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This show was my favorite when I was a teenager, whenever life was getting tough I found a lot of comfort and escape watching The O.C. Lost all my seasons 6-7 years back in a move and decided it was time to get them back! 10/10 recommend this show, it was soo good. Wish they’d do a reboot!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This review is designed to share some insights on the television show "The O.C." from the perspective of someone who grew up in Chino Hills, California and spent Saturdays in the summer enjoying the surf and turf of Orange County. The series (written and produced by Josh Schwartz) focuses on the lives of an very wealthy Orange County family consisting of a driven corporate real estate executive (Kelly Rowan) and her compassionate husband lawyer (Peter Gallagher) and their hilarious, and nerdy son (Adam Brody) who adopt a troubled teenager Ryan Atwood from Chino Hills (Benjamin MacKenzie) after being abandoned by his alcoholic single mother. Here you find a clash of two different worlds: the rich and poor and the melting pot of liberal and conservative, Christian and Jew. Romance, drama, glamour, fights, drugs, sex and rock and roll play an expected part in this drama in the lives of teenagers and adults in the O.C. as they seek to find purpose and significance within the broken world they are living. Although on the surface this show looks to be just another teen drama it digs much deeper and addresses many societal problems of child neglect, social injustice, prejudice, corporate greed, adoption, abortion, divorce and re-marriage, alcoholism, break-down in the current child welfare system and much more! The show regularly asks the question- can a poor kid from a neglected background and the poor town of Chino Hills if transplanted into a supportive, loving family with healthy boundaries overcome the habits, expectations and societal limitations he has grown up with and learn to become a healthy young man who can in turn make a positive contribution to society? As you shall see, this is not an easy task. In fact it is one that drives the Cohen's to question their decision on more than one occasion. In the end, it will be worth it for the viewer of the O.C. because people do matter. Both worlds are tainted with equally devastating weaknesses. And both can and do find redemption. But it requires some tough choices along the way. Some make them, others don't. A side note: Chino Hills actually is not poor today! In fact it is one of the wealthiest in California. But there are some parts that remain poor.) The show centers much of its attention on the privileged teenagers Marissa Cooper and her best friend, Summer who is the obsession of Seth, and Ryan Atwood's mixed and evolving affections for Marissa. Together they grow up in the often "plastic" yet entertaining O.C. As they have fun, date, face challenges or ponder some of the deeper issues in life they discover they have much more in common with each other than they ever imagined. I think you will enjoy Season One of "The O.C." For music lovers there are many excellent "Indie" aka alternative bands introduced throughout the series including Cold Play, Youth Group, Roonie, Matt Pond PA, and Phantom Planet whose theme song for the O.C. "California" simply rocks! A final note: the show explores a lot of issues facing teenagers these days and parental supervision is therefore recommended for some episodes due to adult themes and sexuality. Nevertheless, I still find a lot of good in this well acted drama worth recommending it to others. However, seasons 2 and 3 contain episodes that exploit teenage sexuality in counterproductive ways in order to boost viewership and ratings and I don't recommend them. Season 4 offers humanistic redemption, but nonetheless inspiring.Read full review
In the pilot episode, we meet our main characters. Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie), an intelligent kid living in Chino, California, with his mom Dawn (Daphne Ashbrook), her boyfriend A.J. (Ron Del Barrio), and his older brother Trey (Bradley Stryker), seems to have trouble follow him. He never intentionally starts anything, but he suffers from “wrong place, wrong time” syndrome. One night, while hanging out with his idiot brother, they are arrested after Trey smashes in a car window with the intention of stealing it. Since Ryan is under 18, he is let go under the supervision of Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), the public defender. When he tries to go home, Dawn kicks him out. After fruitless attempts to stay at the homes of friends, he calls Sandy, who had offered to help him out in any way he could. This doesn’t make Sandy’s rich architect wife Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) too happy. She doesn’t like the idea of having a criminal in their house in Newport Beach, especially if he is a bad influence to their teenage son Seth (Adam Brody.) She agrees to one weekend, but insists that he leave after that. On the first night with the Cohens, Ryan meets Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), the daughter of the next-door neighbor. There is an instant attraction, but she already has a boyfriend, a jock named Luke Ward (Chris Carmack.) The Coopers have some problems of their own. Marissa’s father, Jimmy (Tate Donovan), is having money problems, but is hesitant to tell this to his spoiled wife Julie (Melinda Clarke), or either of his two daughters, Marissa and Kaitlin (Shailene Woodley.) Back at the Cohen house, Ryan meets Seth for the first time the next morning. They hang out, and Seth tells Ryan that he has the hots for Marissa’s best friend Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson.) That night, they go to a charity fashion show that Marissa had invited Ryan to. Summer meets Ryan and likes him, so she invites him to an after-party at the house of Holly (Ashley Hartman), one of Marissa and Summer’s friends. Ryan invites Seth to go with him, saying it was Summer’s idea. Summer keeps hitting on Ryan, and Seth gets mad, so he tells everyone that Ryan is from Chino (which apparently is a place people in Newport Beach don’t like) and storms off. Luke and his friends decide to hassle Seth, and Ryan comes to his rescue. Seth forgives Ryan for the Summer thing, since Ryan is one of the only people to be nice to him. Ryan later notices Summer and Holly drop a passed out Marissa off at the end of her driveway. He moves her to a beach chair by the pool house behind the Cohen house. The next morning, Kirsten is furious at Ryan for corrupting Seth, which is something she had feared would happen. Sandy drives Ryan back to his trailer house in Chino, only to find Dawn had abandoned it, and just left a note for Ryan. The episode ends with Sandy taking Ryan back home with him. I love this shows cant wait to watch more!Read full review
Season 1 was pretty hot! Starting off the season with a bunch of teenagers trying to find who they are. Ryan comes to Newport--hot and sexy!! I have always enjoyed the seasons of The O.C.. The 1st is pretty good but the second and the third are excellent! I wanted this set for my collection, like I said I enjoy all the seasons. This is probably more of a teen show but I am 27 years old with 3 kids and I really enjoy this show. If you are interested in purchasing I would recommend. Hope you enjoy!!!!!!!
one of the greatest tv shows to ever exist absolutely love it
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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