The county’s Hollywood connection didn’t start with reality shows. It dates back nearly 100 years.
Andrew Hudson
By David Lansing
The Reel O.C.—Really
In 1910, the father of American cinema, D.W. Griffith, shot one of his first films, a one-reeler, not in Hollywood but San Juan Capistrano. Tons of filmmakers followed.In the summer of 2003, Fox TV launched a melodramatic prime-time teenage soap opera based in the affluent Orange County city of Newport Beach. Critics hated it. But viewers—particularly young teens, a much-coveted advertising demographic— loved it. By the end of the year, “The O.C.” was the top-rated drama among young adults, mesmerizing some 10 million viewers every...
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