My Guilty Pleasure
Heyheyhey!
Hey ppl,
Once a week, I'll write a column about my current guilty pleasure that I know logically I shouldn't enjoy, but inexplicably and unfortunately have fallen head over heels in love with, and am an avid devotee of said Pleasure.
So for this week, my guilty pleasure is : The OC
For the uninitiated (i.e. people that have a life and have something better to do on a Sunday night than sitting in front of the idiot box), The OC stands for Orange County and is a teen melodrama series shown on 8TV every Sunday night at 10:45 pm.
It's this millenium's answer to teen melodrama's of yore such as Beveryly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek (shit I feel SO old quoting these two shows....does any of the young readers even know wtf is BH90210 ? ;-p )
Initially, I disliked the show and just stopped seeing it after the pilot episode because it had the same old, same old characters that u can expect in any teen drama i.e.:....
The dumb popular jock (Luke), his trophy girlfriend (Marissa), the nerd/geek (Seth), the popular girl in school (Summer) and the rebel (Ryan).
Well, color me confused when I 'accidentally' saw an episode a few months later and the show has done a complete 180 degress turn. The writer have cleverly started with all the usual teen stereotypes then gradually thru the first season 'deconstructed' all these stereotypes and made each character human.
After all, that's what good storytelling is all about, showing ur characters grow and mature as they overcome adversity and challenges in life (although some shows like the Simpsons where nothing changes are fun in their own twisted way, despite Bart still being 10 yrs old even after the Simpson's 10th year anniversary!).
The OC is chockful of good characterization. People suffer losses, people fall in love, people move on, etc. etc. UNlike shows like Dawson's Creek where they just play 'Musical Sex Chairs' and their idea of a cliffhanger is having one character sleep with another one (ooohhh...that is like SO groundbreaking for a teen drama...please...)
Midway thru the season, all the kids suffer adversity and the group becomes tighter because of it. For example Luke's dad is revealed to be gay; while Marissa tried to kill herself after having drinking problems due to her parents breaking up; then Ryan steals Marissa from the insenstive jock Luke. Both popular kids get ostracized at school and finally the group bonds tighter as they realise at the end of the day, there is no line separating jocks from nerds.
*start RANT*
Shit! I just realise how frivolous and lightweight the plots to this show are as I was typing the examples above. Why the fark am I so devoted to this light entertainment when there are so much more important stuff I can do with my life, like go out and do some community work, etc. etc.? I don't know...maybe it's cos I'm just a weak, malas person or sumthin.....I feel SO guilty for liking this show so much!
*end RANT*
Besides the characterization, the scriptwriting is really, really tight. People talk like normal people do at normal people pace using normal people shortcuts / shorthand when ur talkin to people u are close with. U don't feel as though they're reading scripts...their presentation are just natural...maybe that's why it's so easy to get hooked on the show.
The last factor why I like the show so much is because it is blatantly written by a comic book geek.
Every episode or so, features the lead character Seth Cohen expounding on the virtues of coming book reading or showcasing his geek knowledge in comic book collecting. The fact that one of the storylines in the first season features Seth being chased after by two hot girls in a 'Betty & Veronica'esque fashion (a predicament I'm sure EVERY dateless comic book geek would willingly sacrifice their right 'ball' to be in that position!) just makes it even more entertaining to me.
Thruout the first season, Seth has changed from the unsure, geeky character that he is into a wise-cracking, comic-book-quoting, smart-ass who enjoys the affections of two beautiful girls chasing him. It's realistically done as well cos under Seth's shy, geeky, hermitlike exterior is a charming person who's a cool guy to hang out and crack jokes with.
This being a teen melodrama, the events of course get amped up more than normal and everything that can go wrong happens. Parents get divorced, jilted boyfriend have an affair with the girlfriend's mom, girlfriend falls for disturbed psycho masquerading as good guy, etc. etc.
I know no single person can go thru that much drama in one life but hey, among all the current crop of teen dramas, I'd say The OC is the most well written show with a cast of unbeliavably beautiful actors/tresses, plus a good balance of the unexpected and logic.
So there u have it....my guilty pleasure which I unfortunately, inexplicably, and puzzlingly have fallen in love with and devote my every fiber of being to following the series.
I'm really, really, sad to say this, but I can't wait to get a pirated copy of the First Season DVD Boxed Set of The OC ! Please write to me people if you find any copy of them in an 'upmarket' DVD pirate store courtesy of your friendly-neighbourhood DVD pirate.
;-p
Hey ppl,
Once a week, I'll write a column about my current guilty pleasure that I know logically I shouldn't enjoy, but inexplicably and unfortunately have fallen head over heels in love with, and am an avid devotee of said Pleasure.
So for this week, my guilty pleasure is : The OC
For the uninitiated (i.e. people that have a life and have something better to do on a Sunday night than sitting in front of the idiot box), The OC stands for Orange County and is a teen melodrama series shown on 8TV every Sunday night at 10:45 pm.
It's this millenium's answer to teen melodrama's of yore such as Beveryly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek (shit I feel SO old quoting these two shows....does any of the young readers even know wtf is BH90210 ? ;-p )
Initially, I disliked the show and just stopped seeing it after the pilot episode because it had the same old, same old characters that u can expect in any teen drama i.e.:....
The dumb popular jock (Luke), his trophy girlfriend (Marissa), the nerd/geek (Seth), the popular girl in school (Summer) and the rebel (Ryan).
Well, color me confused when I 'accidentally' saw an episode a few months later and the show has done a complete 180 degress turn. The writer have cleverly started with all the usual teen stereotypes then gradually thru the first season 'deconstructed' all these stereotypes and made each character human.
After all, that's what good storytelling is all about, showing ur characters grow and mature as they overcome adversity and challenges in life (although some shows like the Simpsons where nothing changes are fun in their own twisted way, despite Bart still being 10 yrs old even after the Simpson's 10th year anniversary!).
The OC is chockful of good characterization. People suffer losses, people fall in love, people move on, etc. etc. UNlike shows like Dawson's Creek where they just play 'Musical Sex Chairs' and their idea of a cliffhanger is having one character sleep with another one (ooohhh...that is like SO groundbreaking for a teen drama...please...)
Midway thru the season, all the kids suffer adversity and the group becomes tighter because of it. For example Luke's dad is revealed to be gay; while Marissa tried to kill herself after having drinking problems due to her parents breaking up; then Ryan steals Marissa from the insenstive jock Luke. Both popular kids get ostracized at school and finally the group bonds tighter as they realise at the end of the day, there is no line separating jocks from nerds.
*start RANT*
Shit! I just realise how frivolous and lightweight the plots to this show are as I was typing the examples above. Why the fark am I so devoted to this light entertainment when there are so much more important stuff I can do with my life, like go out and do some community work, etc. etc.? I don't know...maybe it's cos I'm just a weak, malas person or sumthin.....I feel SO guilty for liking this show so much!
*end RANT*
Besides the characterization, the scriptwriting is really, really tight. People talk like normal people do at normal people pace using normal people shortcuts / shorthand when ur talkin to people u are close with. U don't feel as though they're reading scripts...their presentation are just natural...maybe that's why it's so easy to get hooked on the show.
The last factor why I like the show so much is because it is blatantly written by a comic book geek.
Every episode or so, features the lead character Seth Cohen expounding on the virtues of coming book reading or showcasing his geek knowledge in comic book collecting. The fact that one of the storylines in the first season features Seth being chased after by two hot girls in a 'Betty & Veronica'esque fashion (a predicament I'm sure EVERY dateless comic book geek would willingly sacrifice their right 'ball' to be in that position!) just makes it even more entertaining to me.
Thruout the first season, Seth has changed from the unsure, geeky character that he is into a wise-cracking, comic-book-quoting, smart-ass who enjoys the affections of two beautiful girls chasing him. It's realistically done as well cos under Seth's shy, geeky, hermitlike exterior is a charming person who's a cool guy to hang out and crack jokes with.
This being a teen melodrama, the events of course get amped up more than normal and everything that can go wrong happens. Parents get divorced, jilted boyfriend have an affair with the girlfriend's mom, girlfriend falls for disturbed psycho masquerading as good guy, etc. etc.
I know no single person can go thru that much drama in one life but hey, among all the current crop of teen dramas, I'd say The OC is the most well written show with a cast of unbeliavably beautiful actors/tresses, plus a good balance of the unexpected and logic.
So there u have it....my guilty pleasure which I unfortunately, inexplicably, and puzzlingly have fallen in love with and devote my every fiber of being to following the series.
I'm really, really, sad to say this, but I can't wait to get a pirated copy of the First Season DVD Boxed Set of The OC ! Please write to me people if you find any copy of them in an 'upmarket' DVD pirate store courtesy of your friendly-neighbourhood DVD pirate.
;-p
posted by NiK! at
6:28 PM
