 p.m. on Fox) is one of the series' best episodes.
Marissa's death spiked the show's central love story, the Romeo-and-Juliet pairing of the beautiful and privileged girl next door and Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie), the sullen young turk from the wrong side of the tracks.
Tonight's hour, and a peek at two subsequent episodes, suggests that The O.C. is more than okay. Instead of dead-ending the series, Marissa's death seems to have re-energized this cast and these writers.
The story picks up five months later. Ryan, who skipped Marissa's funeral, is still beating himself up -- literally. He lives behind a Fight Club-like bar where he gets pummelled nightly. Marissa's hot mom, Julie (Melinda Clarke), is back on the pills, much to the chagrin of her latest rich hubby (nicely overplayed by Michael Nouri) and her problem-child daughter Kaitlin (Willa Holland). Schemer Julie's latest mission is to get Ryan to track down the dude who drove her little girl to her death.
Blank-faced McKenzie has always run the gamut of emotion from A-to-B. His limited range as an actor fits perfectly with his new persona -- the damaged, grieving lover, stunned into an emotionless shell.
The rest of the Cohens are soldiering on. Kooky Seth (Adam Brody) is moving forward with his comic-book business. He still pines for Summer (Rachel Bilson), now thousands of miles away at Brown University.
There she hooks up with a tree hugger played by Chris Pratt, who demonstrated he could juggle teen hunk/comedy relief as Bright on Everwood.
The Mom and Dad, Kirsten and Sandy Cohen (played by Kelly Rowan and Peter Gallagher), are still enabling all these horny kids, providing food and shelter and well-fueled SUVs. The O.C. always did a good job balancing the mom and dad and kid storylines, and that hasn't changed.
Tonight's show ends with Ryan returning under the Cohen roof to discover that Seth has turned everyone into comic-book characters, with Ryan emerging as the family's unlikely superhero. Ironically, with the death of Marissa, the characters have never seemed less cartoony, more three dimensional.
This series is still cool with the kids -- who will probably get over Marissa a lot quicker than Ryan did.
One new-media note: You can catch tonight's O.C. season premiere, plus the second episode, free on demand at ctv.ca (click on "The CTV Broadband Network"). While Global is already streaming Survivor, Deal Or No Deal and a few other U.S. reality shows, The O.C. becomes the first U.S. drama streamed on a Canadian broadband provider.