Coming up on Fox: Newport’s seamy underbelly

Lolita Harper

They went from 90210 to 92663. The network that brought us 10 years

of the ups and downs, heartbreak and jubilations, social triumphs

over injustice -- and defeats -- of a group of over-privileged teens

from Beverly Hills is making a home in our back yard.

Fox Network will launch “The O.C.” this summer -- a titillating

drama that allegedly takes place in Newport Beach.

The show revolves around bad boy Doug Liman, a kid from the “wrong

side of the tracks” who is mercifully taken in by his bleeding-heart

public defender from Newport Beach. (Now, there’s a creative

stretch.)

Sandy Cohen apparently feels that uprooting the poor misguided

youth from a life of crime and poverty and planting him in the land

of trendy Coach handbags and Gucci sunglasses will turn his life

around.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the O.C. in “The O.C.”

stands for Orange County, described on the show’s Web site as “an

idyllic paradise -- a harbor-front community where everything and

everyone appears to be perfect.”

Check out this next line:

“But underneath the surface is a world of shifting loyalties and

identities, of kids living secret lives, hidden from their parents,

and of parents living secret lives, hidden from their children.”

Aside from being a horrific sentence, it paints an interesting

picture of Newport Beach. Considering the most recent TV coverage the

city has received was in response to the Nichol’s comment about

Mexicans, I am left to wonder if this is the reputation this city

needs.

The show’s director, McG, acclaimed music video and “Charlie’s

Angels Full Throttle” director, is from Newport Beach, so I am

assuming it’s at least partially based on truth. Joseph McGinty (McG)

graduated from Corona del Mar High School before going onto small-

and big-screen success.

A quick trip to the Fox Network Web site reveals some hilarious

comments from screen names such as “949forlife” and “Surfcitybaby.”

Opinions run the gamut. Some people are afraid the show will poorly

portray Orange County kids. Others are glad the world will finally

wake up to the crazy lives Newport Beach people allegedly live.

“Megera114,” a longtime Newport resident, said the show will

probably portray at least a faction of the community to a T.

“Everyone I know that lives there needs a big reality check, but

they won’t get it. I think it will be great to see exactly how life

really is in Newport portrayed on TV. Fabulous,” Megera114 wrote on a

chat site.

I don’t know if it’s just the people I hang around with, or what,

but I have to say, I have also heard some wild stories from my

friends about their high school years. I have run into at least a

handful of people from Newport Beach who were arrested either for

possessing drugs or driving under the influence. Luckily for them,

money can buy you a good lawyer, and a good lawyer can get you

probation.

Most of them learned their lesson and wised up. Thankfully, they

escaped the stigma that felony convictions bring their less fortunate

brethren. If they had been in East Los Angeles, they would have

served time, been marked with that conviction, never gotten a good

job and very probably returned to a life of crime. But I digress.

Orange County does offer an environment that can’t be found

anywhere else. While my L.A. friends love me dearly, they refuse to

come “party” with me down here. It’s just not their scene.

And while I never went to school in Newport Beach, too many 12-

and 13-year-old kids at my middle school in Irvine were doing drugs,

having sex and ditching school.

I remember being offered tabs of acid to take during the Harvest

Festival because “you get a really good trip from all those lights.”

(Thank God I had sports.) I remember one of my classmates getting his

stomach pumped because he drank too much beer and smoked too much

weed at the pool just behind our middle school campus.

I know at least four girls who went to rehab their freshman year.

I remember my friend Laura telling me to try speed because I could

easily lose five pounds in one weekend.

A very tempting offer since most of us girls were extremely body

conscious. (Again, I am so grateful for sports.)

Things got 10 times worse in high school for those who had too

much money to play with and not enough constructive activities. (It

didn’t help that somebody’s parents were out of town every weekend.)

In some cases, sports, dance and music classes were still not enough

to keep people away from certain vices that seem to permeate affluent

communities.

“Kids doing drugs with their parents, people having sex at the age

of 13, people paying off the cops, most kids getting brand new cars

before they are old enough to drive, parents cheating with other

parents, kids having sex with their teachers ... , 949forlife wrote

on the Website. “Whether you want to believe it or not, this is what

is going on in O.C. this very minute. So any of you O.C. elites

trying to deny it need to open your eyes to the things around you.

Newport Beach is the perfect location for this show ... even though I

should have chosen Irvine.”

Sounds like 949 and I went to the same high school.

I suspect it was a smaller portion of the population doing these

things than I had imagined because every time I talk about what went

on in my town during my teen years, people look at me as if I have a

third eye. It makes me feel better knowing not every one was that

messed up.

It also trips me out to think that some parents were so blind to

all of this, or at least, put their blinders on.

It will be interesting what kind of twist “The O.C.” puts on these

issues and what kind of reaction the community has about the show. Of

course, we are talking Hollywood, so it is fair to expect a good

amount of dramatization and exaggeration.

Oh, and by the way, don’t expect to see any familiar hangouts in

the background. The show is being shot in Malibu. So much for

authenticity.

* LOLITA HARPER writes columns Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and

covers culture and the arts. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or

by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.