The O.C

Ryan Atwood enters a wealthy Newport Beach household from a very different background in The O.C. The change gives him opportunities, but it also makes him an outsider in a social world with its own expectations and insecurities.

Ben McKenzie supplies the reserve that contrasts with Adam Brody's talkative Seth Cohen. Their friendship is a large part of the appeal, giving the series humour between the romances and family disputes. Peter Gallagher helps make the adult household something more substantial than a place for the younger characters to argue.

This is a glossy teen drama, with the heightened complications that description implies. Its charm depends on spending time with the ensemble rather than expecting every crisis to be proportionate. The mixture of awkward friendship, privilege and domestic trouble gives the early premise plenty to work with.