Pilot air date: Aug. 5, 2003, Fox<\/p>\n
Stream it on: Hulu, HBO Max, Prime Video<\/p>\n
The late 1990s and early 2000s were awash with teen series, mostly on The WB, UPN, and Fox, some quite good, some not so much. \u201cThe O.C.\u201d<\/a> was one of the good ones, a witty, underdog fish-out-of-water nighttime youth drama with a heart and a brain, and it was sharp right out of the gate. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a fable of sorts: A smart but rough-around-the-edges teen (Ben McKenzie<\/a>\u2019s Ryan Atwood) from working-class Chino steals a car with his knucklehead older brother and gets kicked out of the house by his alcoholic mother. He\u2019s taken in by his public defender (Peter Gallagher\u2019s Sandy Cohen) and his family in upscale Newport Beach, where things are \u2026 different. The girls, including Mischa Barton\u2019s Marissa Cooper and Rachel Bilson\u2019s Summer Roberts, hold charity fashion shows featuring the wares of Vera Wang and Manolo Blahnik. The guys drive high-end SUVs. The unsupervised beach parties come with booze, drugs, and sex. At one such party in the pilot, the willowy Marissa asks Ryan what he thinks of Newport Beach. \u201cI think I could get into a lot less trouble where I\u2019m from,\u201d he replies. She readily agrees. In some ways, the wrong side of the tracks is safer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe O.C.\u201d had a confectionary quality from the start, defined by beautiful people, beachy locales, and pop tunes, by the likes of Phantom Planet and Black Eyed Peas, guaranteed to take you back to 2003. Doug Liman, coming off a run that included \u201cSwingers,\u201d \u201cGo,\u201d and \u201cThe Bourne Identity,\u201d directed the pilot with slick high energy. But there\u2019s more going on here than fun in the sun. \u201cThe O.C\u201d is bathed in affluenza<\/a>, the sickness of the spirit that accompanies the obsession with material comfort. The show could be accused of having its cake and eating it too, but it walks that line deftly. Gallagher\u2019s Sandy and his wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), are living proof that not all rich people are bad, but next door, Marissa\u2019s dad, Jimmy (Tate Donovan), is falling apart as the SEC investigates his dirty financial dealings. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Adam Brody walks away with the pilot and arguably the series as Seth, Sandy and Kirsten\u2019s soulful, socially awkward teen son. Seth can\u2019t even look at Summer, the girl of his dreams, but he welcomes Ryan with open (if jittery) arms. Seth doesn\u2019t really trust the conspicuous wealth around him, and as the show\u2019s moral compass, he implicitly suggests we shouldn\u2019t, either. But that doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t enjoy the trappings. <\/p>\n Chris Vognar can be reached at chris.vognar@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him on Instagram at @chrisvognar<\/a> and on Bluesky at chrisvognar.bsky.social.<\/p>\n