The O.C. Fun Fact: The Cohen Infinity Pool

The Cohen infinity pool seemed like it was used a lot in the show but in reality its acting days were numbered. But despite its lack of screen time the Cohen pool is hiding a very big (or shallow) secret. According to Josh Schwartz the Executive Creator of the show and do to studio limitations, the pool was actually only four feet deep. This explains why there wasn't any Cohen cannon ball competitions etc (that could have pushed the show at least through a 5th season). In order to make the pool seem realistic, the actors were told to stand on their knees (talk about knee burn). This fatal flaw could be why the pool wasn't featured much more than a few episodes and also as a mood setting prop (which I find very effective). Interestingly enough this must have meant that the whole studio was built above ground on a platform high enough to accommodate the four feet deep infinity pool. Furthermore in the special "Welcome To The O.C.: A Day In the Life" Josh Schwartz admits "The surface of the hot tub is a little bit... icky. I wouldn't go in there. Notice none of the actors have been in the hot tub for like a year and a half. We should probably have someone look into that.".

Episodes the pool was actually used (also counting the hot tub):

Season 1 Episode 2 "The Model Home"

Here we have the first time the infinity pool was used in its short life. Seth and Ryan briefly float around in the pool while Seth asks Ryan what he wants to do. Seth asks Ryan if he would like to go to an "IMAX shark movie" (referenced multiple times in the series), Ryan responds "I think I just want to take it easy.".

Season 1 Episode 5 "The Outsider"

Ryan and Marissa finally have their date, they eat grilled cheese (don't knock it til you try it), and push each other into the pool only to get interrupted by a certain curly haired someone via Ryan's cell phone.

Season 1 Episode 7 "The Girlfriend"

Ryan sees a blonde bombshell swimming in the Cohen pool, he does a double take (priceless reactions above). It's Caleb's new girlfriend/plaything 20 something Gabrielle (played by Nichole Hiltz). Seth and Ryan spend a good while oggling at her in all her curvy gold-digger greatness and then a whole lot of other drama happens (spoiler alert). No but seriously watch this episode, its great and also a very daring move on the writers part due to the age difference of Gabrielle and Ryan. Risk well taken!

There is also a second pool scene at 23 minutes Ryan and Seth floating on water beds, man they are abusing the pool in this episode!

Season 1 Episode 9 "The Heights"

Kirsten and Sandy still find time to be lovable despite Sandy going ahead with the case against Caleb Nichol and Kirsten's company involving building on sacred land where the "Swamp Rose" grows. 

Season 1 Episode 14 "The Countdown"

Kirsten's Sister Hailey Nichol crashes the Cohen's house to "invite a few friends over" for new years eve. Turns into an all out pool party rager with Ryan and Seth locked in the pool house.

Season 1 Episode 16 "The Links"

Ryan finds out that hes going to have to get good at golf, since that's where Oliver is taking them. Seth and Sandy hang out and give him some pointers. He's gonna need all the help he can get! 

Season 1 Episode 21 "The Goodbye Girl"

Eddie comes to see Theresa at the Caleb Nichol Riviera magazine "Man of the Year" ceremony hosted at the Cohen's house. You guessed it, another pool scene and this time Ryan goes headfirst!

Season 1 Episode 26 "The Strip"

Kirsten hosts a bachelorette party at her house and then a cat fight happens between Hailey, Julie and oh yeah the hired chip and dales (not small) stripper. If you watch closely you can see how truly shallow the pool is not to mention small. 

Season 2 Episode 24 "The Dearly Beloved"

Wow I didn't think we were going to see a Cohen pool scene in the second season, guess I was wrong..The very last episode of season 2 features Ryan and yes Seth floating across the pool like a pair of synchronized swimmers, this time Ryan offers Seth an "IMAX Shark Movie", very ironic. Consequently a main character meets his demise in a pool in this very episode.

I think it makes sense why the pool was featured less in season two, as you can see above there were several scenes in season 1 (more than I originally thought) that featured the Cohen pool. I think the lack of scenes was caused by overexposure and also due to the new characters and locations like the Bait Shop etc that was brought into the show in the second season. After all there is only so much you can show in a 42 minute time slot!

So there you have it, an exhaustive report on all the times the The Cohen pool was swam in/sat in/floated in or pushed/punched in (Ryan I must say you took that gracefully!). If I left any scenes out which could very likely be possible please let me know, thanks!

Rare Glimpses: The Cohen Pilot House vs Studio Set Part 1 Seth Cohen's Room

When a brand new TV show airs it's pilot episode, producers don't know if the show is going to ever get picked up so they don't go wasting tons of money building sets etc. Sometimes the pilot of a show can be filmed months or even years before or (if ever) it gets picked up. This is why a lot of the time TV show pilots are filmed at real locations to cut cost/risk. Then if the show gets picked up they build studio sets based loosely on what you seen in the pilot episode. By doing this the studio cuts on location filming cost and also gives the producers more control with lighting etc, they can film at any time in any weather and it will still look like sunny Newport Beach via fancy stage lights and film color editing.

As you may know, The O.C. pilot filmed at three homes, all of which are actual homes located on the same street in a private Malibu subdivision. The exterior shots that we see in every episode of the Cohen house come from the 6205 Ocean Breeze Dr..This includes various night shots, the house in various weather conditions, Cohen cars pulling up, Cohen cars pulling out etc..On the other hand the house in which we never see the front of is 6210 Ocean Breeze Dr. This is the house that inspired the interiors we see in the pilot episode. It was the inspiration for the interior and backyard of the Cohen home, mainly the kitchen, Seth's room and backyard pool area. So when you sandwich the exterior look of 6205 and the interior of 6210 together makes the Cohen house.

So during the pilot episode of The O.C. not a whole lot of the 6210 pilot house was shown. We got to see Ryan's temporary pool-house, the kitchen, the front door area, Seth's room and a few vague living room backgrounds and that's about it. Due to showing only small parts of the real house, this had to make it easier on the set designers when it came to filling in the gaps of the Cohen house, virtually getting to make the rest up as they went.

So now that we covered the back story lets now explore the pilot Seth Cohen room in part 1.

I did some digging and stumbled upon the real-estate photos of 6210 which included a bunch of interior and exterior shots. As I was looking through them I noticed a girls room that resembled the same shape and size as Seth Cohen's room in the pilot. The walls seem to be identical as well as window size, the crown molding carpeting etc. The real-estate photo's was taken several years after the pilot so I imagine they took down the blinds seen in the pilot sometime during those years but its pretty obvious match.

Below is Seth's room as seen in the pilot episode painted and redressed as a girls room several years later, so wrong I know!

The real-estate photo where the actual shooting of Seth Cohen's room was done

Look at the wall shape behind the computer and to the left

See the windows shape and same plants through the blinds

See the the wall shape in the top right corner, matches the real-estate photo

As well as this photo

As we see Seth's room in the second episode we actually see the Seth room built in the studio which is pretty loosely based off of the room we see in the pilot. The second Seth room features a more square shape without the fancy window alcoves etc. Lets be honest, there is a ton of differences but among them - If you look closely between the pilot and the first episode you will notice the arrangement of furniture and posters change. It's funny looking back at the pilot, that episode thought that Seth would be the type of guy to not only listen to Static X and Nirvana (okay maybe Nirvana) but also hang posters proudly..Indie loving Seth is "smiling like he means it" about this right now (obscure Killers jab). 

Seth getting his map of Tahiti for Ryan in the second episode (see the Static X poster and Nirvana poster towards the left side of the room. 

Rare shot of the studio set, scroll up and see the differences between he pilot and this.

And Another

So there we have it, proof that they didn't think we'd notice the differences! I find this kind of stuff fascinating and now you too are aware of it! Its interesting how a certain character is portrayed in the beginning of a story and how their house props etc change as the story and their character's age or define. Stay tune for part 2 The Pool house!

The O.C. Woops: The Mystery of Luke's Hairy Chest

Here we have the oh so lovable Abercrombie villain water polo player of the pilot episode of The O.C., Luke Ward. It appears that he isn't exactly shaving his chest as religiously as we once learned to believe ("that guy shaves his chest" - Seth Cohen). Exibit A photo above: Luke Ward stands at Holly's beach after party with his shell necklace, chest hair and all, ready to get his hook up on..Look HAIR, CHEST HAIR..This mystery now puzzles me. Possible theories to explain this phenomenon: Perhaps Luke hit puberty over the summer and was trying to show off his newly acquired Austin Powers look at the party. Or the more obvious answer is Chris Carmack (actor that plays Luke Ward) probably didn't want to shave his hard earned hair without knowing if the show was going to get picked up past the pilot episode (that's alot to sacrifice). Or simply that the writers didn't have a clear vision with his character as of the pilot episode. Either way its a highly entertaining O.C. oops. continuity error.

Bonus evidence photo:

"Welcome to The Chest hair, Bitch!"

Where to find: Season 1 Episode 1 (pilot)