"The O.C"'s Gay Legacy

Of course, the fact that shows such as Dawson's Creek had already broken new ground and reduced the shock value of having a gay character were part of what allowed The O.C. to be more casual about the subject. And Dawson's could arguably be called superior in terms of gay visibility because it did have a main character who was consistently gay, which The O.C. did not.

But what The O.C. lacked in depth in its treatment of gay characters, it made up for in breadth, particularly when compared to shows such as the WB teen drama One Tree Hill or the Australian soap Neighbours. Both shows brought in significant queer characters at the same time that The O.C. was airing, but those characters only appeared for a limited time in very specific "gay" story lines.

Moreover, those characters were quickly written out, and both shows went back to being a place where everyone was heterosexual. In a way, this only reinforced the idea of homosexuality as something foreign and exotic. In contrast, The O.C., with its frequent and casual, if superficial, references to gay themes in Seasons 2 and 3 helped to show homosexuality as something that is simply part of the landscape.

The Final Season Brings Gay Closure

In Season 4, the show's last, the use of queer men as minor characters really took off, pushing the envelope as to the amount of gay affection that could be shown on a teen drama. In Episode 6 of the fourth season, female character Taylor (Autumn Reeser) "hires a homosexual," Roger, to pretend to be her boyfriend in order to convince Ryan she's not into him.

Meanwhile, Marissa's younger sister, Kaitlin (Willa Holland), discovers that Connor, a popular boy at her school, is gay. When Ryan finds Roger and Connor in bed together at Kaitlin's party, his only concern is that Roger is not cheating on or lying to Taylor. Once assured that he is not, he leaves the two boys to get on with it. Later, they are seen at the party openly arm-in-arm.

An intriguing story line in episodes 11 and 12 dealt with Summer's hippieish male friend from college, Che. Though there had been no indication up till then that he was gay, in Episode 11, he has a dream that convinces him that Seth is his soul mate. As a result, he stares at a picture of him and begins tentatively putting the moves on him. Later, in Episode 12, he realizes that his dream wasn't about Seth at all, but about a girl. Although the scenario is played for laughs in some ways, it is notable how relaxed Che is about the idea that his soul mate might be a man.

The show's finale actually featured a gay male couple, Todd and Patrick, as a prominent part of the plot. The Cohen family has finally had enough of Orange County and wants to move back to their old home in Berkeley, Calif, a house that Todd and Patrick now own. When Seth (who is tall and dark) and Ryan (who is shorter and blond) turn up at the house hoping to persuade the owners to sell, the door is answered by Patrick (tall and dark) and Todd (shorter and blond).

In a show so rife with meta references, it seems unlikely that the introduction of a Seth-and-Ryan look-alike gay couple was an accident. For those viewers who were hoping for an ending where Seth and Ryan finally come out and get together, it's a last nod, a bit of closure to the subtext between them. As is Todd's insistence to Seth and Ryan: "You're an adorable couple, but this house isn't for sale."

As it turns out, though, the Cohens and their circle are not so easily got rid of. Through a series of plot twists, Kirsten Cohen (Seth's pregnant mother) winds up giving birth in Todd and Patrick's house. Then Julie Cooper (Marissa's mother) turns up determined to have the latest of her many weddings in their backyard. Since Patrick is a midwife and Todd turns out to be a wedding planner, the two men are automatically drawn in to help with these proceedings.

There is a certain whiff of Queer Eye — of fairy godfathers who live to serve the straights in all of this — which only increases when Patrick finally tells the Cohens that he and Todd have decided to sell the house back to them: "You had a baby here, you had a wedding. … This is your house. We're just living in it." Since childbirth and legal weddings are two things unavailable to a gay male couple, this could be read as a faint suggestion that Todd and Patrick are somehow less of a family, their claim to a home less important, than the Cohens.

Since the demands of the plot would mean that any people living in the Cohens' old house would have to move out, though, it seems unfair on the whole to complain that the story line is homophobic. There is an amusing sense throughout the episode of Todd and Patrick playing straight men to the Cohens' craziness and inappropriateness, as Kirsten first asks to use their toilet and then starts giving birth on their carpet, while Julie turns up with a huge wedding party in tow. The two men exchange looks as Julie's wedding is interrupted by a speakerphone call from her ex-lover, and in one scene, Todd walks in on Taylor and Ryan making out on one of his beds. "OK," he says and then turns to go. "What is it with you people?"

In addition to their resemblance to Ryan and Seth, Todd and Patrick bear a resemblance to Kirsten (blond) and Sandy Cohen (dark), who from the beginning have been presented as a committed, loving, married couple. It is very noticeable in one scene, when Todd raises his hand, that he has a wedding ring on.

In his recent interview with AfterElton.com, producer Greg Berlanti talked about a shift in the television landscape caused by a new generation of younger executives with more liberal attitudes. Josh Schwartz was the youngest executive producer in network TV history when The O.C. premiered, and he helped to move the teen drama past the earnest Dawson's Creek-era treatment of gay sexuality to a point where being gay simply wasn't a big deal.

This relaxed, "anything goes" attitude sometimes had its negative side effects. The handling of Marissa's bisexuality could be described as a bit too throwaway and casual. But it also meant that queer teens got to tune into a mainstream show that consistently and matter-of-factly acknowledged the existence of queer sexuality, whether it was through significant gay characters, passing references, camp surrealism or the sustained and jokey use of gay subtext between the male leads. Not too bad for a show that aired on the Fox network.