at 21:07 on January 3, 2007, EST.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "The O.C.," the once-hot teenage soap opera that saw its ratings plummet like a delinquent student's grades, has been cancelled.

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-favoured 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 seven million weekly viewers during 2004-05 and then to fewer than six million last season. This year, returning in November after Fox wrapped its postseason baseball coverage, "The O.C." has only drawn about four million viewers.

The third-season finale's high drama, in which Marissa was killed in a car crash, didn't turn the series around. This year found Ryan confronting the death of his one-time girlfriend and the man who caused it.

Fox ordered 16 episodes for the 2006-07 season and all will have aired when the series concludes in February, a network spokesman said Wednesday.

Others in the show's cast include Peter Gallagher, Kelly Rowan, Melinda Clarke, Rachel Bilson and Autumn Reeser.

Despite its brief heyday, the show helped establish cast members including Brody, Bilson and Barton as fan and tabloid favourites.

A replacement for the series was not immediately announced by Fox.


©The Canadian Press, 2007

Ryan ran out of people to beat up?

After the 2nd season.....I just completely forgot about this show. Any show that kills the lead off is doomed.

it was like fun for one episode. after the "welcome to the oc beyotch"
scene i was like 'ok, nice show. seen enough tho. let's watch boggle'.

FINALLY! Too many people watch this shit at school. Far too many.

I knew it was going after the killed off Marissa. Oh well like someone else said the first two sessions were good but then it went down hill.

Oh well- I still think Adam Brody is hot...yes I know- he is a youngin.....

Oh shit, I forgot. I'm in the demographic. Um- snifflemopewhinelikeomgthegreatestsholikeEVERisgone?




Was that any good?

It was stupid to have it air at the same time as Grays anatomy though.

RIP... never watched that shit anyway

CalhounSq said:

i know. i keep reading about shows being cancelled and im like

"when was this on? what was it about? who was in it? i didn't miss anything did i"

IstenSzek said:

When was it on?????

You NEVER heard of the OC?????

SureThing said:

i live in the netherlands, perhaps that is an excuse, lol
although it is running over here as well.

i just never catch on quick enough with new shows since
they don't advertise them enough over here.

they'll be like two seasons into LOST before i find out it
is even playing on dutch tv. same thing with Carnivale and
some other pretty cool shows.

so i'm kinda still hanging out in late 80's early 90's tv
with me references. you know:




"welcome to the OC, beeyatch"

SureThing said:

I had only heard the name also, I never once watched it. Yes, I live in a cave

IstenSzek said:

Never even heard of it in the 1st place

CW may pick it up.

Hahahahaha! That's awesome!

Never watched it. Oh well.

IstenSzek said:

And then you wonder who all these "stars" are in the magazines all the time. I'm always like, "Who the hell ARE these people anyway? And why are they "style icons" all of the sudden?"

Show sucked, anyway.

YAY!

minneapolisgenius said:

Thank you!! It takes me years to figure out why I'm being bombarded w/ images of these kids - OHHHHH, they're on that show that's gotta be pure shit! Okay

CalhounSq said:

It took me the longest time to figure out what Mischa Barton did besides plug for cute tennis shoes.

meow85 said:

I know.