10 top shows that jumped the shark (and when they did it)
By Sundi Rose
The O.C.: Marissa dies in Ryan’s arms
The O.C wasn’t afraid to really lean into eye-roll worthy storylines. From lesbian love affairs, to drug addictions, to long lost siblings, the show knew what it was and wasn’t afraid to flaunt it. As much as Mischa Barton’s character, Marissa, was the most popular part of the show, her death marked a dark turn for the series.
The O.C. was only with us for four short seasons, with Marissa carrying the first season on her waif-like shoulders. As season 3 debuted, it never could quite recapture the glory of those early days, and the character’s nonsense started to closely mirror the actress’ behavior in real life. Marissa drank, she slept around, and she certainly bucked all authority, but as things began to intensify in Barton’s life, writers couldn’t keep up.
They quickly solved this problem by having Marissa die in a fiery car crash, flames exploding all around her, and then ultimately having Ryan sniffle over her lifeless body. The show scrambled to fill the Mischa Barton-sized hole in the show, and fans felt the desperation. Soon, they would migrate to another teen melodrama, One Tree Hill, where they didn’t have to read about its stars getting DUIs and psychiatric evaluations.
Even though the writers tried to recapture the first season’s magic, they could never recover from Marissa’s death, and the stories continued to feel low-stakes and irrelevant.