Look, The O.C. was a cultural phenomenon in 2003, and if you were a teen or young adult then, you probably have fond memories of Chrismukkah and "Mmm whatcha say." But here's the truth: this show has aged like milk left in a hot car.

The fashion is laugh-out-loud bad, the flip phones are museum pieces, and the social dynamics feel like they're from another planet. Modern teens watching Ryan brood in his wife-beater while Death Cab plays will either find it ironically entertaining or just... boring.

Content-wise, it's a pretty standard teen soap with all the problematic elements: underage drinking is constant, relationships are toxic, and wealth is simultaneously criticized and glamorized. There are some genuinely good moments about class, identity, and family, but they're buried under layers of melodrama.

If you're a millennial parent feeling nostalgic, go ahead and rewatch it yourself. But don't expect your teenager to care unless they're really into retro culture or you're watching it together as a "look how wild the 2000s were" anthropological study. The WISE score reflects reality: this is dated, problematic, and honestly not that enriching even when it was current.