Is Humping the Hot-Dog Cart the new Jumping the Shark?

No. Of course not...I have not given up on the OC. Not even close. But I'm very curious about the current direction of the show. It's too early to tell if Schwartz is playing into the clichés purposely or if he's sort of run out of ideas. I mean...the Lawn Boy secret romance? Come on.

This Summer and Seth bullshit should not extend into December...But I fear it'll be the same every episode and wear out its welcome. Summer's acting has been really inconstant as well. Half the time she's brooding about missing Seth, half the time she looks like she's totally over him...not working for me, but maybe that's all on purpose.

Also, McKenzie seems way over his head this year. When I was in a play in 8th grade, my drama teacher always scolded us for throwing lines away...meaning taking a line you're not confident with and just kind of mumbling it off rather than speak it in character. Ever since then, I notice when actors do it all the time and it bugs the shit out of me. Anyway, Ryan throws away every punchline or snarky comment he gets this season. Last year he had that wide-eyed, half smirk, in-your-face face that worked fine...now he just turns his head and says them under his breath. I know Ryan is supposed to be a mumbler anyway, but it still doesn’t work.

I guess it's way too early to tell. I'm just not feeling the same magic as last year. Everything feels super predictable and inevitable so far...and that's no fun. I will be hopefully be happily proven wrong as the season goes on...but so far I gotta rate this season a solid 'Eh'.