Teaching life skills via… The O.C.

That might sound like a strange title, but it’s what’s happening on France 2 in twenty minutes. They are showing Newport Beach (as it’s called in French) every day (starting from the first season) as part of thing called Mag 2.0. Each day they take a theme from The O.C. (today’s is “bad reputation”) and people can talk about it via webcam, on the forum, by a web form, and by text message.

And it looks like they are looking for people like Ryan, Marissa and Seth as well. They are looking for “un bad boy”, “une jeune fille attirée par les bad boys” and “une personne introvertie”. What they will do with them I do not know. Maybe they will talk on TV about their lives.

Tomorrow the theme is (roughly) “I want to give up” (or maybe “chuck it in” as the dictionary says “plaquer” means to chuck. Also means to tackle in rugby. You know, the episode where Ryan goes and lives in one of the Newport Group’s model homes, and ends up setting it on fire.