The O.C.
Soap & telenovelaHeightened, continuing melodrama.This show: 8/10Class divideWealth, poverty and the gulf between them.This show: 8/10Elites & privilegeThe rich and powerful, glamorous or rotten.This show: 8/10Coming of ageGrowing up as the central arc.This show: 8/10Love storyA love story as the engine of the show, not a side plot.This show: 8/10Outsider leadA misfit or newcomer as our way into the world.This show: 7/10Ensemble castMany characters carrying equal weight.This show: 7/10
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Starring
Mischa BartonAdam BrodyPeter GallagherKelly RowanBen McKenzieRachel Bilson
Written by
Josh Schwartz
Starring
Mischa BartonAdam BrodyPeter GallagherKelly RowanBen McKenzieRachel Bilson
Written by
Josh Schwartz
Ratings per Episode
Votes per Episode
The O.C. Episode Ratings Heatmap
| Avg | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8 | E9 | E10 | E11 | E12 | E13 | E14 | E15 | E16 | E17 | E18 | E19 | E20 | E21 | E22 | E23 | E24 | E25 | E26 | E27 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 8.1 | 8.8 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 7.4 | 8.1 | 8.7 | |
| S2 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 8.8 | 8.0 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 8.0 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.8 | 8.6 | 9.0 | ||||
| S3 | 7.6 | 7.8 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 7.3 | 7.6 | 7.9 | 7.5 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 8.7 | |||
| S4 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 7.5 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 8.5 | 7.7 | 7.3 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 7.3 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 9.1 |
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About
"Class-clash teen melodrama with an era-defining soundtrack"
When troubled teenager Ryan Atwood is taken in by a kind public defender's family, he's thrust into the sun-bleached wealth and simmering dysfunction of Newport Beach. What follows is glossy teen soap opera: love triangles, family secrets, and class tension play out against beach houses and country clubs. The first season is tightly plotted and genuinely funny, anchored by sharp, self-aware banter (especially from geeky Seth) and a moody indie soundtrack that became just as famous as the show itself. Later seasons lean harder into melodrama, but the charm and quotable dialogue keep it watchable.
Watch it for
the whip-smart banter and indie soundtrack that shaped 2000s teen TV culture.
Maybe skip if
you find escalating soapy melodrama and outlandish plot twists hard to take seriously.
Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.
All Seasons
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Season 12003
8.124K2719h 36m
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Season 22004
7.915K2417h 16m
At the end of last season, Ryan returned to Chino to protect his pregnant ex-girlfriend from her abusive ex-boyfriend and, with the departure of his only friend in Newport Beach, Seth decided to do what he always had planned: sail off on his yacht, the Summer Breeze, and run away from Newport Beach. With Seth and Ryan gone, Kirsten and Sandy try to stay busy with a remodeling project at home, while Julie and Caleb settle into their gorgeous Newport Beach mansion. But now the summer is over, school's about to begin and Ryan and Seth are nowhere to be found.
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Season 32005
7.613K2517h 59m
Ryan, Marissa, Seth and Summer are about to begin their senior year at Harbor High. But while everyone else celebrates the last days of summer, a dark cloud hangs over the foursome. Trey, Ryan's brother, still clings to life two months after the shooting and the cops want to know who really shot him. Meanwhile, Julie Cooper and Jimmy are determined to protect Marissa at whatever cost. And while Sandy, Seth and Ryan try to fend for themselves at home, Kirsten, still recovering in her plush rehab by the sea, forms a friendship with fellow recovering alcoholic Charlotte, who like all things in the O.C. may not be everything she appears to be.
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Season 42006
7.910K1611h 33m
High school seems like a distant memory to the young graduates, who have been thrust into adulthood after the death of their beloved friend. The Cohens struggle to keep Ryan focused on the future, fighting the forces that threaten to pull him back into his old life. Summer has left Orange County and is attending Brown University in Rhode Island, where she has reinvented herself as a left-leaning, tree-hugging activist. Meanwhile, Seth is lonely in the O.C. and working at a local comic book store. Kaitlin Cooper returns to the O.C. as the No. 1 troublemaker at The Harbor School. And Taylor Townsend is hiding out and speaking French in the O.C. after her mysterious romance in Paris.
Full Cast & Crew
Cast
Mischa Barton Marissa Cooper
Adam Brody Seth Cohen
Peter Gallagher Sandy Cohen
Kelly Rowan Kirsten Cohen
Ben McKenzie Ryan Atwood
Rachel Bilson Summer Roberts
Melinda Clarke Julie Cooper, Julie Cooper-Nichol
Tate Donovan Jimmy Cooper
Alan Dale Caleb Nichol
Autumn Reeser Taylor Townsend
Crew
Josh Schwartz
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