It took nearly a year but they finally messed up The O.C. (Fox, CTV, 8 p.m.).
Around this time last year The O.C. was the freshest show on television. On the surface it seemed just another teen soap, albeit one with an intriguing setup -- problematic trailer-park teen dropped among wealthy Orange County, Calif., swells -- but with a difference: The O.C. had style.
And for a while there, The O.C. had the buzz. TV welcomed a new boy-hunk in Benjamin Mackenzie, who played the brooding Ryan, and a new reed-thin teen role model in Mischa Barton, as his affected lady true Marissa. Hands down the best-looking teen TV couple since Beverly Hills 90210's Dylan and Brenda. All the teen co-stars on The O.C. were attractive and capable, and even the parents were pretty cool.
Something went horribly wrong during this sophomore season of The O.C. It seemed as though the show was being written and produced by different people.
When the second season of The O.C. started, the kids had morphed from randy teens into the young and the aimless. The show's hot couple had split, seemingly for good. Ryan was suddenly a soul-searching wussy, a rebel without a clue; Marissa became a slattern and somehow more confused than usual. She even kissed a girl.
The O.C.'s other eminent teen couple, Seth (Adam Brody) and Summer (Rachel Bilson), were likewise disengaged, which further drained the show's raging-hormones quotient. The parents now seemed shrill and self-absorbed. Viewers who had taped every episode the first season slowly began to turn off each week.
However, as with 90210, it's possible for a show like The O.C. to run for years and years, simply on teen fashions and recycled storylines. The Fox Network will always make room on their schedule for a teen-themed soap. Where else to put those Old Navy ads? It only sweetens the deal when the show can occasionally be deployed as a marketing tool by the network mother ship.
Gangway for convergence on the Fox Network: Tonight's outing of The O.C. will feature a guest spot by Star Wars majordomo George Lucas, whose appearance comes a week before the arrival of the next movie in the franchise.
In the feeble story setup, Lucas plays himself, naturally: A billionaire movie producer who out of the blue expresses creative interest in nerdy Seth's graphic novel, Atomic County. They "take a meeting." Hey, it could happen.
The O.C. and the Star Wars film franchise are part of the same corporate family and media behemoth, so this type of cross-promotion was inevitable. Fox has already been running extended teasers for the new movie for the past two months. It's unfortunate to see a show like The O.C. fall prey to such shameless synergy, but we're probably lucky they didn't have Yoda riding a surfboard.
Elsewhere this evening: If you've invested any time this season in The Simple Life (Fox, 9 p.m.), you might as well see how it finishes. And since the show airs on Fox, there will be more commercials for the Star Wars movie.
Two new episodes of the strained reality series air tonight, with television's premier party gals in typically fine fettle. In the first, Paris and Nicole take jobs as wedding planners in Nashville. They sleep in on their first day, thereby completely ruining a young woman's wedding day.
In the second show, Paris enters a small-town beauty pageant, whereupon her preening and slinky ways immediately cause all the other contestants to hate her. Oh, Paris, will you ever change?
Also grinding to a close: The Apprentice (NBC, Global, 9 p.m.), which airs the first half of its season finale this evening.
Fortuitously, The Apprentice doesn't become interesting until the last few shows, and it doesn't matter one little bit if you've missed the preceding four months of bungled challenges and boardroom backstabbing. At this stage, it's a showdown between two contestants vying for that sweet gig in Donald Trump's business empire. From now on it's all raw nerves and dashed dreams -- key ingredients for terrific television.
The third Apprentice edition maintained the original template, with one deviation: The competing teams were divided into Book Smarts (people who went to college) and Street Smarts (people who hit the ground running after high school, or earlier). It's just The Donald's way of bringing people together.
Now there are two. The last players standing are two blond white women, Kendra and Tana. They appeared fast friends in last week's show, all giddy and giggly and toasting each other with imported champagne, but that should change once they wade into their respective final challenges.
And the bar is set high for this Apprentice finale: Book Smarts survivor Kendra has been put in complete charge of an annual video-game tournament, which means wrangling a huge hall and display floor teeming with thousands of gamer geeks.
And representing the Street Smarts side, Tana will be running a VIP sports exhibition in support of New York's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. As dictated by The Donald, the mammoth ballroom event is to include a demonstration of Olympic events, such as high-jumping and discus throwing, as performed by real Olympic athletes. Oh-ho, let the games begin.
Once again, though, a tricky proviso: Kendra and Tana are respectively saddled with three ex-teammates to "assist" in the final assignments. No doubt these Book Smart/Street Smart people are still peeved about their earlier ejection, which means each will do whatever they can to screw up the tasks. It's nice to see both sides can have bitterness in common.
Dates and times may vary across the country. Check listings or visit http://www.globeandmail.com/tv John Doyle returns on Monday.