The O.C.

Part 1 / 2 / 3 BTV: When did you know you were going to do 16 episodes this year, instead of a full season? Did that effect how any of the story lines were going to play out this year? JS: Well, we had gone in and pitched our pretty radical take on what we wanted to do at the end of season three, and everybody seemed pretty excited about that. That's how we went ahead and executed that. It wasn't until after we were done that we found out that it would be 16 episodes. However, I can tell you after doing an enormous amount of episodes every year (27 our first year, 25 last year) the idea of doing 16 episodes had its advantages. We felt like we could really dig in and focus and make every episode great, or at least try. BTV: There's been a lot of talk about this being the last season of The OC. How do you feel about that? Would you like to do a fifth? JS: You know, I'm open to anything. If this is the last season, I'm incredibly proud that we could have a final season that was one of our best seasons creatively, if not our best. And, if there's an opportunity to continue telling the story, I'll examine that, but I certainly don't want to make a decision to keep the show on just to keep it on; I want to do what's best for the show. I'm incredibly proud of this year and want to make sure that if there was an opportunity to go forward, it would only be because we felt that we could continue to do it at the level of quality that we've been doing it this year. BTV: Is that tough, with your future up in the air, when you're mapping out the stories for the season? Do you have any alternate routes for the last couple episodes, depending upon whether you get picked up for another season? JS: I think we're pretty locked in to what we're going to do for the end of the year, and if the opportunity comes up that makes us rethink what we've done or double back, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But right now, it's about what will be best for the episodes this year. BTV: What made you decide to push Taylor and Ryan together this year? JS: That was something that a lot of the writers really felt passionate about and Taylor was a real bright spot last year. She was somebody that everybody really gravitated towards and writing for Autumn Reeser, as well, was really joyful. The idea that Ryan was in a really dark place, probably in a darker place than we've ever seen him was coming into this season, and who is the character that was best suited to bring him into the light. You know, when we started down the road, we definitely left the door open that if it was just too weird and too out there to put these two characters together, we could get out of it fairly quickly. But, once we got the first couple dailies in of these two actors playing off each other and these two characters interacting, we knew we had something that was really special. BTV: Taylor Townsend started off as a relatively minor character last season. Was it similar to Rachel Bilson in season 1, in that you felt like she was such a great character that you decided to give her a bigger role? JS: That's exactly right. That's a perfect example, actually. Rachel Bilson, I think, had three lines in the pilot, one of them which was, "I gotta pee." So, to be able to watch her grow, and the more we gave her, the more she was able to deliver, and it really organically grew. That's one of the real pleasures of working in TV: being able to watch characters evolve and actors really come into their own. And with Autumn, the more we gave her, the more we loved her. And the more we were able to add depth and humanity to her character, until this point where she can become a real legitimate romantic lead. BTV: Can you give us a sneak peak at what's coming after the holiday break? JS: After the holiday break? What can I tell you...wedding bells for an unlikely couple...Taylor's past comes back to haunt her in French. You may get an opportunity to meet Taylor's French ex-husband. Caitlin will have a relationship with a band geek at Harbor played by Chris Brown. I don't know, is that enough? I don't want to give too much. BTV: That's more than enough! Thanks a lot! Part 1 / 2 / 3 This interview is the seventh in a series of BuddyTV interviews with the creators, writers, and producers behind many of TV's hit shows. Thus far, we've featured an interview with Alfred Gough (creator of Smallville), an interview with John Shiban (executive producer of Supernatural), an interview with Mark Schwahn (creator of One Tree Hill) an interview with Hank Steinberg (creator of The Nine), an interview with David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik (the creators of The Class), and an interview with David S. Rosenthal (new Head Writer/Executive Producer of Gilmore Girls).