'The O.C.' Is Making a Comeback — Why Gen Z Can't Get Enough of One of the 2000s' Biggest Teen Shows
In an era filled with low-rise jeans and Freaky Friday sequels, it’s no surprise that Gen Z is getting acquainted with all things Y2K. When we talked to teens about Gen Z’s 2000s nostalgia, there was one 2000s show that seemed to be occupying their minds, and that’s The O.C.
Airing from 2003 until 2007, The O.C. is firmly a millennial teen show, but its relevance and impact have created a new generation of fans.
16-year-old Kaya got into the show when she saw her best friend watching it, but most teens credit social media for their newfound obsession with the California-set show. “I saw it on TikTok,” explains 17-year-old Greta, a member of SheKnows’ Teen Council. “I needed something to watch, so I was like, ‘Why not try it?'”
This is the case for other teens we talked to who found their way to The O.C. through TikTok edits set to music by Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, and more artists whose hits came out long after the show stopped airing.
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Adam Brody, Rachel Bilson, Benjamin McKenzie, Mischa Barton, in ‘The O.C.’
Greg Schwartz / © WB / Courtesy: Everett Collection
A 2021 Business Insider report interviewed teens running TikTok and Instagram fan pages with over 30,000 followers, all committed to posting about The O.C., Dawson’s Creek, and more shows that had their peak before they were born. They gushed about “nostalgia” for an era just out of their grasp and envisioned what their teens would have been like in the early aughts.
For our teens, the show’s allure lies in just how unrelatable it is. The O.C, follows the intertwined lives of the Cohen, Cooper and Nichol families in a wealthy enclave of Newport Beach and made stars out of Mischa Barton, Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody. Like those of us who watch Big Little Lies, The White Lotus and other shows that make drama out of the lives of rich people, teens are drawn to just how separate The O.C. feels from their own lives.
16-year-old Anais says some of today’s teen shows, like Ginny & Georgia or The Summer I Turned Pretty, can feel too forced. “Some parts of them are representing teenagers,” she says. “But I feel like people make fun of how other parents are just totally unrealistic and you can see how an adult was thinking, ‘Oh, this is what teenagers are like.'”
The O.C. is not trying too hard to relate to its teen audience and instead puts a glossy sheen over the anxiety-filled experience of being a teenager. It doesn’t shy away from sensitive storylines, even if that means including some dangerously romanticized storylines like Summer’s substance abuse or Luke’s relationship with Marissa’s mom. And it doesn’t try too hard to moralize its storylines or build in didactic lessons that patronize teens.
Plus, for a generation used to binge-watching 10-episode seasons of shows across a single weekend, there is plenty of The O.C. to sink their teeth into. 92 to be exact. Impossible for a Netflix limited series to compete with, if you ask us.
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