TVgasm Recaps

I was one of the many people this year that went along for the long, sometimes brilliant, frequently arduous television journey that was a little something we like to call "The OC". Before you OC apologists start a letter writing campaign that floods my inbox, you should know that I do enjoy the show and I plan on sticking through with it in hopes it can more consistently reach the quality standards set with the episodes that first aired in 2003.

The OC swept into our living rooms last summer like a breath of fresh Newport Beach air - and left us two weeks ago like the smog over The 5 Freeway. Like the eponymous county, the show was at once beautiful, charming, and colorful -- but also left us with a mediocre aftertaste.

Turns out that Anna had a layover in Oklahoma on her way back to Pittsburgh. The former OC-er is presently featured in pop trio Hanson's latest video. While the older, post-pubescent teen idols croon about "Penny & Me" - or something like that - our favorite Tahiti sailor cries in a bathtub while reading a waterlogged love letter (much like that soggy missive one Seth Cohen tried to salvage in Anna's farewell episode). Luckily, whatever issues our plucky heroine has are resolved because by the video's end, she's smiling in a sunny coda. Mmmbop indeed.

Lets face it, we all jumped on the OC Bandwagon, loving to hate and hating to love it but nevertheless joining the Cooper's and Cohen's each and every Wednesday, much as we did back in day with our Peach Pit Pals. it was the one night in my week that was always engraved in my black book with sharpie opposed to pencil, my one true plan...i couldn't be anywhere, I had a hot date with the gang that actually had more drama than i did. Needles to say the ride on this bandwagon was a bit bumpy at times and much like a trek into the valley from glorious WEHO, steadily climbing up a hill, hurling us around curves, this way and that and then gradually descending only to end up in a sketchy little area wishing you were back where you started.

The following is excerpted from an article in The Boston Herald:

"The O.C.: There's a fine line between great melodrama and over-the-top shenanigans (think "Melrose Place," the later years). Part of the fun of Fox's hit drama is that even through the good (Adam Brody's humor), the bad (Mischa Barton's inability to act) and the ugly (Oliver, anyone?), it never took itself too seriously. That is until the finale, which found Marissa (Barton) hitting the bottle, Seth (Brody) running away and Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) sobbing - all because Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) had returned to Chino. Will they really miss his black blouses that much? C+ "

For the full article, which features a paragraph on Survivor: All-Stars, click here.

This is how we name airports in the OC, bitch! Some lame Orange County Supervisor wants to rename the John Wayne airport to "The OC Airport, John Wayne Field." It's great when paper pushers decide to be creative. After all, where would we be without "Freedom Fries" and "Yes, Dear". I personally think there's a greater need for an OC Seaport, what with all the resident teens sailing off to Tahiti...

Check out the full article at E! Online.

In other news, Universal has not renewed syndicated slutfest The Fifth Wheel. Enjoy it while you can, you horny bastards.

This is how we name airports in the OC, bitch! Some lame Orange County Supervisor wants to rename the John Wayne airport to "The OC Airport, John Wayne Field." It's great when paper pushers decide to be creative. After all, where would we be without "Freedom Fries" and "Yes, Dear". I personally think there's a greater need for an OC Seaport, what with all the resident teens sailing off to Tahiti...

Check out the full article at E! Online.

In other news, Universal has not renewed syndicated slutfest The Fifth Wheel. Enjoy it while you can, you horny bastards.

This is how Mischa Barton washes her face in The OC, bitch! Trading in her trademark awkward sullenness for a more comical awkward perkiness, Mischa entertains us to no end with her patented Neutrogena face. Oh, Coop, we still love you. Three cheers for clean pores and bad acting!

It's a time we have all been waiting for. The return of The OC. If you watch it, then you don't really need to know any more. If you haven't watched it, I should say that it was instrumental in the creation of TVgasm. And although I won't say the TVgasm offices are a shrine to the television show, there is a picture of Mischa Barton on the coffee table, although purely for comedic effect. Thanks to the major league baseball playoffs (who won again? nobody has reminded in the last couple of weeks), we had to take an almost unimaginable time off from the show, eagerly awaiting the resolution of one of the best cliffhanger episodes in recent memory. With the playoffs over, and the election returns taking surprisingly less time than anybody could have expected, we are ready to dig in and enjoy the best over the top melodrama you are going to see all year.

The OC is back, and boy was it gay. I don't mean that in a derogatory way. It's just that when a show opens on gratuitious shots of twenty sweaty, shirtless, muscled men wandering around, you can't help feeling like The OC went to summer camp and came back a little changed. Indeed, things have changed in The OC. Seth has sailed off to, uh, somewhere, Ryan has shacked up with his preggers girlfriend (he doesn't drink, but he loves to knock up the ladies. Boo condoms!), and Marissa has taken to the bottle (and I don't mean Dexatrim). What does this all mean? Well, for one thing, lots of whining and brooding. Apparently the writers still haven't realized that the worst episodes of last year were the ones that tried to be serious. On the other hand, we did get the instant classic TV camp moment when Marissa vented her frustration with a long, silly primal scream. Yes, witty banter and awkward acting. Welcome back, OC.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that the OC is actually in its second season. The story has moved along, but aren't we kind of at square one? (Speaking of square one, did anybody else love Mathnet as a kid?) Sandy has pulled Ryan out of Chino. Seth is fixated on comics and not real girls. Julie Cooper's husband is under investigation. Summer wishes Seth did not exist, and Marissa is once again drinking the problems of her home life under the table. Am I missing something here?This is supposed to be progress? OK, OK, there has been some progress. I am almost positive that the writers aren't going to try and fit Oliver into any more episodes, so it means I am free to enjoy the entire season, no matter what it might throw at me.

Hey, are you an actor? Are you represented by the Endeavor Agency in Los Angeles? Are you wondering why your agent hasn't been returning your calls? Well, have we got the answer for you! Turns out that your agent might be taking AP Physics in The OC!

Yes, in another feat of cutesy in-joking, The OC managed to give minor shout outs to its agency friends during tonight's episode as a physics teacher named Ari Greenburg (our "favorite physics teacher" no less) asked if students Adriana Alberghetti and Phil Raskind were in attendance. Turns out that Ari Greenburg, Adriana Alberghetti, and Phil Raskind are all agents at Endeavor, which I now suspect packages the show.

Not ranking in the OC popularity contest though was Endeavor's Patrick Whitesell, the agent for sometimes TVgasm friend Ben McKenzie. Ouch. I won't make fun of Endeavor though because if they ever decided to take me on as a client, I too would be giving them sneaky props.

Oh, and because I couldn't find any pictures of The OC-worthy agents, I just put up this horrifying (and possibly fake) image of a giant shark jumping out of the water. Yes, I like my metaphors obvious.

After two episodes used mainly for clearing up some of the loose ends from last season, The OC was ready prepare us for what's in store for the season ahead. Although the new school year meant plenty of anticipation for the students, all of the characters have been affected in their own way. If there was one person who had failed to temper their expectations about their return from vacation, it has been Seth Cohen. He ran away from Newport because he couldn't imagine how his life would be without his closest friend, but now that he is back he realizes that he might have to imagine his life without the person who quite possibly cared about him the most. Seth was so worried about how he would feel, he never fully understood what he was doing to everybody else.

Is it curtains for Marissa Cooper? Has Newport's favorite drunkard swigged from her last "I'm an alcoholic" flask? Possibly. According to a British publication - they're so reliable! - Mischa Barton has expressed interest in leaving The OC in order to follow her heart. No, she won't be pursuing a career in not eating. Instead, she wishes to work in film, a medium where her greatest impact so far has been vomitting in The Sixth Sense.

According to UK website, Female First, Mischa explains, "I'm going back to film. It could go against me to be in a long-running show." Also going against her: lack of talent.

Good luck Mischa!

Let's face it, the producers of The OC promised us a lot in the offseason. We were told to expect lots of things to change, and nothing was to be the same. Other than establishing that the Ryan/Marissa and Seth/Summer copulations are coming to an end, the most interesting thing to happen on the show were Summer's strange bangs from last episode. It looked like she got some of those low flow shower heads like that episode of Seinfeld. Oh sure, Caleb's big trial is coming, but Julie Cooper had a husband last year that got in trouble with the feds, and Sandy helped him out, so I have all the faith that Caleb will get off as well. And somehow Seth Cohen went from being that funny but awkward guy who got the hot chick to the annoying and awkward guy who won't shut up. I feel like some of the writers got lost on their way back from Burning Man, and the PAs had to pick up the slack.

Who are the two actresses that lock lips in Newport? Again, we don't want to give away the entire surpise, but we promise that you'll be talking about the whole thing ten, or even fifteen minutes later. It's that great.

UPDATE: For those of you who asked, yes, TVgasm will have the video of the wonderful event soon after all of the hot tongue action takes place.

Update 12/8/04 Two days after TVgasm broke this story (and yes, we were referenced by the New York Post), Josh Schwartz has suddenly popped up in an interview on Out.com discussing this twist. Read about all the details here, but just remember, you heard it at TVgasm first...

Like we hinted before, Mischa Barton's character Marissa Cooper, having obviously run out of guys and vodka bottles worth of her tongue action, will move on to something a little more risqué. Again, we aren't ones to ruin the surprise, but we'll be here to report on the action in all of its glory soon after it happens.

Although TVgasm pulled out a pretty big spoiler about future plot lines in The OC, there is still some television to get through before we get there. We broke the news about Mischa Barton's future love interest in part because we needed something from this season to be worthy of some gab. Sorry Josh Schwartz, episodes 1-4 of this second season simply did not pass the test. Through the first month of the show, we were basically stuck in a quagmire of last year's relationships with the kids combined with some sort of Ally McBeal/LA Law hybrid with the adults. It all added up to a massive festival of suck. When was The OC going to stop with the bullshit and just go back to being The OC again? It might of happened this week.

TVgasm wishes we could have stirred things up for a little while longer, but we weren't prepared for the premature ejaculation from the press once they heard Marissa might step up to the plate for the other team. And hey, if this works out for ratings on the show, maybe The OC will give The L-Word a run for its money.

Among one of the many moments that defined The OC during its first season was Chrismukkah. What started out as Seth Cohen's way to happily morph two holidays that shared an equal part of his family's heritage. Who knew that that one little episode would spawn a whole revolution? Seriously, there are Chrismukkah cards that you can buy, there is a Chrismukkah soundtrack, and there is even a Chrismukkah blog. So in the grand tradition of The OC, we get to watch the what this massive amount of publicity for an OC tradition would do to the massive egos of the writing staff.

You have to admit, The OC really started off on a high note. Marissa had a melt down, and we just knew that despite all of the talk about how the show had changed, there are always certain things you can count on to keep things moving along. Although I can't say this season has been any better than the first, I must admit that I think the characters and their problems are more interesting overall. Then again, we were right about to go off on a long Oliver tangent by this time last season, so I perhaps that is not saying much. Still, if the writers don't try and outsmart themselves too much(don't everybody laugh at once), we should have a lot of stuff to look forward to. If we can get the wardrobe people to take their Dilantin we will have reached rare territory.

Is it just me, or is emasculation a all too regular occurrence on The OC over the first couple of seasons? Where have all the assholes gone? Last year we had Luke, but he got in touch with himself and lives in Portland. Ryan used to be a tough guy, but after that pregnancy scare, he seems to have no need to rebel any longer. Seth? Oh come on, don't make me laugh. Where are the bad guys? Even Caleb has settled down, unwilling to ruffle any feathers since he is still trying to explain this whole "I had a bastard child 16 years ago" thing. What we have left is Julie Cooper, who is a great villian, but she has to do too much work, even though she seems to have the balls to do it. With that said, let's tune into another episode of the men of the OC, and how powerless they are when it comes to the women in their lives.

In the January 24th issue of Newsweek, they bring up the issue of a possible homoerotic connection on The OC. No, we aren't talking about the now-cofirmed, and TVgasm breaking story on Marissa and Alex. We are talking about the seemingly more obvious, but perhaps unintentional, sexual tension between Seth and Ryan. While I haven't personally seen anything on the show to give me the same idea, I do know that all of the guys on the show have turned completely spineless. You expect people to walk all over Seth, but it shouldn't happen to Zach. You expect Sandy to act like a 45 year old, you don't expect it from Ryan. And it's Newport. Somebody, somewhere, should be doing cocaine.

I don't know why, but it just seems that The OC has lost a lot of its original vibe. I have gone on and on about many of the problems with the show, and this episode started us off with some of the reason. As we open, we get a shot of Ryan, Seth, and Zach, who I affectionately call "the last three people on the show I want to see in a scene together". Quite honestly, Seth has spent his whole life being confused by girls and handling rejection. Other than four or five months when he was happy with Summer and the short amount of time that Anna decided to stick around, he has pretty much been a huge loser his entire life. There is no doubt in my mind that he would go back to being an isolated comic book collector without missing a beat. When the guys sat down for breakfast and were joined by Summer and Lindsay, I couldn't help but think that Seth would be a whole lot more believable as a fifth wheel as compared to a ladies man. But for now, let's pretend we actually give a shit one way or another.

What the hell was that? Seriously. Aren't we in some sort of social contract with television writers? We watch their shows and make them rich. In return, they promise to work hard and prevent that show from sucking. Yes, eventually all shows wear out their welcome and plod along with uninteresting storylines. I understand that sometimes things are going to seem repetitive and even overly staged. But that shit isn't supposed to happen until at least the third season. I'd rather be performing on stage at a Tijuana donkey show than to watch another episode of the OC like what happened last night.

So this is it, the week we have been waiting for. The event that millions have been anxiously awaiting. The spectacle that will go down as a banner moment in history. If you were thinking "Oh, J-Unit's birthday", you were close, but wrong. I am of course talking about The OC and the kiss that was absolutely not a ratings stunt timed for sweeps. Why is everybody making a big deal of it, especially considering the writers have already unintentionally (or at least that's what they say) injected untold levels of homoeroticism into the relationship of a completely different pair of characters? The buzz around Alex and Marissa and their relationship may or may not have helped the show in ratings, but I do know that the writers are running out of tricks to get this show off the ground once again.

The reviews are in. The OC demonstrated what some are considering perhaps the least passionate lesbian kiss in the history of lesbian kiss ratings stunts. I'm not quite sure what to say. I'm not exactly an expert on budding lesbian relationships, but I could understand why Marissa might not have looked as comfortable during her first kiss with another girl. She is just not experienced. Some people argue that is the wooden Mischa Barton that is to blame for the awkwardness of the kiss, and maybe that's so. I guess we'll just have to have some more scenes in the future before we can figure that out. In the meantime, we still have some other story lines worth following.

I think it's safe to say that we can officially write off this season of The OC as being a textbook case of the sophomore slump. That's why I'm not even concerning myself with the ongoing whining of Seth, the awkward kissing of Marissa and Alex, and the annoying self-righteousness of Ryan. Instead, we here at TVgasm are looking to the future; Season 3 if you will.

A little trip to the IMDB.com reveals that none other than Demi Moore will be guest starring on season three's big premiere. She is credited as playing Joan Roberts, who we'll assume is either Summer's never-seen stepmother, or better yet, her never-seen birth mother. My money's on the latter (birth mother). I'm sure the writers will gladly make a "step-monster" joke — if only because Summer's favorite term was first coined by, you guessed it, Demi Moore in "St. Elmo's Fire." The possibilities for self-referential humor are endless.

Interestingly enough, Michael Nouri, the actor who plays Summer's father, will be present for a dual role (twins? The OC? This is gonna be interesting/anticlimactic), and we can only imagine what the casting of real life brothers Channing Tatum and Christopher Anderson will mean for the increasingly incestuous Cohen/Nichols brood. The brothers play, well, brothers (their names: Aaron and Hayden. Looks like we got a little Amazing Race fandom on the writing crew), and judging by their last name ("Leafstedt-Roberts"), it looks like Summer may have a whole step-family she never knew about.

Is it a little sad when the barebones character listing on the IMDB is more fascinating than the current storylines?

Last year, The OC instantly became a huge part of our pop culture. The problem this year is that the writers are all too well aware of how they influenced the pop culture and believe that fact gives them license to do whatever they want to with the show and think the viewers won't notice or care when large portions of the show suck. B-side is going to chime in with a more in-depth analysis of what is wrong with the show and what they can do to fix it. And although there is only about 15 minutes of the show worth watching each week, I'll still take you through the whole hour.

The OC is in trouble. The once witty and addictive show has hit the skids this season, and if the writers don't act quickly, they'll effectively alienate most of their audience. I've always been a big booster of The OC. I think the show has great potential, but somewhere along the line the writers and producers lost sight of what makes the show work in favor of what they think will make them popular. Yes, there will always be people who think The OC can do no wrong, and there will always be people who think The OC will always be crap. But for everyone else in between —  and I think it's safe to say that's the majority of the viewers (based on no statistical evidence whatsoever) — The OC has become a frustrating experience. We approach each episode thinking "This will be the one where they bring back the magic," but by the end of the show we're usually disappointed, wishing we'd spent less time with The Killers and more time with the characters.

Luckily, we here at TVgasm are always happy to lend our services to an ailing show. After careful analysis, we've come up with a (lengthy) set of guidelines to steer The OC back on course. Our advice after the jump...

So we are back with another episode of The OC after a week's hiatus. Last week we got a replay of the episode where everybody visited Deep, met members of the valley, and Ryan chewed out Haley for trying to make a living in the hospitality business. Deep no longer exists, and from experiences last week, there are a number of places in Hollywood still hurting. But as the weather gets nicer, I am sure things will pick up. I am not so sure if I can say that about the OC. Sure I have been hostile towards the show, and maybe I didn't really was a little too critical now that I am trying to bring the snark every week. I'll try and give the show a clean slate, and give my impressions from a slightly less "god this is awful" view.

Back on February 24th, we here at TVgasm informed you that according to the Internet Movie Database, Demi Moore would be starring in The OC's next season premiere. Well, funny how an internet rumor can change things. You know, like a cast listing. According to the IMDb, Demi Moore is no longer listed as a guest star for our favorite beleaguered soap. I guess following in the footsteps of Kim Delaney was just a little too daunting.

Also curiously gone from the IMDb is Michael Nouri's double role as both Dean and Neil Roberts. We like to think we blew the cover off some maniacal evil twin plot regarding Summer's dad... or at least caught a clerical error. Either way, I think it's safe to say the world is better place because of it.

So was the IMDb flawed or does Fox want to keep Demi under wraps? We'll never know. I'd like to side with the conspiracy theory, if only because it's more fun and makes us look cool, but I guess we'll have to wait until November to see if Summer's family includes Demi Moore (and an identical twin uncle for that matter). Hey, we only report on what we see. For those of you needing tangible proof of the cast changes, check out the screenshots after the jump.

Everybody here at TVgasm have had a lot to say about The OC. The first two real articles on TVgasm were B-side and I weighing in on what we thought of the first season. Believe us when we say that we are huge fans of the show. Therefore, when we thought the show was declining rapidly, we felt it necessary to make our voices heard, in recaps and in-depth analysis. Obviously we were not alone in our criticism, as many fans and critics said the same about many of the choices made the writers made this year. "It was so much better last year" we said, and it seems like the writers listened. This week, the writers hit the abort button and acknowledged most of the criticism, even as they mocked many of those points in the show.

Last week was a tipping point of sorts for The OC this season. Perhaps all of the fans and critics had nothing to do with dragging the show out of the quagmire of lesbian rating stunts, but whatever realization the writers came to about where the season was headed, they seemed to have salvaged the show from spiraling into a "it sucks, but it's on Fox, so it will last seven seasons" type of mediocrity. Maybe I am a little too optimistic after just one week, but here's to hoping the good episodes are a trend and not an anomaly.

Mama Mischa!!

Yet another reason "Reality" can be better than "TV," no FCC. No one to censor what is said, or inferred. No one to force religion upon us. And of course, no one to stop Mischa Barton from sunbathing tannig topless and inadvertantly exposing her "reasons for celebrity" to nearby papparazi.

And on a day when the Popes fate seems inevidable, there is yet something out there that can bring comfort to my soul and a smile to my face....

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Mischa Bartons Boobs.....

Isn't it great to have The OC back to true form? As the show finished up last year, we had something that was light, humorous, and fun to watch. By the middle of this season, it looked like the writers had some idea that they could compete for a best drama Emmy. For their effort, we received a bunch of heavy-handed story lines and one-dimensional characters, making the show almost painful to watch. I speculated last week that the OC had turned the corner, and this week's episode doesn't skip a beat. Maybe with all the government focus on steroids, the oxycontin flow is back at a level that we need for all the creative types to do their best work. Whatever it is, let's keep it coming, The OC is nearly back to being "can't miss" television and something people once again talk about around the water cooler.

From greasy to dreamy: The OC always spiffs up 24's rejects.

Hey 24 fans: feeling a bit of déjà vu when it comes to The OC? Well, don't worry. You're not going crazy. For the past two seasons, Fox's peppy teen soap / dramedy / Mischa-fest has been quietly siphoning off guest stars from 24. It's not really a big deal -- we're quite used to networks recycling actors -- but I'm amused nonetheless. The most recent beneficiary of the 24-OC pipeline has been actor Logan Marshall-Green, who first clocked in valuable face time as whiny Richard Heller on 24 before resurfacing less than two months later as moody Trey Atwood on The OC. Other crossovers include:

• Navi Rawat, who played a jealous, skanky rival to Kim on season one of 24 before playing a fertile, bashful rival to Marissa on season one of The OC.


• Eric Balfour, who played a reliable if not goofy computer techie on season one of 24 before playing an angry if not goofy Chino citizen on season one of The OC.


• Alan Dale, who played an asshole Vice President on the first two seasons of 24 before playing an asshole patriarch (Caleb) on the first two seasons of The OC.

We are now in the middles of a sort of renaissance on The OC. And while I have a feeling that the writers are going to be doing this each and every season that the show is in existence, I am not going to complain now that things appear to be in order. Well, maybe I will still have a few complaints. While we have cleaned up most of the stuff that has been dragging the show down, there is still a few things that we can can deal with. Chief among these problems is Ryan Atwood. For some time, I have tried to put my finger on what exactly Ryan's ailment is. What makes him such a drag to be around? Why is he so self-righteous? Why must he act like he is 45 when he is only 17? It's taken many, many, hours of research, but the TVgasm research staff has come up with the answer. Ryan Atwood has a shallow vagina.

Ever wonder what Ryan Atwood from The OC would do on an airplane full of deadly snakes? Me neither. But according to Jam! Showbiz, Benjamin McKenzie has been cast in Flight 121 (formerly titled, sigh, Snakes on a Plane), a thriller starring Samuel Jackson as a special agent who accidentally opens up a crate of venomous snakes on a Trans-Pacific flight. You just know the flight attendants will get bitchy about that. Mr. McKenzie will play a novice pilot who we'll assume battles the snakes with overly theatrical eye-darting and clenched-teeth rage.

If any of this sounds familiar, it's because the story is a complete rip-off of an obscure Saturday Night Live skit (2/7/98) where a pack of cobras kill everyone on an airplane. I imagine, however, that Flight 121 will not feature a long monologue by a snake at its climax. Nevertheless, we're always happy to see actors from our favorite shows go off and try to make it big in silly movies. Good luck Ben! Don't forget your floatation device!

In my recap last week, I documented on how I believed I had come up with the answer to Ryan Atwood's problem. I suggested that he had a shallow vagina, and I think I made a good case. He is unnaturally pissed off at everything and was generally quite unlikable. Notice the past tense on the last part of that sentence. The writers of The OC continued their streak of fixing things that made the show suck by doing a little remake of Ryan Atwood. When we saw that Trey confessed to dealing drugs at the rager last week, we though Ryan would condemn his brother for life. It turns out quite to the opposite. Ryan not only believes that his brother had nothing to do with it, he wants to find the people responsible and keep his brother out of jail.

A few weeks ago, the president pre-empted a bunch of the primetime television in the United States to make a speech. When I found out, I thought to myself, "oh shit, is there no OC this week?". It wasn't too long ago that I wouldn't have cared if something pre-empted it, and might not have bothered to even watch it before Saturday or Sunday. Nowadays, I watch The OC on Thursdays, and sometimes I don't even wait for the Tivo can get ahead so I can fast forward though the commercials. Do some things need to be cleaned up? For sure, but you have to like the direction that things are headed.

So, it's time for Part II of my special OC double feature. When we last left the folks from Newport, just about everybody was cheatin' on everybody else. Seth cheated on Summer, Summer cheated on Seth. Kirsten cheated on Sandy, but only because she suspected Sandy had cheated on her before. Julie cheated on Caleb with Lance(well, kissed him at least), but we knew that was coming because she cheated on him before with Jimmy. A good part of this entire season was devoted to the aftermath of Caleb cheating on his wife many years ago. Marissa didn't really cheat on anybody, but her whole relationship with Ryan started when she was cheating on Luke. Ryan would cheat on people, but his vagina is too shallow and won't allow it. Oh, and did I mention Kirsten is now officially an alcoholic and Trey tried to force some sex on Marissa? We have a lot to take care of with three episodes left.

The OC is winding down towards the season finale and like all shows about high school, if the kids are old enough, there are a couple of things you have to cover. One of them is graduation, and the other is prom. Most of you know how much I like prom episodes, so you know I was excited to see how the writers of The OC were going to handle such an event. But this episode promised much more, like what was going to happen to Kirsten after her accident, how would Ryan handle seeing Trey leaving Marissa's house, and just what lengths Julie would go in order to save herself from having to beg out on the street or marry another rich man in order to support her lifestyle.

I am happy to say that The OC finale this season was much better than I had expected. The show started to plod along and got really lost towards the middle, but came back in a strong way. I was actually disappointed that I was going to miss seeing the episode live, and would make everybody wait awhile for the final recap. (Then again, I would never miss a friend's wedding in Vegas - congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. K, btw.) Before we finished the season, we still had to deal with Caleb's death, Kirsten's drinking, and Trey's sexual assault on Marissa, and perhaps fit in a couple more Star Wars plugs and indie band performances. A tall order, but we knew the producers were up to the task.

Last season The OC, to put it mildly, went through some ups and downs. After spinning its wheels for a long time, it ended up finishing pretty strong, culminating with the shot heard 'round Century City. Season three is promising us what looks like, at least on the surface, some pretty good story lines. Among them:

• Kirsten meets a mysterious woman in rehab (Jeri Ryan), but despite the hotness, does not decide to do a little Marissa Cooper experiment with her
• Marissa is thrown out of school and must fend for herself in *gasp* public school. Black and/or Asian character probability? Rising fast!
• At some point, we will finally figure out the paternity of what we have thought to be Ryan's baby
• With Caleb dead and Kirsten drunk, Sandy starts running the Newport Group. I'm also betting that he buys some hybrid car. With the new Lexus models out, he won't have to be embarrassed about driving a Prius

Now, this is still The OC, so there will be plenty of ridiculous things going on. Why do they bother trying to convince us of this "running away" twist during the promos? That will last like what, fifteen minutes? Still, the show remains a pretty good choice if you want a break from reality television and crime dramas. And we'll be working on a DVD giveaway for TVgasm readers, so stay tuned for the recaps.

Is it just me, or has the fall television season sort of just jumped up out of nowhere? Maybe I am getting old and I just started noticing the daily grind a little more, but the new programming kind of came at me from behind and did a reach-around. Am I supposed to be shocked? Should I just enjoy it? Will it leave me confused forever? Whatever the case, I guess I am going to have to deal with it and move on. To be honest, I was quite excited to hear that The OC was coming back very quickly. First, I really do need a break from all of the reality programming every now and then and, well, how can I say no to weekly Rachel Bilson? Perhaps I am not looking forward to this season for the same reasons others are, but I am sure it will be a fun time nonetheless.

Last week, the writers of The OC spent the hour answering some of the cliffhanger-type questions that we had at the end of the last season. Needless to say, when they are forced to navigate their way through plot twists they had no intention of lasting that long (a lot of them, that's for sure), we are fed a lot of drama, but we usually end up feeling unsatisfied. What's frustrating is that the pieces are there for plenty of great stories, but we only have time to fully explore a few of them. The rest are kind of thrown at us and sometimes we really don't know what to make of it.

Well, TVgasm was on a little bit of a field trip last night, so my recap of The OC is going to come on Saturday, and some of your other favorites may be delayed as well. I didn't want to leave people hanging, so I thought that I would try and make up for it by giving away a boxed set of The OC: Season 2 on DVD. And because TVgasm loves our readers so much, we might as well give away three! I also get to use "Giveaway Spectacular" in the title, and it has this ring to it that I absolutely love.

The only thing you have to do to enter is send an e-mail to contests@tvgasm.com with the subject "OC Giveaway". I do want people to put a little thought into it, so please include your favorite moment from Season 2 in the body of your message. Winners will still be drawn at random, so don't fret about it too much. It can be funny, sad, dramatic (good luck finding one!), whatever you want; it's up to you. Because this is a popular giveaway and I want as many people to have a chance as possible, we will take entries until October 25th, and I will announce the winners during that week's recap of The OC. BTW, I haven't seen yesterday's episode, so please limit your comments to how awesome you think TVgasm is for giving this stuff away and try to hold off on the spoilers.

If you can't wait for the contest to end, you can own it on DVD, and be sure to check out the official site to find out more about what is included on the DVD, including the gag reel, which we affectionately refer to as episodes 1 through 24. If you want to know about other WB TV and movie releases, you can get the scoop here. And to answer a question, we can only send DVDs to the United States and Canada. (Sorry slud.)

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Entering their senior years, the teenage protagonists that make up The OC had a lot to look forward to. During the day they would rule the school and the evening time would bring unprecedented levels of debauchery as they could start getting into the "18 and over" nights at The Bait Shop. Ryan and Seth managed to go a whole summer without running away so their girlfriends weren't mad at them and they wouldn't have to waste precious months winning them back. Then again, not everything was so awesome. Marissa shot somebody, Ryan actually did try and run away and everybody was about to follow him, and Ryan and Marissa got thrown out of their private school because of that shooting. But let's try to accentuate the positive and all of that. Marissa's parents were getting back together, and Seth's mom was out of rehab and would be coming home any day now. As long as they had each other, what was going to keep them apart?

So far this season, it looks like the third time is once again the charm for The OC. There are still plenty of things that we can't really explain, but they are doing a little bit of a better job on knowing when to get in and out of story lines and how long they should wait to reveal a big twist. And although a lot of people may disagree, the show is really much more fun and believable when the kids are acting their age. By adding characters and putting the old ones in differing situations, there is a new balance to the show that we have been missing for a long time. Couple that with acting that, while nobody will confuse for an HBO Original Series, is nowhere near as laughable as it was before, and I think that it is now officially cool to be watching The OC again, even if a lot of us never left. OK, we complained a lot, but still, we never left.

This past Thursday marked the return of The OC from a month-long hiatus, but it seems even longer than that. I would have to say that I am pretty excited to have the Newport kids grace our screen once again. At times, you might even call my enthusiasm embarrassing and yes, pathetic. But hey, I'm a blogger, so what was I waiting for? Fame and riches? We all can't be Nick Denton. Anyway, I was at this Halloween party and met these two girls, and I knew right away we were on the same wavelength because they hated Laguna. They were kind enough to feign interest when I told them that I blogged, and we discussed The OC. I went outside for some, uh, fresh air, and by the time I realized that I should have been flirting, they were gone. Maybe it was the Nixon mask, maybe it was that Golden Lobster I had for dinner, but the point (and there is a point, really!) is that I know there are at least three people in the country who have been anticipating the return of The OC, and so without too much more rambling, let's get on with the recap.

So I was a little dissapponinted with last week's episode of The OC. I think it was a little bit of a bump in an otherwise great season so far. When you know how an episode is going to end before it begins, it really takes a lot out of it for me. The only thing that really change from the episode before was Ryan was now at Harbor, and Dean Hess was somewhere in the Eastern time zone. And since I liked how the season was going before those changes were made, that means that we still have plenty to work with.

Normally, such a small bit of flesh wouldn't warrant any mention. Mischa Barton has let the girls peek out on a number of different occasions. But then again, this was in prime time with millions of people watching. One can only shudder to think what kind of fine this would have conjured up if people weren't watching Survivor and Everybody Hates Chris. But enough of the small talk, you probably want to see for yourself. To watch the video click on the picture of Mischa above or right here. The incident in question happens at the 5 second mark.

UPDATE: I had to remove the video because our webserver melted down several times. Thanks to our friends at ifilm we can now post a link again. Click here to view video

Does this mean we've made it? TVgasm broke the story about Mischa Barton's nip slip just a few days ago, and already it's on Saturday Night Live. Granted, the site wasn't mentioned, but we've got to admit, this is pretty damn cool.

Amy Poehler: "Fox is concerned about possible fines from the FCC after a scene in last week's OC in which Mischa Barton's nipple briefly slipped out of her shirt. Most likely in search of food."

It's nipple week here at TVgasm, and I only say that because the search engines really seem to like us when we mention things like Mischa Barton, Marissa Cooper, The OC, nipple, boob, slip, oops, etc. in the same sentence. We never imagined what one barely discernable breast could do for our popularity and our bandwidth bills, but needless to say we've been a little busier here than we are used to. After everybody has finished squinting at the Mischa video (now downloaded about 350,000 times combined at iFilm and TVgasm), life and the show must go on. Last week, Ryan managed to fight his urges and didn't punch Johnny. Seth, on the other hand, couldn't resist the urge to help Taylor Townsend, who couldn't resist the urge to piss off Summer by keeping her locked out. Sandy resisted the urge, perhaps incorrectly, to sell the Newport Group, and Julie Cooper looked like she had given in to Charlotte's urging her to screw over Kirsten as they were planning their charity bash. This week we were hoping that the truth in all of the situations would be, uh, exposed, once and for all.

It's sort of pathetic how much I am consumed by thoughts of The OC. For all practical purposes, I shouldn't even care, and the ratings tell me lots of people would agree with me. There is something that always keeps me coming back, and believe me, it isn't the possibility of another Mischa Barton nipple popping out; I just can't quite put my finger on what it is. I do know that there are other shows out there that more accurately portray the life of people in affluent Southern California communities (Laguna Beach), and there are other shows out there that do a better job of describing how it's like to be poor or an outsider in an affluent Southern Cafliornia communitues (Veronica Mars). What's particularly upsetting is that The OC has always had a great set of core characters, but the producers aren't willing to let any drama build for more than 45 minutes, and this last episode was a great example.

One thing I forgot to mention last week in my recap of The OC, amid all of the college talk, was to mention how we rarely ever get an episode that focuses on Summer. She has her proper recognition at the beginning of each episode, and I think we have passed the point where she is only a sidekick and a love interest. Part of the reason why there are times when The OC feels forced is that we get so many things without even a thought of setup. That being said, I can deal with episodes where shit happens out of the blue, as long as there is some pay off. And I'm sorry, but a payoff does not constitute a preview of the next week that shows something funny happening. Those types of tricks are an apology from the network saying, "we messed up, please don't leave us, see it gets better." To that I say, I know, we won't, and I like what you've done so far. Besides, who am I kidding? As long as Chrismukkah is good, we won't care about what it took to get there.

There are a lot of reasons to love the holidays, and one of them is tradition. One tradition that The OC has given us, the biggest one, at least after the affinity for saying "Hey!" 30 times in the pace of an hour, is Chrismukkah. The tradition of mixed Jewish-Christian families celebrating both holidays has gone back a long time, and Seth Cohen wasn't the first one to vocalize "Chrismukkah", but it was Seth and the rest of the Characters on the OC that have given the word enough panache to the point where it even rivals Festivus in our pop culture hearts. Chrismukkah is now a benchmark episode, where the writers pull out all the stops. I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen, but I knew I would be really happy if it involved Johnny's demise. But I'm not going to be all bah humbug about it, not when there's eight days of gifts plus a day with a lot of gifts still left to come.

It's another year and another new episode of The OC. It's also another chance for me to think about how I would fix the show. I think part of the reason a lot of us tend to get bored with some episodes is that the producers really telegraph what is going to be happening in the next hour right in the first five minutes. For instance, in this week's episode, we learn that their mission is going to be getting Marissa back into Harbor. Perhaps there wasn't a natural way for all of this to happen, but for those of use who like even a schtickel of anticipation, it's a disappointment. That being said, I can't complain much because the episode was otherwise fun, had a lot of good dialogue, and the writers have left themselves open for a lot of shenanigans down the road. Sort of like starting your night out with some drinks and then moving on to some shrooms. You may have started out thinking it would be a boring night, but you're so happy at the end (or paranoid, it all depends), you don't really care how you got there.

As many of you know, I love The OC. But for as much as I love the show, I can get infuriated by a number of things, including the pacing. Perhaps I am too hard on the show and should just let everybody have their campy fun, and sometimes when you are writing about a show it is too easy to think like a critic, even when you really are a big fan. Then again again, I do remember the show when it was consistently excellent, and I think it can be that way again. I thought this week's episode was excellent, and not just because we were introduced to Newport's newest and youngest troublemaker, Kaitlin Cooper (look I'm spelling it correctly now!). The writers were able to keep up a hectic pace among several different characters, and the way things fit together almost made sense. Now perhaps we can thank our new character for this dramatic change, and it will all fade out as the novelty wears off, but let's just keep the dream alive for now.

Although The OC may not be as trendy as it once was, I still believe that when done right, it is a solid hour of television. With the re-introduction of Kaitlin Cooper, I think that we have hit a sweet spot when it comes to the amount of characters and the story lines. That's not to say that the episodes aren't over the top, and sometimes barely believable, but to me the flow of events is much more natural. Considering they have been able to work in Kaitlin Cooper after a two-year hiatus, that's actually saying a lot. Speaking of Kaitlin, I find it humorous how everybody finds that it is a surprise that the youngest Cooper is a bad girl. Seeing how her father, mother, and older sister are all pillars of the community, how could things go so wrong?

I thought last week had one of the best episodes of The OC in a long time. This week, uh, not so much. The saga of Johnny has been a long one this season. He joins the long list of characters that have attempted to break up our two power couples without much success. First we had Oliver and Anna. We hope Oliver was sent to a mental institution, and Anna flew home to Pittsburgh. Then we had Zach and Lindsay and Alex. Zach is probably trying to have sex with his hot tutor, Lindsay flew back to Chicago, and Alex decided that Marissa Cooper is so crazy, she'll go back to her parents. We've been suffering through Johnny, who may not suck as much as some of the others, but that's not saying much. After many weeks of wondering how it is all going to play out, at the end of this episode we figured out what the hell we are going to do with him.

Wow, I guess I shouldn't have been so optimistic about The OC. I let my hopes get up after the apparent death of Johnny. That's right, I said "apparent" death. It turns out that it takes a lot more to kill Johnny than being hit by a car or falling off of a cliff onto some rocks. No, those things will only put this guy in a coma, although this last one had the potential of lasting a lot longer than the first. Some people may think that I am being too harsh openly hoping for the death of Johnny, but can you honestly blame me? Dealing with his story, which I think is awful, simply takes time away from developing other parts of the show that could be much more interesting if we could explore them a little bit.

I know there are plenty of diehard fans of The OC out there, and I consider myself one of them, so I would like to ask all of you for some help. Did this last episode make sense? I would have actually given this episode some fairly decent marks, but there is this one story line that has become so muddled it's really beginning to drag down the whole show. Yes, I am talking about Johnny, the character that lives on, even in death. I used to loathe that The OC would never introduce story lines and characters that would last more than two weeks. I guess I should be careful what I wish for.

Tonight, The OC cordially invites you to celebrate the big 18th birthday of Ryan Atwood, the do-gooder ragamuffin from the tough streets of Chino, CA. The party is expected to start out as a fun romp but will soon become too self-aware and sadly turn into a smug experience, coasting along on the buzz from the first hour until someone finally shuts it down. The evening's entertainment has been kept firmly under wraps, but we're pretty sure an indie band will show up to do an ironic cover of Journey, Foreigner or both. Guests are encouraged to let loose and have a good time but must always remember to take themselves very seriously. Ryan Atwood also reserves the right to have a maudlin moment at any time. This may involve the over-dramatic use of eye-darting, lip-stammering, and general brooding.

The party starts at 9 PM. Don't miss it!

Ever wonder what happened to Luke after he disappeared to the Pacific Northwest on The OC? Well, we have an update. He's having an illicit affair with Alec Baldwin. Okay, maybe that's an overstatement (or a complete fallacy). Chris Carmack has resurfaced in the New York production of Entertaining Mr. Sloane where he plays the object of desire for many older people, including Mr. Baldwin himself. The New York Times has a mildly amusing audio slideshow featuring Carmack's commentary on the play and how he almost had to perform nude. I actually once saw the former OC star in a one-act here in Los Angeles. I'd like to say he did a good job, but truthfully, I spent the entire time hoping he'd punch another actor and yell, "This is how it's done in the YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL!!!!" If anyone sees his performance in New York, let us know how it is.

Eh, what can I say? Slow news day.

I have been wondering all week how the writers of The OC were going to try and convince us that this latest breakup between Ryan and Marissa is like, for reals this time. So far, whenever the writers try and pair Ryan with somebody other than Marissa, the viewers really start to complain. This time around, the writers made the relationship between Ryan and Marissa so painful that the readers were practically begging to end it once and for all. Frankly, both Ryan and Marissa are so uninteresting, they don't deserve that much screen time, especially when there are other things working on the show right now. It was Ryan's birthday episode this week, but if the readers had one wish, it would be to have everybody move on. Even if the next story line sucks, at least we won't be complaining about the same thing all the time.

Every now and then (read: once a day), we here at TVgasm like to congratulate ourselves over some inane contribution to pop culture. Today, our big news is that the Mischa Barton nip-slip, which we first posted about back in November, has officially eclipsed the Janet Jackson Superbowl Nip Slip on iFilm, becoming the website's 31st most popular video of all time. This surely must be one of Mischa's crowning accomplishments -- after all, it's no easy feat to surpass such a great moment in pop culture, nay, nip-slip history. So congrats, Marissa Cooper. Your dimly lit, nearly-impossible-to-discern nipplage has served you well!

I'll spare you the same old song and dance introduction about The OC goes through phases of being sucky and being great. The show might have lost the magic that made it a cultural sensation, so it helps to go into with an attitude that the writers are just trying to get through four seasons, maybe five, and then hope to reap the residuals of syndication and DVD sales for a long time to come. That all being said, this latest episode of the OC was actually a reminder of how things were once great, which is also a reminder of how far it has fallen. For those of us still along for the ride, at least the funny parts outweigh the moments when you want to shoot your television.

Although I enjoy giving the producers of The OC a good-natured ribbing every now and then, the truth remains that show has really picked up the last few weeks. When Josh Schwartz said things are some great things coming down the pipe, I admit that my first reaction was to laugh, but after seeing this last episode, I may just take his word on it. I don't know about you, but I was still recovering from all of that action at the end of the last episode. In order to prepare myself properly for any more steaminess on screen, I decided to channel my inner Marissa and have a beer or three before getting started. As it turns out, I really didn't need to cool off because the episode wasn't that hott, but

While it is still bugging me trying to figure out why kids in Newport, who all happen to be really smart and possess the ability to make it into Top 20 schools, would limit themselves to applying to only one college, I have decided to not let that bother me. The show has seen worse episodes, and I would rather deal with a few odd details than do something to force the writers to get creative. Next thing you know, we'll end up with another Johnny, and Julie Cooper will end up marrying herself. But whatevs. Since The OC is all about big moments, the next big milestone on the agenda is graduation (what, no mention of senior prom?) and other than Summer making jokes about Seth's bony ass in a cap and gown, who knows what will happen?

This week's episode of The OC promised to provide us with a lot of answers. For years, the writers sort of neglected the fact that Theresa lied about her miscarriage. Most of us never really believed that Ryan was the father because Theresa wasn't exactly the most chaste woman at the time, but the Ryan baby story line became a glaring example of problems that have been plaguing this writing staff ever since those magical first six episodes when we all believed that this show was going to be the best thing on television for a long time. Now that the show is not the pop culture darling it used to be and FOX has several hour long dramas that fans and critics like a lot more, I think the writing staff have realized some of the old practices aren't going to work. But I don't write these recaps to lecture the producers, and the writers do seem to be getting better this year, so I'll just jump into the recaps. Scroll to the end if all you care about is who fathered Theresa's baby.

Click to play (Quicktime 7 required)

We're sure that at least some of you were wondering what happened to The OC this past week. Truth be told, this show has been fairly enjoyable for the last couple of months and the season finale this week looks like it will be a good one. Whenever The OC strings together three or four good episodes, the talk is usually about how amazing it is that there were three good episodes in a row, instead of about the episode itself, so I've decided to buck the trend and leave that kind of hand wringing for others. We have too much to celebrate this week to let such things get in our way. Summer and Seth are back together, Marissa goes on a little road trip to visit her sister, and Sandy is named Man of the Year!

As I mentioned in my recap, TV GUIDE Emmy party served as a platform for the world debut of the band known as Band from TV. With the vocals of Bob Guiney (The Scorned) and Bonnie Somerville (Kitchen Confidential) leading the band, a strong support comes in the form of James Denton (Desperate Housewives) on strummin guitar, Hugh Laurie (House M.D.) tappin' the keys, and Greg Grunberg (Heroes) poundin' out the drums. USA TODAY gives a little insight to the band's genesis and charity work and even offers a short, clear clip of the band rehearsing (minus the members of the band that actually make it worth watching). Here's the thing about this gimmicky, schticky band....they are really good. While there's no original music, the covers are classic and the band members enthusiasm for the music is contagious.

I recorded a few short clips on my camera for personal historical documentation, but it's something so few people got to see, I have to share a bit. I appologize in advance for the audio and shakyness, but it was late, room was dark, and I was drunk. Think of it as Blaire Witch music.

For information on the band and future live performances you can reference their website here. If the link to buy their CD actually worked, it'd be on my iPod by now.

When does J-Unit's busy schedule become Umnata's blessing? When the big guy doesn't have time to post The O.C. recap, that's when! I'm the first to admit that this show pretty much has been heading to TJ in a hand basket since mid-season 1 (yeah, I'm talking to you, Oliver). Obviously things reached their nadir when Johnny showed up and stumbled off a cliff and the only way to salvage the show was to kill Mischa Barton in a horrific car accident. Now many people out there were ripped to shreds when Coop died in the arms of Ryan at the end of last season. I had my own mixed feelings about it. Was 90210 ever really 90210 post-Brenda? The answer is no. But the difference here is that I knew Brenda Walsh, and YOU Marissa Cooper are NO Brenda Walsh. I suspected that the show could benefit from the loss of Mischa's stiff acting and bony back. Sure I had concerns - would this mean that Ryan's soul mate would turn out to be, barf, Theresa? Will the show be pretty enough without Mischa (who say what you will about her, err, talents is rather easy on the eyes)? Would Seth explode if he didn't reach a new limit of 250 obscure pop culture references per episode?

So let's just say I had already drawn my line in the Newport Beach sand when I heard that the Newpsies would be up against the new loves of my Thursday life, The Seattle Gracies. Sorry, Atwood, Sethala, Kiki, JuJu, Sum and Sandy Cohen's eyebrows, but we've broken up and I've found someone else. A little older, a little more mature, and with lots of great prescription meds at their disposal. But a funny thing happened on the way to The Pomp. There was a Blitzkrieg of Madonna-Baby-Adoption proportions PR touting Season 4 as The O.C.'s best yet. Since I'm an American under the age of 25 raised on MTV and video games, all I know how to do is jump on a bandwagon and believe everything that the press tells me. Could it be? The best OC season ever? Better than Ryan holding Coop in his arms as she overdoses in TJ? Better than Seth confessing his love to Summer atop a coffee cart? Better than the constant bombardment of overly ironic, distractingly knowing self-parody set to painfully sincere covers of painfully sincere alternative songs of the last 15 years? This I would have to see to believe...

In honor of election day and the series-low ratings for the fourth Season Premiere of The O.C. last Thursday, I am imploring with all of you once and future OC-fans to check out the show this week as you get two, count 'em two, chances to catch up with Ryan, Seth, Summer, Marissa, err, Taylor and the rest of the gang.

Due to the anemic ratings coniciding with a surprise surge in quality, Fox will be airing The O.C. two new eps this week: Wednesday at 9 PM and Thursday at 9 PM. Sure it's up against formidable competition, but it's still more than worth checking out. FOR REALZ!

Fox says: "We're giving you two episodes of The O.C. this week," and I say: "Yes, please!" But here's the question at hand: if a once great show, stumbles for 2 years and then makes an incredible creative resurgence, does anyone care? If the ratings are any indication, it would appear not. Last week's season premiere was watched by, I think, me, the 14 people who commented on the recap, my best friend Carla, her boyfriend John, a cackling-at-the-moon Mischa Barton, and that's all. So Fox thought they'd try something out and plug the show in on Wednesday at 9 PM to get it out of the way of two little shows called, Grey's Anatomy and CSI (maybe you've heard of them). Where this was a good idea in theory, in practice it put the show up against the Lost "fall finale" and the ludicrously popular Criminal Minds starring Inigo Montoya, who I suspect is looking for the man who killed other people's fathers. Prepare to... be investigated! The O.C. took a hit on Wednesday as well, watched by fewer people than One Tree Hill. That's right, more people want to watch Chad Michael Murray trick another one of his costars into marrying him, than care about the Newport Gang. And it's a shame, because these two episodes really kicked ass. I mean, if that nifty piece of photoshop, didn't get people tuning in, I fear nothing will! Here's the recap for Wednesday's episode, with Thursday's Thanksgiving themed recap coming up shortly.

So I definitely DID NOT at all, even remotely, get misty eyed during this episode of The O.C. Not at all. Certainly not at the last 2/3's of the episode when Julie discovered that her daughter's killer was apprehended. Or when she realized she needs to move on from Marissa's death. Or when she asked Ryan to: "Tell me about her." And certainly not when Summer finally admitted to "missing my friend." None of these moments, not a single one, got me even remotely emotional. You know why? Because I am not a bady. I am a man! I am a Blogger Man! I'm also full of crap, and was a sniffly mess by the end. And I'm not much of a crier. I swear. Bambi's mom had it comin' and Field of Dreams is lame. That's just how I roll. And yet you show me a distraught Julie Cooper-Nicholl-Roberts mourning her Skeletor daughter, and I'm a weepy little girl. Could it be? Is The O.C. that good this season!?!?! Or am I just that lame? YOU DECIDE...

Oh and just to rest all of your minds, there was a crazy rumor that The O.C. had been cancelled, but it's not true. The show is still in production and will complete its 16 episode season commitment. Of course after that, it is all but certain to be axed, but until then we can all sleep easy!

Best. Episode. Ever. No, I'm totally serious. This was the best episode in the history of The O.C. I defy you to object. What, you prefer Seth and Summer (R.I.P. Bilsody) reuniting via a lame recreation of the upside down make out from Spider-Man? Oliver holding Coop hostage? Coop biting it in Ryan's arms? Sure these were all memorable episodes, but this episode had Taylor Townsend channeling her inner-Tawny Kitaen. 'nuff said.

Alright, so again I thought that The O.C. was a repeat this week, leaving me extra time to get this recap up, but again, I was wrong. Sorry, I've got Santa and finals on the brain. But as a special treat, you get an extra special recap. What makes it extra special? Chrismukkah of course! Because you know what I hated about this VERY SPECIAL CHRISMUKKAH EPISODE? Absolutely. Nothing.

This week with The O.C. recap I'm going to try something a little different. Since, generally speaking, a lot happens on this show, and unlike many other shows I'm interested in most of it, I'm readjusting the format of these recaps. What!?!?! Huh!?!? Who!!?!? Now don't get yourselves all fired up. But much like life in Orange County, nothing can stay the same forever. And, fine, this might have a little something to do with me getting a new job, with actual demands, and having less time to slave over the minutiae of Summer and Seth's banter. And, this way I've streamlined the process a bit, so hopefully these last 6 recaps can be delivered slightly speedier. Regardless, on with the show, as Taylor's French husband comes to town to stir up trouble for our new favorite Super Couple.

You know what the best part about writing a recap that only 6 people read? That basically sense can be thrown out the window. And that's pretty much the order of the day with this week's The O.C. recap. So while we'll be discussing what happened with Che and Seth went on a spirit quest in the Rocky Mountain region of Newport, how exactly Julie got her groove back, what the h-e double hockey sticks is going on with Taylor and Ryan and whether or not Kaitlyn is going to RUN IT! with Chris Brown, there is also a very good chance that I'll also be using this space to list my grocery shopping for the week. Or perhaps a dissertation on why Matt Saracen is the best quarterback in all of (fake) Texas. So let's enjoy a nice rundown of all the goings ons in Newport with a splash of the Alien invasion that I have made up in my mind. Or maybe I won't mention any of that! Find out after the jump!

It's Valentine's Day on The O.C.!!! Ususally this is good for some massive hijinks involving a bungled romantic attempt by Seth, but this year is all about the old people. Yeah, Julie Cooper Nicholl Roberts Cooper takes center stage in this episode. Who will she pick? Frankules, her possible soulmate? Or Bullit, the rich guy who Kaitlyn loves but kind of makes everyone else's skin crawl? Well, who do you think she's going to pick? There's only three episodes left people, and we need our Julie happy dammit! In other news, what happened between Kirsten and Jimmy Cooper all those years ago? And what does the future hold for Seth and Summer? All these questions and more after the jump!