'O.C.' is more than just OK

OK, so I was wrong about "The O.C." And I couldn't be happier about it.

Back when the show premiered in August, I was less than enthused about it. I didn't exactly condemn, but, perhaps, damned it with faint praise.

"Not that 'The O.C.' is a bad show. It actually shows some promise of being a decent drama that will appeal to Fox's young-skewing audience," I wrote.

What I didn't expect was that it would appeal to a wider audience — including yours truly, for whom this has become appointment TV.

Not because it's great drama. "The O.C." (Wednesdays, 8 p.m., Fox/Ch. 13) is essentially a prime-time soap.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. "Dallas" and "Dynasty" were very entertaining in their day. And "The O.C." is very entertaining today because, unlike so many other attempts to bring soap back to prime time — including Fox's short-lived "Skin" — this show has a sense of humor. As a matter of fact, it's darn funny. And it's supposed to be. We're laughing with it, not at it.

(Admission No. 2: Based on the two pilots, I thought "Skin" had more potential than "The O.C.")

While the central characters are bad boy/outsider Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie), who's adopted into Newport Beach society by the wealthy Cohen family, and local princess Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), my personal favorite is Seth Cohen (Adam Brody), Ryan's new brother — the local geek who's coming into his own. How can you not love that Seth is now the object of not one, but two, girls' affections (and last week's episode that had him trying awkwardly to juggle the two)?

And this is not just a teen soap. Unlike "90210," the adults in "The O.C." have as much to do as the kids.

Oh, the plots are pure melodrama. There's been fraud and fooling around and jealousy and corporate greed versus environmentalist idealism.

But it's fun, fun, fun!

Marissa "outing" her mother, Julie's (Melinda Clarke) relationship with evil developer Caleb (Allen Dale) — who is now Ryan's grandfather-by-adoption — was the sort of deliciously cheesy fun we haven't seen since the heyday of "Dynasty." And Julie is the best prime-time soap villainess since Joan Collins' Alexis Carrington Colby.

And it's funny, funny, funny!

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com