Since this is a FOX series, everybody knows the initials in the title can't stand for Old Codger. But I'll wager a lot of viewers don't automatically think of Orange County, Calif., when they hear The O.C. Why didn't the network call this new prime time soap Newport Beach, 92663 and celebrate its similarity to a famously trashy, zip-coded '90s drama set in Beverly Hills?
Judging from the Aug. 5 premiere, Newport Beach teens are rich, spoiled and into drink, drugs and sex. Fairly hot stuff, but not enough. What's needed to complete the scene is a broodingly handsome boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Enter Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie), a 16-year-old charged with car theft and represented by Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), a public defender who can afford to live in Newport Beach only because his wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), has big bucks. In a burst of altruism (or simple bad judgment), Sandy invites Ryan to stay in the Cohen home for a weekend, during which the supposedly rough-edged but surprisingly clean-cut visitor falls for Marissa (Mischa Barton), the beautiful girl next door, and fights with her brawny boyfriend Luke (Chris Carmack), who displays his lack of character by kicking Ryan when he's down. Clearly it's only Round 1 for these two.
Nothing in the opener is especially fresh or intriguing except the relationship between Ryan and Seth, Sandy's odd-duck son (well played by Adam Brody). Can the tough outsider really be friends with a kid who says "cool" uncoolly? This I want to see.
BOTTOM LINE: Mostly stock soap
Lifetime (Saturdays, 9 p.m. ET)
Zoe Busiek (Joely Fisher) has a whole lot on her plate in the Aug. 2 premiere of this improbable but diverting series. She quits her job as a Las Vegas blackjack dealer and returns to her Chicago-area hometown to raise the three children of her older sister, who was killed in a car crash. As if it weren't hard enough for the single and hitherto irresponsible Zoe to play adult guardian, she's also pounding the pavement in search of a paycheck and probing the fatal auto accident in hopes of convincing the insurance company that her sister wasn't at fault. Impressed by Zoe's Erin Brockovich-style moxie, the company winds up hiring her as a fraud investigator.
Fisher is winning as the spirited protagonist, even though the character's multitasking strains credulity. This is a definite upgrade from her last series role as the mom on Baby Bob.
BOTTOM LINE: Pretty good hand
Lifetime (Saturdays, 10 p.m. ET)
Missing-persons fans who aren't satisfied with summer reruns of CBS's Without a Trace may want to try this series, which follows Wild Card in a new Saturday drama block. But the Aug. 2 pilot is too quick to smooth over the initial conflict between an FBI agent (Gloria Reuben, from ER and The Agency) and the psychic (Caterina Scorsone) she is ordered to team with. By the second episode, Reuben has shed her skepticism and embraced the idea that Scorsone's dreams offer clues in disappearance cases. The agent even tolerates her novice colleague's foolish tendency to put herself in danger. This show needs more tension between the partners, because the mysteries themselves are routine.
BOTTOM LINE: Missable
Sunday, Aug. 3 THE RESTAURANT NBC (10 p.m. ET) The staff grows fed up with boss Rocco.
Monday, Aug. 4 INTIMATE PORTRAIT: ALL GROWN UP Lifetime (7 p.m. ET) Tina Yothers (Family Ties) and Deborah Gibson reflect on child stardom.
Tuesday, Aug. 5 LAST COMIC STANDING NBC (8 p.m. ET) The winning jokester is revealed in the reality show's two-hour finale.
Wednesday, Aug. 6 TEEN CHOICE AWARDS FOX (8 p.m. ET) Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher appear on a special hailing teens' pop-culture favorites.
Thursday, Aug. 7 'ALL THE PRESIDENTS' MOVIES Bravo (7 p.m. ET) The very presidential Martin Sheen narrates a three-hour look at chief executives' tastes in film.
Friday, Aug. 8 DATELINE NBC NBC (8 p.m. ET) Tom Brokaw probes the problem of adult illiteracy.
Saturday, Aug. 9 HOLLYWOOD HOSPITAL Discovery Health (9 p.m. ET) A special examines doctors' TV images, from Star Trek to Scrubs.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
