The OC cast and crew have some regrets

[buckyno]

For Mischa Barton, filming ‘The O.C.’ became extremely taxing as the show soared in popularity.

“There were years when I only had six days off in the whole year,” she says. “It was exhausting.”

Read more: https://t.co/KZhDZxF24a pic.twitter.com/soLnkB6Rwx
- VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) November 15, 2023
Excerpt from a new oral history of The OC published

Comments

[nutella_forever]

I just read it all, thanks OP, it was an interesting read

The fact that they made their choice of killing Marissa based on comments on internet forums and Television Without Pity's recaps... and then found out after her death that there was a whole other portion of not online vocal viewers that liked her character and were all "shockedpikachuface"...

[frelling_tralk]

I never understood why they took something as niche as TWoP so seriously in the first place, because the posters on that site absolutely hated Marissa right from the very beginning, but I vaguely remember Adam Brody and Misha being the breakout stars of the show during the first season and winning teen choice awards, so you’d think it might have occurred to them that Marissa was very popular with the teen audience

[ahkna]

Aaron Sorkin has literally never recovered from going to the TWOP boards.

[ohhhophelia]

I'd love to read him talking about the site.

[rabbitofalice]

Most of the cast and crew now think it was a mistake to kill off Marissa and that the show never recovered
i know it's unpopular opinion here, but i agree
i didn't even finish season 4 because it felt like a different show, and i wasn't interested in the Taylor/Ryan pairing after watching three seasons with Ryan and Marissa. It wasn't the original fourth, so i didn't care anymore.
They should have let Marissa breath for a moment and live a life like a normal person, drama-free, girl couldn't catch a breath through the whole show

[ialmrnt5]

i never watched the show through, but i saw the first and some of the second season multiple times and its so stylish and beautiful, i see how it spawned the real housewives and laguna beach, there was a definite before the oc / after the oc in tv

[fernandocolunga]

Wait wasn’t she killed off because she wanted to leave the show?

[frelling_tralk]

The younger cast were reportedly fed up with the show and behaving badly because they wanted to do movies instead, but they were all under contract and had no other option, the story at the time was that Josh Schwartz did eventually decide to write her off because of all the behind the scenes difficulties with her. Later on he admitted that spending too much time on the Television Without Pity boards led him to assume that it wouldn’t have a big impact on the show/Marissa wasn’t all that popular, and in retrospect he realised that it was a stupid decision and that TWoP never represented the general audience

What I did always heard Misha say though was that she was given the option of either having Marissa leave with Jimmy for a happier ending, or Marissa could be killed off, and she choose Marissa being killed off as the more dramatic option, so I’m a bit surprised that she’s now talking about being sad that her character was killed as if that wasn’t her decision

[pi_lady]

Maybe she felt it was the right decision for the character but still felt sad to see a character she played for three years killed off?

We also don't know if there wasn't pressure from the higher ups to make it more dramatic. Let's not forget she was only 19/20 during the third season and clearly overwhelmed with the show's success and lack of support.

[vibeology_e]

Show runners actually spending time on the TWOP boards will always be hilarious to me. Aaron Sorkin’s time there was iconic and his thin skinned response on The West Wing brings me so much joy.

[sibylblack]

should have instead hooked Marissa up with Seth

Yeah cause that's such a great idea... wtf