Rachel Bilson, Melinda Clarke kick off new podcast by revisiting The O.C. pilot
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Cue the Phantom Planet song “California” because Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke are really taking The O.C. fans “right back where we started from.” The two actors launched their brand new podcast, Welcome To The O.C., Bitches on Tuesday, April 27 by taking us behind-the-scenes of the iconic teen drama’s very first episode. Bilson and Clarke played Summer Roberts and Julie Cooper, respectively.
In their weekly rewatch podcast, both of them will chronologically binge the Fox show set in the affluent Newport Beach and provide insider details and feature interviews with the cast and crew. They kicked off the first episode by speaking with The O.C. creator Joshua Schwartz, who is also known for developing Gossip Girl, Chuck, and more recently Hulu’s Looking For Alaska and The CW’s Nancy Drew. He’s basically helped drive television’s yearning for young adult dramas.
In the over 90 minute podcast episode, the three of them reflect on the show’s legacy. The O.C. was incredibly popular when it premiered in 2003 and while the same impact didn’t retain for its four-season run, the drama gradually became a pop culture phenomenon. Bilson, Clarke, and Schwartz talk about the making of the pilot, Schwartz’s inspirations for the character dynamics (think E.T. and Elliott’s friendship for Ryan and Seth), and the casting process for its protagonists, including Ben McKenzie as Ryan Atwood, Adam Brody as Seth Cohen, Mischa Barton as Marissa Cooper, and Peter Gallagher as everyone’s favorite fictional dad, Sandy Cohen.
In fact, Bilson revealed that she really wanted to play Marissa initially and Schwartz spoke about how Olivia Wilde, who plays Alex in season two, also auditioned for Marissa. Friday Night Lights’ Garrett Hedlund was a frontrunner for Ryan, but McKenzie’s take on the character won everyone over. The trio also unpack the show’s instantly iconic moments: the character’s greeting each other with “Hey,” Summer’s “Ew, Chino” delivery, and Luke’s (Chris Carmack) dialogue “Welcome to the O.C., bitch,” also the the inspiration for the podcast title.
Welcome To The O.C., Bitches will not only give us behind-the-scenes information on every episode, but also dive into how music became such an important part of The O.C.. In this podcast episode, Schwartz talks about how he aspired to bring the emotions behind Joseph Arthur’s “Honey And The Moon” into the show. The song plays in the pilot when Ryan bids Seth goodbye before heading back to Chino, a move that obviously did not last very long.
Since they’re recapping all 92 episodes of The O.C. on a weekly basis, Bilson and Clarke’s rewatch podcast is here for the long haul. It’s going to be a fun reunion as more cast members and writers of the show stop by and we get to hear their memories while filming. A new episode of the podcast will come out every Tuesday and all four seasons of The O.C. are streaming on HBO Max.
18 Comments
Mischa Barton is such a sad story. Breaks my heart at all her struggles. She really had a moment there, an opportunity, and honestly, I still check out the new things she does, when she does get her act together to appear in a show or film, because she’s got a great on screen presence. I’d love to see her get straightened out, and land something that might make good on her earlier promise.
She really could have had a career if she just lost a little weight.
It wasn’t until years after the OC that i realized that she was the girl whose mom was poisoning her and causing her to vomit in the Sixth Sense.
She was, what, 17 when the first season launched? It was an immediate hit and she was kind of the face of it, which must be pretty crazy/stressful, especially at that age. Obviously there’s the talk of not everyone getting on behind the scenes, but considering everyone else was playing young and so was significantly older than her, at that age those few years is a big enough gap to mean that you’re less likely to connect with each other.I know very little about Mischa Barton and think Marissa is frequently the centre of all the worst things in The OC, but I do feel like the cards were stacked against her from the beginning.
Popping in not only to voice my support for this podcast (since The OC is truly amazing), but also to take yet another chance to support Schwartz’s current project, Nancy Drew, which I believe to be one of the most underrated shows on television.
I just decided to abandon all my plans to catch up on “prestige TV” shows I’ve missed, and rewatched the first few eps of the OC. I always said that first mini-season of 7 eps that introduced the show were the best first few eps of any show ever… and it totally holds up. I forgot how great the pacing was. Plot points that I thought were way later in the season came up in like ep 2. They just fired away, introduced a plot, resolved it, moved on. I kind of place this as the start of the current, “modern” TV era.Though one thing that’s clear- it’s not the flip phones or lack of social media references that really dates this show… it’s the boot-cut jeans and lowrise pants. Fashion from the late 90s to the mid 2000s really may be the worst fashion era ever.and GODDAMIT that theme song is still just perfect.
Oh man, the fashion and the makeup were .. . not great.
I hate to tell you this but Marissa Cooper fashion (lowrise jeans and all) is au courant RN among the youngsters if tik tok is to be believed. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22364404/low-rise-jeans-trend-y2k-fashion
For real. I did the same thing during lockdown last year and fuck it’s addictive and fast-paced. It’s such a hilarious time capsule for the immediate pre-GFC period and the clothing particularly is just a gold mine of terrible.
I was debating between rewatching the OC and Chuck, and i decided the outdated “high tech” of Chuck would be more depressing than the fashion of the OC. Now I’m not so sure.
In the near future stars of every old tv show will do a rewatch recap podcast. Then when those have reached a saturation point, background characters from those shows will do podcasts recapping the original podcast. Stay tuned for 2025 when the guy who played the Dunder-Mifflin security guard and the guy who played Jan’s secretary start recapping episodes of Office Ladies.
Any UK viewers wanting to watch the show (along with the podcast, or just for nostalgia), it’s on Channel 4’s All4 service.
Well here’s to the next 92 weeks of my life *knocks on wood* *shrugs*.Also Oliver is worse than anything from S2 and S3.
Amen to that. Oliver almost destroyed all of the heaping amounts of goodwill and excitement the first seven eps built up.And the fact that the show came back and finished strong in S4 kind of makes me forgive most of s3.
Oh man, I just finished up my rewatch of The OC a few weeks ago, so I am very psyched about this. (Plus Summer and Julie were the best characters, obviously)In the rewatch, it really struck me how funny Ben Mackenzie is. He’s got great comedic timing. I think Adam Brody usually got lauded for bringing the jokes, but they were equally funny.
There’s something to be said for a great straight man who is subtly funny.
Rachel Bilson is lovely.