All good things come to an end. For that matter, so do mediocre and completely crappy ones. But we digress. Formerly sizzlin’ night-time soap The O.C. has been canceled and will air its last episode on Fox in February. There are a number of theories as to why the show’s popularity has gradually fallen off during the course of its four seasons (Mischa Barton’s departure, competition from Grey’s Anatomy, etc.), but we think it’s just that they didn’t do enough lesbian make-out scenes.
From the very beginning, one of the coolest things about The O.C. — the thing that distinguished it from other teeny-bopper brain-drains like One Tree Hill — was its devotion to championing new music. Every season, O.C. creator Josh Schwartz and his team of underlings went to great lengths to establish the show as indie-rock’s mainstream liaison, providing exposure to lesser-known bands by scoring the show with underground-ish tunes and having semi-regular musical guests on the show. The Bait Shop became a hipster version of the Peach Pit and featured everyone from Rooney to Death Cab for Cutie to Matt Pond, PA. The show rocketed L.A. baby band Phantom Planet into the mainstream when it had the group perform its song “California” as the theme. Of course, this is not a novel approach — Gilmore Girls, Dawson’s Creek and a host of other shows have been similarly music-centric, but perhaps none have spun their music savvy into a brand quite like The O.C. The serial soundtrack, The O.C. Mix, has become a formidable indie-music franchise in its own right, spotlighting bands like Rogue Wave and LCD Soundsystem, and soliciting cool mainstream artists to do exclusive covers (Lady Sov doing a rendition of Sex Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant” comes to mind).
Since then, blockbuster series from the aforementioned Grey’s Anatomy to Entourage to CSI to Friday Night Lights have followed suit and beefed up their music components.
Ah, the memories. Sadly, there is not always rhyme or reason to the network decisions that result in these cancellations: Perfectly rad shows get axed after one season (remember My So-Called Life?) and schlocky series last way past their due dates (Melrose Place, anyone?). It’s a crap-shoot. Pun intended.
Which TV shows do you think deserve a death sentences? Which deserve to be resurrected?
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except….is there a petition anywhere???
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
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