The good news: “Alias” will air entirely without repeats next season.
The bad news: It won’t premiere until January.
ABC announced that the fourth season of its cult-hit spy series is being held back until midseason as way to solve the on-this-week, off-the-next-two-weeks scheduling that has plagued the show.
ABC will also air “NYPD Blue” consecutively beginning in the fall, meaning its season will end earlier than normal.
“The O.C.” may not actually film in the O.C., but the real-life city represented on the show is willing to overlook that.
The cast and the producers of the FOX series will be given keys to the city of Newport Beach, Calif., on Thursday (Oct. 28), a week before the show begins its second season. At the ceremony, Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway will proclaim the day “O.C. Thursday.”
Cast members will also become the first to set their handprints in cement for the city’s new Walk of Fame, which will immortalize famous Newporters (fictional ones included, apparently) at the waterfront Balboa Pavilion. The city says it’s honoring the show for the positive effect it’s had on tourism. (The show does the majority of its filming at studios in Manhattan Beach, in Los Angeles County.)
The ceremony — which will include creator Josh Schwartz and cast members Benjamin McKenzie and Tate Donovan, among others — marks the show’s latest intersection with real life.
Earlier this year, law students at UC-Berkeley inaugurated the Sandy Cohen Fellowship, named after Peter Gallahger’s character (a Berkeley alumnus) on the series. Gallagher, who briefly attended Berkeley in real life, presented the award and kicked in half of its $2,000 scholarship for a student to work in a public defender’s office.
Then, in June, an Orange County supervisor proposed renaming the county’s John Wayne International Airport to The O.C. Airport – John Wayne Field. Supervisor Chris Norby quickly dropped the idea after receiving numerous complaints about the proposal.
“The O.C.” begins its second season on FOX Thursday, Nov. 4.
Credit: Zap2It
