The first season of ''

The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seaso ...

'' commenced airing in the United States on August 5, 2003, concluded on May 5, 2004, and consisted of 27 episodes. It tells the story of "the Cohen and Cooper families, and Ryan twood a troubled teen from the wrong side of the tracks" who is thrust into the wealthy, harbor-front community of

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

and "will forever change the lives of the residents". The first seven episodes of ''

'' aired in the US on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. on

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

television network. Following a seven-week mid-season

hiatus Hiatus may refer to: *Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure *Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species ''Hiatus fulvipes'' *Globa ...

, the remainder of the season aired on Wednesdays at 9:00 pm. The season was released on DVD as a seven disc boxed set under the title of ''The O.C.: The Complete First Season'' on September 26, 2004, by

Warner Bros. Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

. On June 17, 2008, the season became available to purchase for registered users of the US

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

. In the United Kingdom the

season premiere A season premiere is the first episode of a new season of a returning television show. In the United States, many season premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements, either in the spring or late winter. In countries such ...

aired at 9:00 pm. Sunday March 7, 2004 on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

with the second episode airing immediately after, on sister station E4. After taking a

over summer, the show returned in early September to a 1:00 p.m. slot as part of T4. In Canada it aired on

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...

and in Australia it was first broadcast on

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

, but dropped it after three episodes.

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

subsequently picked up the show, airing it in its entirety.

Synopsis

It tells the story of "the Cohen and Cooper families, and high school

Sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

Ryan Atwood, a troubled teen from the wrong side of the tracks" who is thrust into the wealthy, harbor-front community of

and "will forever change the lives of the residents".

Cast and characters

Regular

Peter Gallagher Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is an American actor. Since 1980, he has played roles in numerous Hollywood films. He is best known for starring as Sandy Cohen in the television drama series ''The O.C.'' from 2003 to 2007, recurr ...

Sandy Cohen Sanford "Sandy" Cohen is a fictional character on the FOX series ''The O.C.'', portrayed by Peter Gallagher. Sandy, son of Sophie Cohen, is married to Kirsten Cohen. Their eldest child, Seth, is something of a social misfit. Sandy's father left ...

(27 episodes) *

Kelly Rowan Kelly Rowan (born October 26, 1965) is a Canadian film and television actress and former model (profession), fashion model. A native of Ottawa, Rowan studied acting in London and New York City before working as a model. She was featured in the ho ...

Kirsten Cohen Kirsten Cohen (maiden name Nichol) is a fictional character on the FOX television series ''The O.C.'', portrayed by Kelly Rowan. Kirsten is the wife of Sandy Cohen, mother to Seth Cohen, and the adoptive mother of Ryan Atwood. Originally portr ...

(27 episodes) *

Benjamin McKenzie Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan (born September 12, 1978) is an American actor and commentator. He is best known for his starring television roles as Ryan Atwood on the teen drama ''The O.C.'' (2003–2007), Ben Sherman on the crime drama ''Southlan ...

Ryan Atwood Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

(27 episodes) *

Mischa Barton Mischa Anne Marsden Barton (born 24 January 1986) is a British-American film, television, and stage actress. She began her career on the stage, appearing in Tony Kushner's ''Slavs!'' and took the lead in James Lapine's '' Twelve Dreams'' at Ne ...

Marissa Cooper Marissa Cooper is a fictional character on the FOX television series ''The O.C.'', portrayed by Mischa Barton. Marissa was among the original "core four" characters on ''The O.C.'' She is a privileged California native born into a wealthy family ...

(27 episodes) *

Adam Brody Adam Jared Brody (born December 15, 1979) is an American actor, writer, musician, and producer. He is known for his breakthrough role as Seth Cohen on the Fox television series ''The O.C.'', which premiered in 2003. Subsequently, Brody appeared ...

Seth Cohen Seth Ezekiel Cohen is a fictional character on the Fox television series ''The O.C.'', portrayed by Adam Brody. Seth is one of the "core four" characters on ''The O.C.'' alongside Ryan Atwood, Marissa Cooper, and Summer Roberts. Seth's friendshi ...

(27 episodes) *

Chris Carmack James Christopher Carmack (born December 22, 1980) is an American actor, singer, and former fashion model. He is known for his roles in three popular television shows—the teen drama series '' The O.C.'' (2003–2004) as Luke Ward, the country ...

Luke Ward '' The O.C.'' is an American Television series created by Josh Schwartz for the FOX Network in 2003. Schwartz serves as executive producer while also writing and directing for the show, including the premieres and finales of all seasons. The ...

(20 episodes) *

Tate Donovan Tate Buckley Donovan (born September 25, 1963) is an American actor, comedian and television director. He is known for portraying Tom Shayes in ''Damages'', Jimmy Cooper in ''The O.C.'', and the voice of the title character in the 1997 Disney ...

as Jimmy Cooper (24 episodes) *

Melinda Clarke Melinda Patrice "Mindy" Clarke (born April 24, 1969) is an American actress. Clarke is known for portraying Faith Taylor on the soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' (1989–1990), Julie Cooper on Fox's teen drama series ''The O.C.'' (2003–2007), ...

as Julie Cooper (episode 14 onwards; recurring ep. 1–13) (23 episodes) *

Rachel Bilson Rachel Sarah Bilson (born August 25, 1981) is an American actress. Born to a Californian show-business family, Bilson made her television debut in 2003, and then landed the role of Summer Roberts on the prime-time drama series ''The O.C.'' Bils ...

Summer Roberts Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, with ...

(episode 14 onwards; recurring ep. 1–13) (27 episodes)

Recurring

Alan Dale Alan Hugh Dale (born 6 May 1947) is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale enjoyed theatre and rugby. After retiring from the sport, he took on a number of occupations, before deciding to become a professional actor at age 27. Dale subsequentl ...

Caleb Nichol ''The O.C.'' is an Television in the United States, American Television series created by Josh Schwartz for the Fox Broadcasting Company, FOX Network in 2003. Schwartz serves as executive producer while also writing and directing for the show, ...

(14 episodes) *

Samaire Armstrong Samaire Rhys Armstrong ( ) is an American actress and fashion designer. She is known for her roles in ''Stay Alive'', ''The O.C.'', ''It's a Boy Girl Thing'', and as Juliet Darling in the ABC television series, ''Dirty Sexy Money''. She has appea ...

Anna Stern ''The O.C.'' is an American Television series created by Josh Schwartz for the FOX Network in 2003. Schwartz serves as executive producer while also writing and directing for the show, including the premieres and finales of all seasons. The s ...

(13 episodes) *

Amanda Righetti Amanda Righetti (born April 4, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Grace Van Pelt on ''The Mentalist'', as well as her roles in '' Friday the 13th'', ''The O.C.'' and ''Colony''. Early life The youngest of eight children, ...

Hailey Nichol ''The O.C.'' is an American Television series created by Josh Schwartz for the FOX Network in 2003. Schwartz serves as executive producer while also writing and directing for the show, including the premieres and finales of all seasons. The sh ...

(10 episodes) *

Navi Rawat Navlata Rawat (born June 5, 1977) is an American television actress, known for her roles as Theresa Diaz on the drama series ''The O.C.'' and math prodigy Amita Ramanujan on the drama series ''Numb3rs''. Early life Rawat was born in Malibu, Cal ...

Theresa Diaz ''The O.C.'' is an American Television series created by Josh Schwartz for the FOX Network in 2003. Schwartz serves as executive producer while also writing and directing for the show, including the premieres and finales of all seasons. The sh ...

(8 episodes) *

Ashley Hartman Ashley Christina Hartman (born August 31, 1985) is an American actress, singer, and television presenter. Biography Early life Hartman was born to Michele Knutsen and Kip Hartman in Orange County, California. When she was four years of age, h ...

as Holly Ficher (6 episodes) *

Taylor Handley Taylor Laurence Handley (born June 1, 1984) is an American actor. Early years Handley was born in Santa Barbara, California. He attended Santa Monica City College. Career In 1998, Handley played Rory Buck in the movie ''Jack Frost''. In 200 ...

Oliver Trask Oliver Trask is a fictional character on the FOX television series ''The O.C.'', portrayed by Taylor Handley. Oliver appeared in the series' first season as a thorn in Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper's relationship, soon developing a severe obsess ...

(6 episodes) *

Shailene Woodley Shailene Diann Woodley (born November 15, 1991) is an American actress. Born in San Bernardino, California, Woodley was raised in Simi Valley, and started modeling at the age of four and began acting professionally in minor television roles. She ...

Kaitlin Cooper ''The O.C.'' is an American Television series created by Josh Schwartz for the FOX Network in 2003. Schwartz serves as executive producer while also writing and directing for the show, including the premieres and finales of all seasons. The sh ...

(6 episodes) *

Bonnie Somerville Bonnie Somerville (born February 24, 1974) is an American actress and singer. She has had roles in a number of movies and television series, most notably as Mona in ''Friends'', ''NYPD Blue'', ''Grosse Pointe'', '' The O.C.'', ''Cashmere Mafia ...

Rachel Hoffman Rachel Morningstar Hoffman (December 17, 1984 – May 7, 2008) was a 23-year-old Florida State University graduate who was murdered while acting as a police informant in a botched drug sting that started on May 7, 2008. Her body was recovere ...

(5 episodes) * Kim Oja as Taryn Baker (4 episodes) *

Rosalind Chao Rosalind Chao (; born September 23, 1957) is an American actress. Chao's best-known roles have been Soon-Lee Klinger in the mid-1980s CBS show ''AfterMASH'', Rose Hsu Jordan in the 1993 movie ''The Joy Luck Club (film), The Joy Luck Club'', the ...

as Dr Kim (3 episodes)

Episodes

Crew

The season was produced by

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

, Hypnotic (now Dutch Oven) and Wonderland. The executive producers were creator

Josh Schwartz Joshua Ian Schwartz (born August 6, 1976) is an American screenwriter and television producer. Schwartz is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox teen drama series ''The O.C.'' which ran for 4 seasons. Schwartz is also known for ...

Doug Liman Douglas Eric Liman (; born July 24, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing the films '' Swingers'' (1996), '' Go'' (1999), '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (2005), ''Jumper'' (2008), ''Edg ...

Dave Bartis David Bartis (born in Providence, Rhode Island) is an American film and television producer best known for Suits, ''The O.C.'', and Edge of Tomorrow. Early life He is a graduate of McLean High School, located in McLean, Virginia. Bartis earned ...

and

McG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

, with showrunner

Bob DeLaurentis Robert DeLaurentis (born De Laurentiis) is an American television producer and television writer. DeLaurentis wrote the 1982 film ''A Little Sex'', and has also written a List of unmade Doctor Who serials and films#Lacuna film proposals (1987–19 ...

joining them after the pilot episode.

Melissa Rosenberg Melissa Anne Rosenberg is an American television writer, television producer, and screenwriter. She has worked in both film and television and has won a Peabody Award. She has also been nominated for two Emmy Awards, and two Writers Guild of A ...

and

Allan Heinberg Allan Heinberg (born June 29, 1967) is an American film screenwriter, television writer and producer and comic book writer. Heinberg is the screenwriter of the 2017 film ''Wonder Woman'', directed by Patty Jenkins. His television writing and p ...

served as co-executive producers.

Stephanie Savage Stephanie Savage (born 1969) is a Canadian screenwriter and television producer. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl (TV series), Gossip Girl'' (2007) from the Gossip Girl (novel series), novel series, and ...

was supervising producer and Loucas George producer. The staff writers were Schwartz, Savage, Heinberg, Rosenberg,

Jane Espenson Jane Espenson (born July 14, 1964) is an American television writer and producer. Espenson has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and shared ...

, Debra J. Fisher,

Erica Messer Erica Messer is an American television writer, producer, and story editor. She has written episodes of television series such as ''Alias'', ''The O.C.'', ''Charmed'', and ''Criminal Minds''. She has also co-produced two television shows: ''Cha ...

, Brian Oh,

J.J. Philbin Jennifer Joy Philbin (born August 30, 1974) is an American producer and screenwriter, best known for her work on the drama series ''The O.C.'' She is the daughter of television stars Regis and Joy Philbin. Career Philbin's career began soon ...

and

Liz Friedman Liz Friedman is an American television producer and television writer known especially for her work on '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', ''Young Hercules'', ''House'' and ''Jessica Jones''. In 2014, she was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing ...

. The regular directors throughout the season were Liman,

Sanford Bookstaver Sanford Bookstaver (born September 1, 1973) is an American film, television director and television producer. Early life In 1995, Bookstaver graduated from the USC School of Cinema-Television The University of Southern California School of Ci ...

Michael Lange Michael Lange (born March 1, 1950) is an American television director and record producer. Biography Early life Born and raised just outside New York City,

Patrick Norris Patrick R. Norris is an American television director. His directing credits include ''Chuck'', '' Friday Night Lights'', ''Gossip Girl'', ''The Vampire Diaries'', ''Hidden Palms'', ''Related'', ''Bones'', '' North Shore'', ''The Division'', ''T ...

Michael Fresco Michael Fresco is an American television director and television producer. Most notably Fresco has directed a number of episodes from shows including ''The O.C.'', ''My Name is Earl'' and the pilots to ''1-800-Missing'', ''Suburgatory'', and '' ...

, James Marshall and

Sandy Smolan Sandy Smolan is an American feature film, television, and documentary film director. Early career His critically acclaimed debut feature film ''Rachel River'' was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and took awards ...

Casting

The initial season had nine major roles receive star billing.

Ben McKenzie Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan (born September 12, 1978) is an American actor and commentator. He is best known for his starring television roles as Ryan Atwood on the teen drama ''The O.C.'' (2003–2007), Ben Sherman on the crime drama ''Southlan ...

portrayed protagonist

, a troubled teenager who is thrust into the wealthy lifestyle of Newport.

played the girl next door,

, with

starring as her financially troubled father Jimmy.

acted as geeky ostracized teenager

with

playing his mother

Kirsten Kirsten is both a given name and a surname. Given name Kirsten is a female given name. It is a Scandinavian form of the names Christina and Christine. the powerful businesswoman, and

portraying his father,

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy) ...

, a public defense attorney.

portrayed Marissa's boyfriend

. Originally only guest stars,

starred as Marissa's mother, Julie Cooper, and

played

, best friend to Marissa and Seth's object of affection. Both gained contracts to the main cast list after thirteen episodes. Numerous supporting characters were given expansive and recurring appearances in the progressive storyline, including

as wealthy businessman and father of Kirstin,

played

, a psychotic character who viewers loved to hate.

starred as Kirstin's younger sister

played

, childhood sweetheart of Ryan.

acted as

, a former colleague of Sandy, and

portrayed Holly Fischer a friend of Marissa and Summer. Other guest stars in recurring roles include

Linda Lavin Linda Lavin (born October 15, 1937) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom '' Alice'' and for her stage performances, both on and off-Broadway. After acting as a child, Lavin joined the Co ...

as Nana Cohen,

Daphne Ashbrook Daphne Lee Ashbrook (born January 30, 1963) is an American actress best known for playing Grace Holloway in '' Doctor Who: The Movie'', Melora Pazlar in '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', Jackie Kowalski in '' Hollywood Heights'', and Dawn Atwo ...

as Ryan's mother

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

and

Michael Nouri Michael Nouri (born December 9, 1945) is an American screen and stage actor. He is best known for his television roles, including Dr. Neil Roberts on ''The O.C.'', Phil Grey on ''Damages'', Caleb Cortlandt on ''All My Children'', Eli David in ...

as Summer's father

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

. Actors

Bradley Stryker Bradley Stryker (born June 29, 1977) is an American actor, who portrayed Trey Atwood on the FOX series ''The O.C.''. He has a lead role in the feature film, ''Tillamook Treasure'' (2006), playing Tom, the sidekick of logger Jimmy Kimbell. Stry ...

, as Ryan's brother

Trey Trey may refer to: Places * Trey, Switzerland, a commune in Vaud, Switzerland * Trey Peaks, Coats Land, Antarctica Other uses * Trey (playing card), the Three in card games * Trey (given name) * Trey, slang for a three-point shot in basketball ...

, and

, as Marissa's younger sister

Kaitlin Caitlin () is a female given name of Irish origin. Historically, the Irish name Caitlín was anglicized as Cathleen or Kathleen. In the 1970s, however, non-Irish speakers began pronouncing the name according to English spelling rules as , which ...

, were both only guest stars at this point. However, both these characters, portrayed by different actors, would return to a larger role in later seasons.

Reception

The pilot episode of the season gained 7.5 million viewers and was nominated for a

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

for best episodic drama. As the season progressed, ratings picked up with 8 million viewers tuning into for the third episode and 8.6 million viewers watching the fourth installment. This resulted in

initially ordering an additional six episodes. The season was split into two parts, the first consisting of seven episodes shown weekly, which averaged 8.43 million viewers. This was followed by a seven-week hiatus, in which FOX announced it had ordered another five episodes, bringing the total season to twenty-seven. The time-slot for the second half of the season was originally planned for Thursday nights, but facing competition from ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

and ''

Will & Grace ''Will & Grace'' is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra Messing), ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

it was moved to Wednesday nights at 9:00 p.m. instead. Overall season one was the highest-rated new drama of the season among adults aged 18 to 34, averaging a total of 9.7 million viewers. The show picked up four

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United S ...

and was nominated for another two, as well as getting nominated for the Outstanding New Program

TCA Award The TCA Awards are awards presented by the Television Critics Association in recognition of excellence in television. There are eleven categories, which are presented every summer towards the end of the organization's summer press tour. Due to ...

. In the UK, its two showings a week averaged 1.2 million viewers, and it was one of the highest rating Sunday daytime programs, also attracting fans to E4 on Monday nights. It was also well received in Australia, picking up a

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

for Most Popular Overseas Program in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 77% approval rating with an average rating of 6.56/10 based on 22 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Even though it lacks an original take on teen angst, ''The O.C.'' functions well enough for its target audience, churning plenty of soap storylines out of a talented cast."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 67 out of 100 based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". However, the show did come in for some criticism. ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'' criticized the plot and the casting saying that "the storylines usually involve the obligatory three-episode-arc drug problems or lost virginity with dialogue designed to keep a dog up to speed", and that "Whoever at FOX thought Benjamin McKenzie (Ryan on "''The O.C.''") could pass for anything younger than 25 should be fired". A DVD review was critical of the repetitive plot stating that "the Ryan-Marissa fol-de-rol gets tiresome as it devolves into relentless bad timing", while ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' did not think the acting was always up to scratch, stating "it's unfortunate to have all this potential for arm-flinging drama invested in Barton, an actress who can be as flat as a paper doll". It was also denounced for excessive brawling and glamorizing underage drinking.

DVD release

The DVD release of season one was released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

in the US on October 26, 2004, after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release features bonus material including a

preview Preview may refer to: Theatre, film, television * Preview (subscription service), an early subscription television service in the United States * Preview (theatre), a public performance of a theatrical show before the official opening * Previe ...

of the second season,

deleted scene A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...

s, audio commentary and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

References

External links

Episode guide
at

' The OC Insider * {{Use mdy dates, date=May 2015

Season 1 Season One may refer to: Albums * ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004 * ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughters album), 2012 * ''Season One'' (Saukrates album), 2012 See also * * * Season 2 (disambiguation) * Season 4 (disambiguat ...

2003 American television seasons 2004 American television seasons