Twenty years ago, The O.C. changed television forever

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https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-an...26-p5drg4.html

Thomas Mitchell
July 27, 2023 — 10.08am

I was 14 years old in 2003, and back then, it wasn’t unusual for me to declare things life-changing.

The Nokia 7210 with a camera was life-changing. So was the SMP belt I wore daily and Lil Kim’s Magic Stick (life-changing and eye-opening).

But none of these things changed my life or the course of television, like the arrival of The O.C. Sadly, not everyone shared the same initial enthusiasm for the show that I did.

The O.C. first premiered in the US in 2003, with Fox trialing it as a summer series, originally ordering seven episodes which expanded to 27 when the series won most of its time slots. Here in Australia, Nine also trialed the series in our summer but pulled the pin after just three episodes.

Luckily, Ten, at the time known as the young person’s commercial network, stepped in and saved the day.

Even this very masthead was unimpressed, writing in a 2003 review: “It’s intensely insubstantial and fanciful, but also diverting and slick. And who knows: could it be silly enough to become the new Beverly Hills, 90210? No, probably not.”

Oh, how wrong we were. The O.C. would go on to outstrip Beverly Hills, 90210 in terms of cultural and social relevance, changing the TV landscape forever. Part teen drama, part social commentary and part playlist to base your entire personality on, The O.C. remains one of the all-time great series.

This August marks twenty years since the show first “Califooooornia’d” its way onto screens, and here’s why it defined a generation.