Farewell to 'The O.C.'

My daughter lied to Josh Schwartz.

Yes, 15-year-old Hillary was untruthful with the creator/executive producer of "The O.C."

At a recent Fox event in Pasadena, Calif., I was interviewing Schwartz about his series and its upcoming finale (tonight at 8 on Ch. 13), and he spoke about how grateful he is to the show's fans.

"It was amazing to be a part of a show that, for a while, really spoke to its audience," Schwartz said. "We had such devoted and passionate fans. To feel like you have that kind of connection with your audience was unbelievably gratifying."

I asked Hillary, one of those devoted and passionate fans, how many times she has watched seasons of "The O.C." on DVD.

"The first one, I've probably watched five times all the way through," she said, much to my consternation.

"Wow," Schwartz said. "That's amazing. I would much rather work on a show that didn't necessarily run forever but was that impactful to its audience for the time that it was on. That's really satisfying and that's why do you it."

After I wrapped up the interview, Hillary whispered to me, "I lied to him. ... I've really watched the first season, like, seven times."

"Why didn't you say that?" I asked.

"Because I didn't want to sound obsessed and weird," Hillary replied.

Oh ... because five times isn't obsessed and weird.

My lousy parenting skills aside, "The O.C." did speak to a generation. It did become a major pop-culture vehicle.

It did add the holiday Chrismukkah to the calendar, after all.

"The O.C." wasn't the first Fox prime-time serial about teenagers and their parents, but it was the first one that was so self-aware — even self-mocking at times.

Not only was it genuinely funny — intentionally — but it wasn't just about the teens. The older generation was as integral to the plots as their offspring.

"What we were able to do so successfully in the first couple of seasons was to marry a lot of crazy scandal and incident with characters that always felt relatable and dynamics that always felt relatable," said Schwartz, who hit it on the head when he added that the stories were told "with a fair amount of humor as well as heart."

And there was a certain freshness that came from the fact that "The O.C." was pretty much Schwartz's first real job. Certainly his first long-term job.

"When it started, I had never worked on a TV show before. I was 26. And I was completely unprepared for any and all of it," he said. "I learned a lot. You learn from your mistakes, certainly. And I definitely made a few."

He also corrected them, however. Season 3 of "The O.C." wasn't up to his standards, either.