LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The OC, the once-hot teenage soap opera that saw its ratings plummet like a delinquent student's grades, has been canceled. The final episode of the drama will air 9 p.m. ET 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 OC caught fire in its first season, 2003-04, as the top-rated drama among advertiser-favored 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 OC didn't sustain its momentum, dropping to about 7 million weekly viewers during 2004-05 and then to fewer than 6 million last season. This year, returning in November after Fox wrapped its postseason baseball coverage, The OC has only drawn about 4 million viewers.

 

Observers have pointed to a variety of possible reasons for the slump, including inconsistent quality, the fickleness of younger viewers and a time-slot change.

 

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 favorites.

 

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

 

The show got massively stale this season and i just can't identify with Seth and Summer anymore....

never liked that show anyways

No real surprise...I'm actually kind of surprised they stuck with it this year

that was just a teenage soap opera to me of what bits and parts i've seen of several of the early shows.

 

also, alot of the students at school thought the oc was really like it was depicted on tv, and i told them no, because i was one of the only people that they knew that have lived in socal. i still don't get the show...

This may actually be the best season of the show yet, but the ratings will never be good in that 9pm Thursday timeslot. Grey's took a lot of their audience (I watch both shows, either online or on the DVR). I'm guessing the actors want to move on as well.

Really??? There's too many odd twists and turns this season....Summer as an activist?? Marissa's sister becoming a slut and the gay scene???

Ya I actually like this season, to be honest. Without Mischa Barton, I think the show is 'better'. It helps that they brought in Hercules as Ryan's dad.

Taylor is rapidly moving up the list of hottest girls on the show....I even think Marissa's slut sister is hot too.

Taylor is rapidly moving up the list of hottest girls on the show....I even think Marissa's slut sister is hot too.

she's about 15, perv.

Really??? There's too many odd twists and turns this season....Summer as an activist?? Marissa's sister becoming a slut and the gay scene???

 

 

The 15 year old girl had a gay scene?