It tells the story of "the Cohen and Cooper families, and Ryan Atwood, a troubled teen from the wrong side of the tracks" who is thrust into the wealthy, harbor-front community of Newport Beach, Orange County, California and "will forever change the lives of the residents".

[5] The season follows the Cohen and Cooper families, and high school sophomore Ryan Atwood, described as "a troubled teen from the wrong side of the tracks" who is thrust into the wealthy, harbor-front community of Newport Beach, Orange County, California and "will forever change the lives of the residents".

[34] The executive producers were creator Josh Schwartz, Doug Liman, Dave Bartis and McG, with showrunner Bob DeLaurentis joining them after the pilot episode.

The staff writers were Schwartz, Savage, Heinberg, Rosenberg, Jane Espenson, Debra J. Fisher, Erica Messer, Brian Oh, J.J. Philbin and Liz Friedman.

[37] Adam Brody acted as geeky ostracized teenager Seth Cohen with Kelly Rowan playing his mother Kirsten,[37] the powerful businesswoman, and Peter Gallagher portraying his father, Sandy, a public defense attorney.

[40] Numerous supporting characters were given expansive and recurring appearances in the progressive storyline, including Samaire Armstrong as Anna Stern,[41] Alan Dale as wealthy businessman and father of Kirstin, Caleb Nichol.

[44] Bonnie Somerville acted as Rachel Hoffman, a former colleague of Sandy,[45] and Ashley Hartman portrayed Holly Fischer a friend of Marissa and Summer.

[45] Other guest stars in recurring roles include Linda Lavin as Nana Cohen,[42] Daphne Ashbrook as Ryan's mother Dawn and Michael Nouri as Summer's father Neil.

[46] Actors Bradley Stryker, as Ryan's brother Trey,[47] and Shailene Woodley, as Marissa's younger sister Kaitlin, were both only guest stars at this point.

[55] In the UK, its two showings a week averaged 1.2 million viewers, and it was one of the highest rating Sunday daytime programs, also attracting fans to E4 on Monday nights.

San Jose Mercury News criticized the plot and the casting saying that "the storylines usually involve the obligatory three-episode-arc drug problems or lost virginity with dialogue designed to keep a dog up to speed",[60] and that "Whoever at FOX thought Benjamin McKenzie (Ryan on "The O.C.")