Trivia / The O.C.

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Marissa Cooper was killed off at the end of season 3, as the actress wanted off the show.
• Billing Displacement: Peter Gallagher & Kelly Rowan are billed first in the opening credits for all 4 seasons, despite their characters being less prominent than the teenagers. When Melinda Clarke & Rachel Bilson were added as regulars, Clarke was again billed ahead of Bilson despite the same applying.
• Completely Different Title: Its French title is Newport Beach.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Mischa Barton publicly blamed the show for her personal issues. Shortly after the show's cancellation, she said it was no surprise the show had been canceled, since they killed her off.
  • Tate Donovan has been rather critical of the show's younger actors in interviews following his departure from the show. In a recent interview with Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke on their podcast though, he expressed regret for his comments. (Interestingly Bilson admitted that she was "a little asshole" in the early seasons)
  • Clarke's also not a fan of season 3.
  • Adam Brody has been critical of the direction of the show's writing after Season 1, particularly the handling of Marissa's death as a way of writing the character out, and admitted that he was ready to move on from the series by its final season. Apparently the writers had Seth get addicted to pot to mask how obviously bored Brody appeared to be during his scenes.
• Creator Breakdown - Josh Schwartz was jaded by pressure from some fans and Executive Meddling and seemingly zoned out during Season 3. After the cancellation of the show, he admitted in an interview that the first half of season 3 was a mess, and acknowledged they spent way too much time on Johnny's character. He also was critical of the addition of Charlotte Morgan, complaining that she was only added in season 3 because Fox demanded it, and that he and the writers had no clue what to do with her character.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Benjamin McKenzie, Adam Brody, Rachel Bilson & Autumn Reeser were all in their early to mid-twenties playing teenagers. Lampshaded in "The L.A."
  Ryan (speaking of the star from the Show Within a Show): How does that guy play high school?
  Seth: It's Hollywood, man.
  • Averted with the Coopers. Mischa Barton was 17 playing 16 and Willa Holland was 14 playing 14.
• Defictionalization: Before the series, "OC" was sometimes used in print as shorthand for "Orange County," but very rarely in speech, and never prefixed with a "the." Many Orange County residents scoffed at the show's title, but over the years, some of them really do refer to the region as "the OC" without irony.
• Dueling Shows: With One Tree Hill. The latter lasted longer, but The OC is usually thought to be the better of the two.
• Executive Meddling: Resulted in the end of the Marissa/Alex lesbian relationship. Also, apparently a big factor for the quality decline in Season 3, as Fox wanted something 'promotable' to happen every week. The writers once got a note that said, "This is Fox, not Fox Searchlight".
• Fake American/Fake Nationality: Kelly Rowan is Canadian.
  • Alan Dale who plays her father is from New Zealand.
  • Theresa, who is of Mexican descent is played by Indian-American Navi Rawat.
• Gay Panic: The series flirted with Marissa being bisexual. Then Alex, her squeeze, turned out to be a Psycho Lesbian, and she fled back into the bare arms of Ryan.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Willa Holland replaced Shailene Woodley as Kaitlin Cooper; lampshaded when Ryan didn't recognize her after she returned.
  • Trey Atwood.
  • Theresa's mother.
• The Pete Best: Shailene Woodley is not as remembered in the role of Kaitlin Cooper as her replacement, Willa Holland.
• Playing Against Type: Peter Gallagher's previous roles consisted mostly of slimy, unscrupulous assholes; here, he plays the compassionate and idealistic public defender Sandy Cohen who takes a troubled teen into his household.
  • A retroactive version, Lucy Hale is generally known for playing intelligent pale-skinned characters, but in her scenes as Kaitlin's roommate, she plays a valley girl with a tan.
• Romance on the Set: Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson got together in real life during the show’s first season and split up between the third and fourth season.
  • In 2024, Mischa Barton revealed that she dated and lost her virginity to Ben Mackenzie during the early part of season 1.
• Star-Making Role: For Rachel Bilson; to a lesser degree for Benjamin McKenzie & Autumn Reeser. For Willa Holland.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Kaitlin was reintroduced in season 3 with a view to creating a spin-off following Kaitlin & her friends at boarding school. This was then retooled into keeping Kaitlin as a main cast member in the fourth season so they could keep the high school drama aspect of the show after the original group had graduated.
  • The writers tried to get Trey to return in Season 4 to finish his story arc.
  • In the same season, Al Gore was supposed to be Summer's GEORGE recruiter, but had scheduling differences.
  • When Fox decided not to renew the show for a fifth season, the CW considered picking up the show. But ultimately they decided against the move.

---