By Everybody’s favorite guilty pleasure of television is back. The premiere of “The OC’s” fourth season hit dorm rooms nationwide last week, proving the series still has some spark.
With Season Three ending in a fiery car accident that took central character Marissa Cooper’s life, series creator Josh Schwartz was excited to talk about what to expect from Season Four.
Joining a telephone press conference that included writers from Stanford, Harvard and Yale can be intimidating, but the level of stupidity of the questions that were asked was amazing. Troy University asked a series of questions that can only be described as a waste of time. Yale addressed Schwartz as Jason, instead of Josh. Even Schwartz’s alma mater of USC spent their time trying to figure out how to break into the television industry instead of asking about the show.
Idiotic journalists’ aside, talking to Schwartz was an opportunity I jumped at. Schwartz is not only the creator and executive producer of the show, but he is also the youngest person in network history to create a network series and run the day-to-day production.
Schwartz grew up in Providence, R.I. and moved out to California to go to film school. “The OC” started as a satire on some of his experiences dealing with the culture shock.
“I had never seen the Orange County kids before,” Schwartz said. “I had never met the giant water polo player, and I was not familiar with the fact that being buoyant was a skill that was going to help you with the ladies. Basically, “The OC” started as my attempt to act revenge on the water polo players in college who got all the girls.”
The show became a pop culture phenomenon and 16 episodes have already been ordered for its fourth season.
“The beginning of the season will really be about the Cohens battling for Ryan’s soul, and Seth and Summer working out the issues [of a] long distance [relationship],” Schwartz said. “Sandy and Kirsten are going to be solid and happy and working together. Julie Cooper will be totally out of control.”
The premiere shocked fans by picking up the story five months later, instead of with the funeral of Marissa. This was one of my questions for Schwartz.
“It’s a couple things,” Sch-wartz said. “Practically it’s that we are coming back in November and it feels like we only have a couple episodes before we have to get Christmukkuh (the half-Christmas, half-Hanukah holiday Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) claims to have invented) in. It would be weird to start, in like, May [where the show left off] and then suddenly move to Christmukkuh.”
“Truthfully, it was from a storytelling point of view. We felt like we were picking up the story at the moment when it was really hurdling forward,” Schwartz said.
“After coming out of the tragedies last season, we really didn’t want the show to feel depressing. It was a really big goal of mine this year that the show get back to some of the humor that maybe wasn’t as evident last year. In trying to thrust the story forward, it felt like this was the exact right time to pick up.”
Schwartz also let out a couple revealing details. Kirsten Cohen (Kelly Rowan) will not be drinking anymore. The Bait Shop venue that hosted guest star bands will no longer be used. Kaitlin Cooper (jail bait Willa Holland) and Taylor Townsend (Autumn Reeser) are now cast regulars, but don’t look for a guest appearance by Mischa Barton as Marissa Cooper’s ghost.
“The idea going into this season was that people grieve in very strange ways,” Schwartz said. “We wanted to show everyone dealing with the death of Marissa, but in a way that felt active and [wasn’t] just depressing. I think it’s emotional and I think her character is very much honored in these episodes. You don’t feel it’s glossed over in any way. You will feel the resonance of her loss for a while.”
Some of the strange ways were revealed in the premiere with Ryan (Benjamin McK-enzie) joining an underground fighting ring and losing on purpose, Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson) turning into an environmentalist at Brown University and running from her OC life, and Julie Cooper (Melinda Clarke) trying to do busy work around the house.
Although the premiere amazingly captured the comedy and drama that made the show a success, it was only viewed by 3.4 million viewers, which was down 54 percent from last year’s premiere. There are already talks about moving the show to Wednesday night so it will not have to compete with television powerhouses “CSI” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” but that doesn’t shake Schwartz’s excitement about the new season.
“The humor of the show is really back and it’s exciting,” Schwartz said. “You’ve never really seen this version of the show before. The characters are really off in all new directions. People who watch it are really going to enjoy it. If you were a fan of the show at any point, that’s who this season is for.”
