Is 'The OC' jumping the shark?

Welcome to Orange County, Calif., home of desperate housewives, girls gone wild and the dudes who inspire constant insanity.

A teen soap opera about rich, spoiled kids with problems in SoCal? We haven't seen that since that time we never watched 90210. Some people didn't like it until they got hooked like a trout and watched 17 episodes on their computers in one weekend last year. You know, there are some things people just shouldn't share.

Like an adolescent noticing 'big boy' hair, 'The OC' has undergone major changes in the past year. Within the first season, punches were thrown, money was blown and seeds were sown - sexually. Now, matured and self-assured, the scriptwriters have moved onto the more subdued topics of female bisexuality, and we honestly can't think of anything else.

The viewing public, apparently and oddly, has not fallen for ratings stunts like Marissa (Mischa Barton) and Alex's (Olivia Wilde) always impending make-out session. The numbers are as down as your emo friend on Valentine's Day.

There are several reasons for this decline, including the scheduling change from Wednesday to Thursday evenings. It used to be a scoring show on a boring night. Now it's the other way around, like Marissa's former heterosexuality.

That's not to say the first season wasn't full of dumb plot-lines and the blatant use of sex appeal. It's just that now we expect someone to die and come back as an evil twin brother. The show has gotten too spread-out and is quickly evolving into one of those 'believable soaps.' You know, the type that has bitchy Vanessa killing Eduardo's sexy wife for the insurance money. As much as these programs are exactly like your life, in that they both have people in them, your day-to-day existence is nothing like theirs. At all.

Maybe that is why bored women confined to their homes all afternoon watch such nonsense. But college-aged students have better things to do on Thursday nights. Why watch televised pseudo-debauchery when you can go out on the first night of the weekend and get the real thing?

Our advice to any and all FOX executives: The show does not need to get any more ridiculous to garner viewers, but bringing it back to its original night would probably be beneficial.

Sorry kids, but your antics have become too predictable to keep our attention. But wait, we're college students. We have short attention spans anyway.

See you on Thursday.