Well, it's hardly Melrose

This just in: you can now buy the soundtrack to The OC!

Remember when Ten was first advertising The OC a few months ago? I believe we were treated to teasers that went something like this:

"From the network that brought you 90210, Melrose Place, Dawson's Creek and Buffy. The show that critics regard as groundbreaking television. The most talked-about show in America comes home to where it belongs -- Ten."

Now I freely admit that I watched both Melrose and 90210, but -- puh-leeze!! -- only as the cornerstone excuse for Monday nights spent with friends drinking Long Island Iced Teas and playing the 90210 drinking game! Comparing any show -- much less drivel like The OC -- to these two Aaron Spelling epics is like saying, "Here's yet another mediocre show featuring unrelentingly gorgeous actors playing characters an average of 10 years younger than their age, in an unhealthy representation of high school learning disabilities, sexual dalliance, teen angst, obligatory drug dependency, rampant plastic surgery and the odd teacher-student affair. Let's package this schlock with B-grade actors and push it on overseas viewers as the gospel according to desperate network executives."

Jeepers, why can't Ten executives be truthful and say, "We realize that we're grasping at straws here, but our overpaid American counterparts sold us this crap and they tell us it'll work here cuz it's all about beautiful people in completely unrealistic living situations. We just hope they're right and that you -- the Australian viewing public -- are dim enough to think that this represents typical American life. Please watch and help us beat 7 and 9!"

I suppose they've somehow gotta pay for extra hairpieces for good ol' Bert Newton, bless his campy little soul. Anyways, enough evangelizing for today. I must get ready to watch (ironically) an American TV show : )

I'm not a bad man. I'm just a lame-ass weak. What do you expect?! They're finally down to the last few episodes of Friends here, and I've followed those damn characters for 10 freakin' years -- even through the unfunny seasons. I'm not abandoning them so close to the end!

Oh, and don't forget The OC is on Ten Tuesdays at 8:30. I know, I know, it conflicts with the soon-to-be-must-see-TV Dancing With The Stars, but that's what VCRs are for. Just don't tell my sister's niece Felicity that I watch The OC. She would totally rake me over the coals for it...