"Premiere" is the series premiere of the television series The O.C., which first aired on the Fox network on August 5, 2003. Written by series creator Josh Schwartz and directed by executive producer Doug Liman, the episode depicts the introduction of troubled teenager Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) into the wealthy lifestyle of the Cohen family in Newport Beach, Orange County, California. The casting directors, Patrick J. Rush and Alyson Silverberg, began selecting the principal cast eight to ten weeks before filming started. Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) was based on Schwartz's experiences at the University of Southern California as a "neurotic Jewish kid from the East Coast in a land of water polo players". Other central characters in the episode are Seth's parents—Sandy (Peter Gallagher) and Kirsten (Kelly Rowan)—and teenage neighbor Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). The series premiere led the first half-hour of its time slot in viewership. It was generally well received by critics, and earned Schwartz a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Screenplay in an Episodic Drama. Originally broadcast and released in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the episode was remastered in a widescreen ratio for the series DVD, released in November 2007.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

642:

King Penda of Mercia defeated and killed King Oswald of Northumbria at the Battle of Maserfield, traditionally believed to have been fought in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maserfield

1583:

Explorer Humphrey Gilbert established the first English colony in North America at what is now St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s%2C_Newfoundland_and_Labrador

1858:

American businessman and financier Cyrus West Field and his colleagues completed the first transatlantic telegraph cable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/transatlantic_telegraph_cable

1962:

Actress and model Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, an event that has become the center of one of the most debated conspiracy theories. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Marilyn_Monroe

2003:

A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, Indonesia, killing twelve people and injuring 150. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Marriott_Hotel_bombing

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

calipers (n): A device used to measure thickness between two surfaces, especially for small or precise measurements http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calipers

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Those works of art which have scooped up the truth and presented it to us as a living force — they take hold of us, compel us, and nobody ever, not even in ages to come, will appear to refute them. --Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn