Ah, but in the real world of the "O.C.," the stars' lives are splendid.

The show is a ratings hit that has spawned two CDs, a DVD, splashes across magazine covers and more. "It's got a cool factor to it," says Adam Brody, 24, who plays the once-nerdy Seth.

It has neatly filled a void. "There hadn't been a new, young show in a long time," says Josh Schwartz, 28, who created "The O.C."

So Fox is riding the show hard. It ordered 27 hours for the first season and 24 more for this season. It's plugging it into a Thursday slot against "Survivor" on CBS and "Joey" on NBC.

To recap:

Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie, 26) was a tough teen from Chino who got in trouble when his older brother lured him into a car theft. His lawyer, Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), took him in after his mother split. Sandy, a Jewish idealist from the East, is married to Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), a rich California blonde. Their son, Seth, was a loner until Ryan arrived.

"He's getting cooler," Brody says. "He's got a hot girl — or did."

While Ryan romanced the beauty next door, Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton, 18), Seth dated her friend, Summer (Rachel Bilson, 23).

Meanwhile, Marissa's mom, Julie (Melinda Clarke) made a bedroom tour of three generations. She divorced her husband, dated her daughter's ex-boyfriend, Luke (Chris Carmack, 23), and then married Caleb Nichol (Alan Dale), the rich father of her neighbor, Kirsten.

It was her fling with Luke that topped a season of extremes. Clarke says one young man told her: "I just want to say thank you. Because of you, I'm dating my best friend's mother."

Things won't be that frantic this year, Schwartz says. "We wanted to slow things down a little bit."

First, he has to straighten out the problems from last season. Ryan learned that his old girlfriend was pregnant, so he moved in with her and took a construction job. Seth grumbled, then left in his sailboat.

"It was never a question of would Ryan come back," Schwartz says, "but a question of how — and also how his leaving and ... Seth's absence have sort of torn this community apart."

In the season opener, some crises are settled and some aren't. "Marissa still has her drinking problem," Schwartz says.

In the weeks that follow, new characters will arrive.

Nicholas Gonzales, shown in the opener, is DJ, Marissa's hunky yard guy. Shannon Lucio is Lindsay, a middle-income kid, questioning Ryan's values. Michael Cassidy is Zach, described by Schwartz as "sort of a WASP Seth."

Then there's Olivia Wilde ("Skin"). Her character, Alex, will run a local rock club.