Q: I know it's only halfway through the second season, but has
the time come to seriously compare "The OC" with the grandaddy of the
genre, "Beverly Hills: 90210"?
-- Michael Tedesco, Hopewell, NJ
You're
right, it's time. Let's break this baby down, Dr. Jack-style. To keep
things fair, I'm only comparing "The OC" to the first two seasons of
"90210."
Premise: "90210" revolved around two
twins from Minnesota moving to Beverly Hills and dealing with rich
people. "The OC" had a troubled kid from Encino moving to Orange County
and dealing with rich people. The lesson, as always: You're probably
going to have a hit show if an outsider is dealing with rich people.
"The OC" pilot was better -- actually, it was probably the best episode
in the history of the show -- but "90210" gets points for originality.
Too tough to call.
EDGE: EVEN.
Stars:
Brandon Walsh could have been a pretty corny part in the wrong hands,
especially when the pilot had him turning down the advances from a
smoking-hot chick in a hot tub, or the episode when Emily Valentine
slipped him an ecstacy pill and he reacted like she had infected him
with an AIDS-infected needle. It was also confusing how the writers
made him the moral conscience of the show, then gave him a gambling
problem out of nowhere, or had him smash up his car in a DWI accident.
But Jason Priestley handled all of these things, became a pretty big
star, helped launch the remarkably bizarre sideburns trend, hosted an
"SNL" episode and breathed life into lines like "You sure you should be
driving?" and "You OK?" Good actor, great part. He was the rock of the
show -- we even forgave him after he broke the Code of Guys and started
dating his best friend's girlfriend.
Meanwhile, if it
wasn't for Marissa, Ryan would have been the weak link of "The OC" --
he was very good in the first few episodes, before the whole "he's a
brooding outsider with a hair-trigger temper who means well" act wore
thin because they ordered too many episodes at once. By the end of the
season, Ben McKenzie (who plays Ryan) was stuck doing Jay Mohr's
eyeball rolling, "I love her man!" impersonation of Andrew McCarthy,
only he wasn't kidding. So they preppied him up in Season 2, gave him a
self-deprecating sense of humor and a broader personality, and now he's
an absolute mess -- to the point that they're starting to steer the
show around Seth. What happened to the guy who wore leather jackets and
white T-shirts and couldn't express himself? Now he's whipping out
one-liners like Yakov Smirnoff. I'm confused.
MAJOR EDGE: 90210.
Breakout Sidekick:
I'm already on record as saying that the guy who plays Seth (Adam
Brody) has the best chance of anyone to become the next Tom Hanks ...
and yet, I'm not sure Seth could carry his own show. He's a little too
manic. Dylan McKay? He could have carried his own show. And then some.
I'm just saying.
EDGE: 90210.
Babes:
Tough category for "90210" -- there were only four girls on the show,
and two of them were Tori Spelling and Gabrielle Carteris. Ouch. I
liked Jennie Garth, and her Kelly Taylor character clearly foreshadowed
every loathsome character we would see 14 years later on "My Super
Sweet 16," but she wasn't prettier than anyone on "The OC" (except for
maybe Ryan's new girlfriend). And Shannen Doherty was too wholesome and
crazy-looking during those first two seasons, although maybe she had to
be.
As for "The OC" ... good golly. It's a murderer's
row. You could make the case that Alex (Marissa's new girlfriend) and
Summer (played by Rachel Bilson) are two of the hottest characters in
the history of televsion -- that's right, I said it -- with Marissa
right behind them, as well as Julie Cooper and Seth's mom making the
Meredith Baxter-Birney Hall of Fame for smoking-hot TV moms. Say what
you want about Josh Schwartz (the creator of "The OC"), but the man
clearly knows what he's doing.
MAJOR EDGE: The OC.
Parents:
I liked the Walshes, but the Cohens serve the Brandon Walsh role for
"The OC" -- in other words, they're the collective rock of the show,
which made it so infuriating when they introduced the recent storyline
where Sandy Cohen struggles with unresolved feelings for an old flame
(played by a Botoxed-out Kim Delaney). Too out-of-character for him.
Anyway, I can't ever imagine the Cohens getting slowly phased out of
the show like the Walshes did, or getting transferred to Hong Kong and
knocked off the show. Wouldn't happen. Only one thing saves this from
being a complete landslide: The opening credits of "90210", when James
Eckhouse (as Mr. Walsh) would proudly turn around with his arms folded
over his chest, followed by the "that's right, I'm Mr. F-ing Walsh!"
smile. That always killed me.
EDGE: The OC.
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