Surely you didn’t expect Ryan to stay in Chino after he’d seen Newport Beach? Yes, The O.C. is back, and while we are honor bound not to tell how upwardly mobile Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) resolves his differences with lumpenprole ex Theresa (Navi Rawat) before shambling back to narcissistic Marissa (Mischa Barton), nor where Seth (Adam Brody) wound up in his catamaran; I haven’t any idea why Summer (Rachel Bilson) can’t find a boyfriend who doesn’t read comics; and though I’ve started to worry that Sandy (Peter Gallagher) is a glue-sniff away from hysterical paralysis—none of this matters because all these people wink at us. They’re pretending to be real; we’re pretending to be ironic; but what really frosts everybody’s cake are hot bodies and class hate.

Thursdays, starting November 4
8 To 9 P.M.; Fox.

Related:

• Archive: “Television”
• Articles by John Leonard
• Table of Contents: Nov 8, 2004 issue of New York | Subscribe!