Media > Articles > General Not all California kids live in 90210 zone Sioux City Journal By Bruce R. Miller, Journal staff writer LOS ANGELES -- Get ready for Siouxlanders to start referring to Sioux City as "The S.C." Thanks to "The O.C.," a new drama on Fox, the show's producers expect a new vocabulary to spring up in practically every burg in the nation. "I learned from first-hand experience with 'Swingers' that you can come up with crazy words that are very particular to a specific place and, suddenly, people in Des Moines, Iowa, are using those expressions," says producer Doug Liman. "Southern Californa is a taste maker for the country." If that's true, look for "The O.C." to popularize bleeding heart attorneys, snobby rich kids and misunderstood youth. In the drama - which premieres Aug. 5 on Fox, audiences will see that all the state's hip kids don't live in the 90210 zip code. Beverly Hills, in fact, is light years away from Orange County. Orange County, says Josh Schwartz, the show's executive producer, "is much more of a bubble. It's much more of a heightened suburban culture." In the O.C., kids have plenty of money and their parents have "this veneer of idealism," says producer McG. "You come to realize that underneath the surface there are dramatic lives that you would find in any community." Benjamin McKenzie plays the audience's eyes and ears. He's a troubled youth who's taken into his attorney's home when his mother kicks him out. Almost immediately, he gets a taste of the "good" life and the bad that lurks beneath. Peter Gallagher plays his new guardian, a public defender with his own troubled son. The series has a handful of teen types and a group of parents whose antics suggest that this could be another night time soap. "In a climate where reality television is so prevalent, this is sort of our version of reality television," says Liman. "We were not going for 'classic soap' in terms of melodrama....we're going for the honesty." "The O.C.'s" language and subject matter may seem a little stronger than that of "Beverly Hills 90210" but it's only a reflection of the times. Interestingly, McKenzie's character smokes in times of stress. "He might actually pull out a cigarette every once in a while," the actor says. "Crazy things happen." As the series progresses, audiences will see just how bad life was for the young man and what he has to face in his very alien new world. "It's very important for the audience to truly believe and understand that this kid hasn't had anyone to believe in," McKenzie says. "We're not doing Chekov or Ibsen. This is a drama on Fox. But that's what's interesting - the conflict between his past life and his future." Ironically, McG (who also directed this summer's "Charlie's Angels" sequel) had a similar awakening when he and his family moved from Michigan to California. Like the series' leading character, he was an "outsider looking in." "When I graduated high school, I was 5'2", I had an orange afro, neck gear, dolphins and shoe skates. I wasn't one of the beautiful people who was participating in this fantastic 'beautiful boys and girls dating one another' lifestyle. I just took it all in and brought that, hopefully, to the screen." The first new television series of the 2003-2004 season to air, "The O.C." is expected to gain an audience before it moves to its regular Thursday night timeslot opposite "Will and Grace" and "C.S.I." There, its trendsetters of tomorrow hope to take on the tastemakers of today. "If any network has a successful track record of launching shows in the summer," says Schwartz, "it's Fox." Then, too, Liman and McG have a keen sense of what clicks with today's youth. Their film success confirms that. Their commitment to "The O.C." suggests they're eager to meet another medium's needs. "It was an opportunity work in a medium that could be much more responsive to changes that take place in the world," Liman explains. "You do a movie, you make decisions today and people won't see the film for a year and a half. Whereas with television you can really be much more responsive to the popular zeitgeist." "The O.C." premieres at 8 p.m. Aug. 5 on Fox. 2003 Virtual Rain. This is an unofficial fansite with no relation to FOX, Warner Brothers, or any of their associates. This is just a fansite opened for the purpose of exposing the show "The O.C" to new fans across the internet. Original copyright of all photos remain to FOX/WB and are used purely for the purpose of enjoying the show and furthering its fanbase.