Things I Used to Love: The OC

I've always had a soft spot for soapy teen dramas. Maybe it's because my own teen years were a little, uh, mellow (i.e., I was a major nerd who rarely did anything she thought might get her in trouble) and so I like to see what life on the other side was like. Or maybe I just have terrible taste in TV shows – if it's on the CW or ABC Family, I've probably seen it and might be obsessed with it.

Back in my college years, one such obsession was The OC. Bad boy Ryan Atwood moves in with the affluent Cohen family in Newport, CA, and WORLDS COLLIDE. He becomes best buds with Seth, the Cohens' son, and falls for Marissa Cooper, the debutante next door. All while wearing a tank top and leather choker (swoon-worthy at the time, but that look doesn't really hold up 10 years later). Over the course of four seasons, all sorts of hijinks ensued (including but not limited to fistfights, embezzlement, affairs, murder, and the Jewish/Christian winter holiday celebration known as Chrismakkuh).

Unrealistic plot points aside, the show was pretty great. I loved the dynamic between Sandy and Kirsten Cohen, the Chrismakkuh episodes, the witty banter, and random pop-culture references. And they were one of the first shows to do the whole "Tonight's episode featured songs by ..." music tie-in, which is pretty cool.  But my favorite part of the show was Seth. He may very well be the original hipster, and I loved him for it. He was a curly-haired, longboard-riding, comic-book reading nerd who hated living in the Newport bubble. I was all about his kind of geek-cute.

I'd been wanting to do a rewatch for a while, but sadly it is not available to stream on Netflix and I'm way too cheap to pay $2 an episode to watch it on Amazon via instant video. Fortunately, the universe smiled upon me and I found the first season on DVD for $10 at 2nd and Charles (such a cool shop – you should check it out if there's one near you) a few weeks ago. And now I am 10 episodes into teen-drama heaven. If you care to check it out, Amazon has the complete series for $55 (only 57 cents an episode!) or you can (randomly) watch season 3 on The WB's site. Be warned, if you do, you are going to get the theme song in your head. FOREVER. But it might be worth it.