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The O.C. Canceled

Fox has canceled “The O.C.,” a one-time teen pop culture sensation.

Fox Cancels The O.C. - Cast Photo Cast members of the television show 'The O.C.,' from left, Adam Brody, Mischa Barton, Benjamin McKenzie and Rachel Bilson appear as presenters in this Dec. 10, 2003 file photo during the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. The once-hot TV series about wealthy Southern California teenagers has been canceled. The final episode of the drama will air 9 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 22, 2006, Fox TV and Warner Bros. Television Production Inc. said Wednesday, Jan 3. (AP Photo/Joe Cavaretta, File)

“The O.C.,” the once-hot teenage soap opera that saw its ratings plummet like a delinquent student’s grades, has been canceled. The final episode of the drama will air 9 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 22, Fox TV and Warner Bros. Television Production Inc. said Wednesday.

The finale “will deliver real closure to the series, to the story we began telling four years ago,” series creator Josh Schwartz said in a statement. “It will be fun and emotional and I think really satisfying. It is the finale we always planned to do.”

Based in the affluent Orange County, Calif., city of Newport Beach, “The O.C.” caught fire in its first season, 2003-04, as the top-rated drama among advertiser-favored young adults and with a total audience of nearly 10 million.

The show’s story lines revolved around Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie), an outsider thrust into a heady new world of money and sex, and rich high school kids including Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) and Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) and their families.

“The O.C.” didn’t sustain its momentum, dropping to about 7 million weekly viewers during 2004-05 and then to fewer than 6 million last season. This year, returning in November after Fox wrapped its postseason baseball coverage, “The O.C.” has only drawn about 4 million viewers.

My guess is that the 14-year-old girls who were watching the show when it debuted have grown up and not been replaced by others.

 
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