PAST NEWS | THE-OC.ORG | THEOCIMAGES.COM
|
|
|
|
|
The O.C. (tvguide.com) OK, I didn't think I missed the gang this summer since I had the DVD box sets, the repeats, the 120 soundtracks and Laguna Beach to keep me company. Not to mention a growing disdain for Adam Brody's too-hip-to-be-squareness. But amen that they're back! Really, how nice to see everyone. Even Trey. Of course, coming out of that coma to accuse Ryan and his massive biceps of shooting him was a tad unfortunate. I don't care if the back-to-bitchy Julie did bribe him into betraying his bro to protect Marissa, you'd think the guy wouldn't be flipping karma the bird so soon after a near-death experience, right? And shame on Jimmy for not stopping her! Thankfully, Coop and Summer's candy-striper scheme worked, the truth came out and Scruffy McRapist hopped the next bus to guest-stars-ville. Now the kids can have some fun, watch Teen Wolf, go sailing or, you know, frolic on the beach like their postcard-y montage that had me waiting for Danny Zuko and Sandy to pop up accompanied by the strains of "Love is a Many Splendored Thing." Speaking of Grease, how slimy is Jeri Ryan's character? Cozying up to Kiki at rehab, pulling that whole "my rich dad made me drink, too" routine. Please, you see that girl's eyes? Crazy with a capital whacko. Bet ya anything she's after her money, her man or — hold onto your Sappho statues — Hot Mommy Cohen herself. Only time will tell, but I'll tell you something: If Mr. Josh Schwartz keeps this up all season, I may forgive him for offing Caleb, writing out Anna and inflicting Zzzzzach on us all last season. Jess the coke whore, however, is gonna take a serious Chrismukkah miracle. So get crackin', buddy. — Damian J. Holbrook |
|
|
|
 |
|
'O.C.' Basks in Summer (Sunday, September 04 12:03 AM) By John Crook LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Labor Day commonly marks the end of summertime as most Americans think of it. Not over at Fox, though, where Thursday, Sept. 8, marks the beginning of a different kind of Summer time for fans of "The O.C." The surf-side soap splashes into its third season with teen couple Summer Roberts and Seth Cohen (Rachel Bilson, Adam Brody) reunited after second-season romantic complications that were sometimes over the top even by soap standards. When "The O.C." premiered in 2003, of course, the designated hot young couple was Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper (Ben McKenzie, Mischa Barton), characters that still command their share of the spotlight. In those early episodes, Brody's Seth was a geeky loner and Summer -- well, she was scarcely there, other than as a romantic fantasy for Seth. "Rachel had three lines in the pilot, one of which was, 'I gotta pee. You gotta pee?' Which she totally sold, by the way. Nailed it," series creator and executive producer Josh Schwartz notes, tongue in cheek. "Seriously, though, she came in and she was just not what you expected in that part. She was adorable and funny and smart, which was a really fresh way to go with that character. And the more we gave her to do in the first couple of episodes, the more she kept nailing. "Finally, in the episode with the Tijuana road trip, we watched a scene between her and Seth in the diner and knew: This girl is amazing. Let's make her a series regular." "I liked that, yeah, Summer was a bitch, but she was a humorous bitch," Bilson, 24, says of her first impressions of her character. "Summer was kind of the opposite of the Marissa Cooper character, who was the straight 'popular girl.' It was fun to be the humorous part of the Marissa-Summer team, just like Seth is the humor on the Ryan-Seth team. Josh has such a tremendous sense of humor, so humor and comic timing were important parts of what I guess you'd call the formula for the show." Bilson grew up in Los Angeles, but while several relatives on her father's side of the family are involved in various aspects of show business, she didn't feel predestined to be an actress. "I grew up on sets, but it wasn't like I thought, 'Oh, I'm going to be an actress,' it was just fun to hang out there," she explains. "I loved being around the people making these things, and I thought it was really cool, but I never seriously really thought about doing this myself until I was in high school and started doing plays. That's when I realized that I really did love acting." Those high-school plays ranged from "Pippin" ("my favorite of the musicals we did") to a David Mamet comedy called "Revenge of the Space Pandas" ("I got to do a whole kung-fu fighting sequence") to a daunting role for any young actress: scheming Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." After graduation, Bilson decided to postpone any serious pursuit of an acting career for a chance to sample college life for a year in San Diego. "I wanted to live in a dorm and hang out, have that experience," she says. "I would drive up to Los Angeles every now and then for an audition, but I didn't really get serious about it until about a year after high school. "I got a really good commercial agent, and I started going on tons of calls for those. I think that really helped me, in terms of just building my confidence in a room to feel better about whatever you're doing. Then I started booking commercials, which I was really happy and grateful for. My first commercial was for Raisin Bran Crunch, and I danced for 12 hours straight and was so sore for two days afterwards. And you only saw the back of me." In 2003, not long before she landed her "O.C." role, she won a tiny guest spot on an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and what she calls "really just a featured extra role on '8 Simple Rules.' I still can't believe I got those so close to 'The O.C.' " In addition to swiftly moving from bit player to series regular on her current Fox hit, Bilson also scored another nice perk in off-screen boyfriend Brody. She politely but firmly declines to talk about their life together, even as it relates to how it felt last season when the two of them had to play a number of tense fight scenes together. "Your professional life has to be kept separate from your private life," she says. "It's a fine line but while we have a great job, it is a job, so we keep the professional professional and the private stuff private." Schwartz assures Summer-and-Seth fans the couple will be back together this fall, although he points out they face more bittersweet decisions as they move through their senior year of high school with probable goodbyes looming at the end of it. Away from "The O.C.," Bilson spent her summer vacation filming "The Last Kiss," a dramedy in which she co-stars with "Scrubs" leading man Zach Braff in an ensemble that also includes Tom Wilkinson ("In the Bedroom") and Blythe Danner. As buzz builds around her, Bilson says she would love to emulate the career of another highly regarded young actress. "I love Kate Winslet," she says. "She's really inspiring to me, because she does amazing movies and is an incredible actress, but she isn't caught up in any of the 'Hollywood crap.' But there are so many others I admire: Katharine and Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball. I also love Drew Barrymore. "I just love what I do so much and am so grateful for whatever success I've had so far. Doing what you love is really the greatest gift in the world." --- TV Gal Puts Out the Welcome Mat (Monday, September 05 12:02 AM) By Amy Amatangelo LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Oh come on. Please let me say it. Just this one last time. Pretty please. Welcome to the new television season, bitch. FOX rolls out more new shows this week, but first let's take a look at the gang on "The O.C.," who return for a third season of carnivals, drinking, back-stabbing, moody stares, Captain Oats shenanigans and the ever-fabulous Julie Cooper at 8 p.m. on FOX. If Seth was adorable in Season One and too self-aware of how adorable he was in Season Two, Season Three finds our intrepid geek just merely giving the people what he thinks they want. So every cute inside joke, every quirky reference, every adorable gesture falls a little flat and feels a little hollow. Coming off last season's (somewhat) shocking finale, the show starts off the season with much less oomph and pizzazz than it needs. Oh, sure, it looks like Jeri Ryan is up to no good and, yes, Peter Gallagher's eyebrows are looking mighty fine (and you know my theory as go the eyebrows, so goes the show), but still I'm more than a little worried. As I hinted at a couple of weeks ago "Reunion" (premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. on FOX) is a terrific idea embroiled in a mundane execution. The year is 1986 and six friends graduate from high school. Flash forward 20 years later and one of them is dead and one of them did it. We'll spend the season finding out who's dead and who did it. Every episode represents a different year (think the anti-"24"). Pretty nifty idea, right? But the whole thing plays out a little like a cheesy '80s movie - with the privileged rich kid, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, the tomboy in love with her best friend who only sees her as his friend. Wait a minute; this is "Some Kind of Wonderful." Part of the problem is the less than convincing aging make-up (not as bad as the series finale of "Six Feet Under" but close, thankfully Mathew St. Patrick who plays the detective investigating the murder was spared this time around). Part of the problem may be that Amanda Righetti can't really act (I'm sorry, she can't. Somebody has to say it and it might as well be me). But the series does boast Will Estes ("American Dreams"), Sean Faris ("life as we know it") and my long time favorite, Gregory Harrison. Great premise, pretty good cast. For now I'm giving the show three stars, but I'll be watching to see how the rest of the 80s play out and could be changing my ruling. And finally "The War at Home" doesn't quite know what it wants to be - nice family comedy ("Everybody Loves Raymond") or a raucous look at parenting ("Married ... with Children."). Although there are a few funny moments and Kyle Sullivan is a hoot as middle son Larry, the show doesn't work as a whole. Could it? Perhaps. For now I'm giving it two stars and resigning myself to the fact that there will never be another "Roseanne." What did you think of the season premiere of "The O.C."? How about "Reunion" and/pr "The War at Home"? Talk about it on the TV Gal message boards. Eric Mabius shows up on Thursday, Sept. 15 as the gang's new Dean of Discipline on "The O.C." He won't be pleased with Marissa or Ryan. Autumn Reeser, Angela on "Complete Savages," is Summer's new nemesis at school. And this year Summer is going to have a house not just her bedroom. Kirsten is very dependent on Charlotte (who is up to no good, remember?). |
ARCHIVED NEWS
PART OF THE OC CENTRAL @ THE-OC.ORG (2003-2005)
Powered by: Blogger