History Series / TheOC

** Ryan has a thing for girls with complicated family/love relationships (Marissa is in a DysfunctionalFamily, Theresa becomes pregnant with a physically abusive guy, Lindsay is the illegitimate daughter of Caleb and Taylor lives with an abusive mom ). Only Sadie averts this being a ordinary girl. Kirsten lampshades the contrast saying Ryan haves [[ChronicHeroSyndrome a "Saving the girl" attitude.]]
** Julie targets almost only rich and wealthy men (Jimmy, Caleb, Dr Roberts and Bullit)

-->-- '''Phantom Planet''', "California", '''''The O.C.''''' theme song.

*** Casey is one to Summer being the first (and only) girl who helped Marissa during her first day and having a protective nature. She often mocks of the group's CoolLoser (like Summer with Seth). However she dating with the more popular guy but she cheated on him while Summer is with the CoolLoser and never cheated on Seth.

* CoolLoser: Seth & Ryan. Eventually every character in the main cast.

* ForWantOfANail:
** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Seth in the season one finale - Seth points out that if Marissa hadn't been suckered in by Oliver, then Ryan & Marissa would have still been together when Theresa turned up in Newport & that subsequently Ryan wouldn't have slept with her, so there would be no debate over who the father of her unborn child would be, and subsequently Ryan wouldn't be about to leave Newport.
*** In fact, the majority of the second season would have played out very differently if not for Oliver - for example, if Ryan didn't leave Newport then Seth wouldn't have run away to Portland, and Summer wouldn't have broken up with him because of it & started dating Zack, who wouldn't have befriended Seth after his return to Newport, which would mean that they wouldn't have created the ''Atomic County'' comic book together.
** [[spoiler:Marissa dies in a car accident at the end of season 3]]. In "The Chrismukk-huh?" the following season, [[spoiler:it's revealed that if Ryan hadn't arrived in Newport, Marissa would have died of the overdose she suffered in season one]]. Taylor tells Ryan [[spoiler:that he shouldn't be disheartened by this, as he gave Marissa 3 more years than she would've had otherwise]].

* TeensAreShort: Hilariously inverted with the girls. While Summer (5'1") and Anna (5'4") are both pretty short, the ones actually played by teens Marissa and Kaitlin are 5'8" and 5'7" respectively.

Not to be confused with an abbreviation for OriginalCharacter.

Ryan is thrust into the glamorous world of Orange County, and into the lives of the Cohens and their neighbors. There's [[DefrostingIceQueen Kirsten Cohen]], Sandy's kind, but slightly guarded wife; nerdy and isolated [[DeadpanSnarker Seth Cohen]], their son; [[FallenPrincess Marissa Cooper]], their beautiful but troubled neighbor; [[MagnificentBitch Julie Cooper]], Marissa's scheming mother; and [[LovableAlphaBitch Summer Roberts]], Marissa's best friend. Ryan's first meeting with Marissa sets off sparks--too bad she's dating a JerkJock. Seth has loved Summer for years--too bad she doesn't know he exists.

* CelebrityParadox: Seth makes a reference to the vomiting little girl from TheSixthSense... who was played by Creator/MischaBarton, also known as Marissa.
** In "The Secret", Luke was mocked for his father's homosexuality by his classmates, saying that his father's favorite shows were "[[Series/DawsonsCreek Dawson's Crack]]" and "[[{{Series/Everwood}} Everwoody]]". 3 seasons later, the actor who played a main character in Everwood (Creator/ChrisPratt) shows up as Summer's new friend at Brown, Che.

* {{Date Rape}}: In Season 3, while Marissa is at a party, she saves her bully, Heather from this.

-->'''Kirsten''': The ice queen was surrounded by an impenetrable force field and her silver cell phone was her only link to the outside world.

* FiveStagesOfGrief: Summer goes through these after [[spoiler:Marissa's death]]. She goes through Anger twice. The therapist is amazed [[{{LampshadeHanging}} she got through it all in a week]]. She then drops some of her GranolaGirl act, though she keeps part of the activism.

** If you think about it, almost everyone in this show could be considered a {{Jerk With A Heart Of Gold}} at one point in the series.

* LongLostUncleAesop: The Nana. She even [[{{LampshadeHanging}} lampshades]] this in complaining her family never writes, calls or visits.

* RedOniBlueOni: DefrostingIceQueen Kirsten is the blue oni to DramaQueen Julie. Also LightFeminineandDarkFeminine (guess which one is [[MrsRobinson Julie]]).

** Marissa calls Summer as [[Series/VeronicaMars Veronica Mars]] in an episode of Season 3. The show's theme song is played in season 1 episode "The Secret".

* SimilarSquad: Johnny and the public high school gang Marissa starts hanging out with once she's forced to change schools are supposed to be counterparts to Ryan, Seth, and Summer. Lampshaded when Ryan refers to Chilli as Bizarro Seth, which is also a Franchise/{{Superman}} ShoutOut.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: It's arguable whether Seth started as one or TookALevelInJerkass. The trope is {{downplayed}}, though, as he's still a genuinely good person despite being a bit selfish and petty, thigs that get better through CharacterDevelopment.

* NewYearsKiss: In the season one episode "The Countdown," after Ryan's awkward response to Marissa telling him she loves him, Marissa goes to a New Year's party alone. During the countdown to 2004, Ryan rushes through the crowd to find her, and they share a kiss as soon as the new year begins.