The O.C. turns 15: Does the pilot still hold up?

Entertainment Weekly

The famous line "Welcome to the O.C., bitch!" was uttered on The O.C. pilot on Aug. 5, 2003. "I guess you have to say The O.C. series premiere has 'aged,'" says Darren Franich. "The bad dude wears puka shells, they all did back then. The good dudes bond over PS2, yes this was young male friendship. Melinda Clarke’s Julie Cooper, one of the greatest characters in TV history, has a standout moment in the doorway rocking a pink. Velour. TRACKSUIT. Rouge hair, rouge lips, outfit teasingly skintone-ish in the evening light. If there ever was a Juicy Couture Era, this was its Megazord moment, Aug. 5, 2003 — 15 years ago." Yet, he adds, "there’s something ageless in the O.C. pilot’s fairy tale: Wake up one morning, in the poolhouse that is your new home. Ryan’s arrival at Casa Cohen is like Dorothy in Oz, the world literally more colorful. In memory, The O.C. becomes a paragon of conspicuous coastal excess. Creator Josh Schwartz was always more clever than that."

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