title: Tbilisi

text: Since October 2016, another Soviet-era aerial tramway between State University (Maglivi) and University Campus (Bagebi) in Saburtalo District (originally opened in 1982) is being reconstructed after 13 years of abandonment and is due for opening in April 2018. The original Italian-produced cabins produced by Lovisolo and provided by Ceretti & Tanfani, with a capacity of 40 passengers each, are being kept as well as the stations.


title: Tbilisi

text: Due to mismanagement at the hands of Soviet authorities, one of the main aerial trams experienced a major malfunction, causing the 1990 Tbilisi aerial tramway accident and remaining closed ever since. Since October 2017, the aerial tram has been under reconstruction, keeping the old culturally significant lower station but with plans for new gondolas, masts, upper station and other infrastructure. The project is carried out by Doppelmayr Garaventa Group.


title: Tbilisi

text: Tbilisi funicular reopened 2012 after a multi-year closure. It is a ropeway railway first built 1905, connecting Chonkadze street and Mtatsminda Park, and covering almost in altitude difference. The top of the hill is the highest point of the city, offering many different views of Tbilisi, and is home to the Tbilisi TV Broadcasting Tower as well as some amusement rides, including a roller-coaster and a ferris wheel.


title: Tbilisi

text: The half-way station of the funicular is just a short way away from Mtatsminda Pantheon, providing easy access to the necropolis.


title: Tbilisi

text: Tbilisi is home to several major institutions of higher education including the Tbilisi State Medical University and the Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy, famous for their internationally recognised medical education system. The biggest Georgian university is Tbilisi State University which was established on 8 February 1918. TSU is the oldest university in the whole Caucasus region. Over 35,000 students are enrolled and the number of faculty and staff (collaborators) is approximately 5,000. Tbilisi is also home to the largest medical university in Caucasus region – Tbilisi State Medical University, which was founded as Tbilisi Medical Institute in 1918 and became the Faculty of Medicine within the Tbilisi State University (TSU) in 1930. Tbilisi State Medical Institute was renamed to Medical University in 1992. Since that university operates as an independent educational institution, TSMU became one of the high-ranking state-supported institutions of higher education in the Caucasus region. There are almost 5000 undergraduate and 203 postgraduate students at the university of whom 10% come from foreign countries.


title: Tbilisi

text: Georgia's main and largest technical university, Georgian Technical University, is in Tbilisi. Georgian Technical University was founded in 1922 as a polytechnic faculty of the Tbilisi State University. The first lecture was read by the world-famous Georgian mathematician Professor Andria Razmadze. It achieved University status by 1990. The three most popular private higher educational institution in Georgia —The University of Georgia (Tbilisi), Caucasus University, and the Free University of Tbilisi – are in Tbilisi.


title: Tbilisi

text: The University of Georgia (Tbilisi) is the largest private University in Georgia, with more than 3500 international and local students. It was established in 2005 and soon became a market leader within Georgian educational sector. In 2010, the UG received financing from OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) for a development of the University's infrastructure and technical equipment. The University of Georgia has various undergraduate and graduate programs and it's the first company in Georgia which offers international certificate programs of the Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, Zend technologies and Cisco Academy.


title: Tbilisi

text: Caucasus University was established in 2004 as an expansion of the Caucasus School of Business (CSB) (established in 1998) by a consortium consisting of Tbilisi State University and Georgian Technical University in partnership with Georgia State University (Atlanta, USA). The Free University of Tbilisi was established in 2007 through the merger of two higher education schools: European School of Management (ESM-Tbilisi) and Tbilisi Institute of Asia and Africa (TIAA). Today Free University comprises three schools — Business School (ESM), Institute of Asia and Africa and Law School — delivering academic programs at the undergraduate, graduate and doctorate levels. In addition, Free University conducts a wide array of short-term courses and runs several research centers and summer school programs.


title: Tbilisi

text: Tbilisi is home to many foreigners. The number of foreigners living and working in Tbilisi has risen in recent years together with the openings of international schools, businesses, expatriate communities, and online networks. Tbilisi is a very safe city. Most of the expatriates live in Vake, Vera, Saburtalo, and Dighomi.


title: Kabaddi

text: Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their players and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders in 30 seconds. Points are scored for each player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or tackled, but are brought back in for each point scored by their team from a tag or a tackle.


title: Kabaddi

text: It is popular in the Indian subcontinent and other surrounding Asian countries. Although accounts of kabaddi appear in the histories of ancient India, the game was popularised as a competitive sport in the 20th century. It is the national sport of Bangladesh. It is the state game of the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.


title: Kabaddi

text: There are two major disciplines of kabaddi: "Punjabi kabaddi", also referred to as "circle styles", comprises traditional forms of the sport that are played on a circular field outdoors, while the "standard style", played on a rectangular court indoors, is the discipline played in major professional leagues and international competitions such as the Asian Games.


title: Kabaddi

text: This game is known by numerous names in different parts of the Indian subcontinent, such as: "kabaddi "or "chedugudu" in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana; "kabaddi" in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala; "kabaddi", "komonti" or "ha-du-du" in West Bengal and Bangladesh; "bhavatik" in Maldives, "kauddi" or "kabaddi" in the Punjab region; "hu-tu-tu" in Western India, "hu-do-do" in Eastern India; "chadakudu" in South India; "kapardi" in Nepal; and "kabadi" or "sadugudu" in Tamil Nadu.


title: Kabaddi

text: It is believed that the game originated in Ancient Thamizhagam, as it is mentioned in Sangam Literature that the game called Sadugudu was practised since ages. Sadugudu was played as a warm up sport before the players enter the arena for Jallikattu. There are also accounts of Gautam Buddha having played the game recreationally. There is another version to this sport origins and rich history, Legend has it that kabaddi originated in Tamil Nadu over 4,000 years ago.


title: Kabaddi

text: The game was said to have been popular among the Yadava people. An Abhang by Tukaram stated that the lord Krishna played the game in his youth.


title: Kabaddi

text: Modern kabaddi is a synthesis of the game played in various forms under different names in the Indian subcontinent. India has been first credited with having helped to popularise kabaddi as a competitive sport, with the first organized competitions occurring in the 1920s, their introduction to the programme of the Indian Olympic Games in 1938, the establishment of the All-India Kabaddi Federation in 1950, and it being played as a demonstration sport at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi. These developments helped to formalize the sport, which had traditionally been played in villages, for legitimate international competition.


title: Kabaddi

text: After being demonstrated again at the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi, Kabaddi was added to the Asian Games programme beginning in 1990.


title: Kabaddi

text: In the international team version of kabaddi, two teams of seven members each occupy opposite halves of a court of in case of men and in case of women. Each has five supplementary players held in reserve for substitution. The game is played with 20-minute halves with a 5-minute half time break in which the teams exchange sides. During each play, known as a "raid", a player from the attacking side, known as the "raider", runs into the opposing team's side of the court and attempts to tag as many of the seven defending players as possible. The raider must cross the baulk line into the defending team's territory, and then return to their half of the field without being tackled. (If an attacker touches a defender and hasn't yet reached the baulk line, they don't need to reach the baulk line to score points and may return to their half of the court.) While raiding, the raider must loudly chant "kabaddi", confirming to referees that their raid is done on a single breath without inhaling. Each raid has a 30-second time limit.


title: Kabaddi

text: A point is scored for each defender tagged. If the raider steps beyond the bonus line marked in the defending team's territory when there are 5 or more players, they earn an additional point known as a bonus point. If the raider is successfully stopped (tackled), the opposite team earns a point instead. All players tagged are taken out of the game, but one is "revived" for each point a team scores from a subsequent tag or tackle. Bonus points do not revive players. Players who step out of the boundary are out. A raid where no points are scored by the raider is referred to as an "empty raid". By contrast, a play where the raider scores three or more points is referred to as a "super raid". If a team gets all seven players on the opposing team out at once ("All Out"), they earn two additional points and the players are placed back in the game.


title: Kabaddi

text: There are four major forms of Indian kabaddi recognised by the amateur federation. In Sanjeevani kabaddi, one player is revived against one player of the opposite team who is out. The game is played over 40 minutes with a five-minute break between halves. There are seven players on each side and the team that outs all the players on the opponent's side scores four extra points. In Gaminee style, seven players play on each side and a player put out has to remain out until all his team members are out. The team that is successful in outing all the players of the opponent's side secures a point. The game continues until five or seven such points are secured and has no fixed time duration. Amar style resembles the Sanjeevani form in the time frame rule, but a player who is declared out stays inside the court while play continues. For every player of the opposition touched "out", a team earns a point. Punjabi kabaddi is a variation that is played on a circular pitch of a diameter of .


title: Kabaddi

text: The following competitions are played in standard format, for that of circle style kabaddi, see Punjabi kabaddi.


title: Kabaddi

text: The Kabaddi World Cup is an outdoor international standard style kabaddi competition conducted by the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF), contested by men's and women's national teams. The competition has been previously contested in 2004, 2007 and 2016. All the tournaments have been won by India. India defeated Iran by 38–29 in the final of the championship game to clinch the title of 2016.


title: Kabaddi

text: After the establishment of a new kabaddi organization named World Kabaddi Federation, a 2019 Kabaddi World Cup was held in April 2019 at Malacca, Malaysia. It was the largest world cup in kabaddi history, consisting of 32 men’s teams and 24 women’s teams.


title: Kabaddi

text: Kabaddi was played as a demonstration event at the First Asian Games in 1951, and again in 1982, before becoming a medal event for the first time in 1990.


title: Kabaddi

text: The Indian national team won every men's and women's kabaddi competition in the Asian Games from 2002 through 2014. At the 2018 Asian Games, Iran became the first country other than India to win gold medals in kabaddi, with India's men's team winning bronze, and India's women's team being beaten by Iran to win silver.


title: Kabaddi

text: The Pro Kabaddi League was established in 2014. The league modeled its business upon that of the Indian Premier League of Twenty20 cricket, with a large focus on marketing, the backing of local broadcaster Star Sports, and changes to the sport's rules and its presentation to make it more suitable for a television audience. The Pro Kabaddi League quickly became a ratings success on Indian television; the 2014 season was watched by at least 435 million viewers over the course of the season, and the inaugural championship match was seen by 98.6 million viewers.


title: Kabaddi

text: Additional rules are used in the Pro Kabaddi League to encourage scoring: when a defensive side has three or fewer players remaining, tackles are worth two points instead of one. Furthermore, if a team performs two empty raids in a row, the next raider must score a point, or else they will be declared out and the opposing team will score a point.


title: Kabaddi

text: The inaugural edition of the IIPKL was on 13 May at Pune, India. The title for the inaugural season was won by the Bangalore Rhinos.


title: Kabaddi

text: In May 2018, the Super Kabaddi League was first held in Pakistan, as part of a larger push to promote renewed interest in the sport in Pakistan.


title: Kabaddi

text: AKC's tenth season was played in Gorgan, Iran, in 2017 in which India won its tenth gold by defeating Pakistan in the finals.


title: Kabaddi

text: The inaugural edition of the Kabaddi Masters was held in Dubai, 22–30 June 2018. It was the first kabaddi tournament to be held in the UAE. It featured 6 teams. India won the tournament by defeating Iran in the final with a scoreline of 44–26, with the Indian Defense outperforming the Iran Defense.


title: Kabaddi

text: The inaugural Junior Kabaddi World Championship was held in Kish island, Iran, 11–14 November 2019. It featured 13 teams. Iran won the tournament by defeating Kenya in the final, 42–22. Team India did not participate in this tournament.


title: Kabaddi

text: The first edition of European Kabaddi Championship was held in Scotland in 2019. The final match was between Poland and Holland, Poland won the tournament. Final score was Poland 47–27 Holland. The second edition was held in Cyprus in 2021 which was organized by World Kabaddi Federation. Poland retained their title by beating hosts Cyprus in the final, 29-15. Italy is set to host the third edition in 2022.


title: Kabaddi

text: Kabaddi is a popular sport in the Indian subcontinent. The Kabaddi Federation of India (KFI) was founded in 1950, and it compiled a standard set of rules. The governing body for kabaddi in Pakistan is Pakistan Kabaddi Federation.


title: Kabaddi

text: In Bangladesh, Kabaddi is known with a different name called "Ha-du-du". Ha-du-du has no definite rules and is played with different rules in different areas. Kabaddi is the national sport of Bangladesh, given official status in 1972. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of Bangladesh was formed in 1973.


title: Kabaddi

text: In Iran, the Community of Kabaddi was formed in 1996 (the same year they joined the Asian Kabaddi Federation), and in 2001 they joined the International Kabaddi Federation. The Iran Amateur Kabaddi Federation was formed in 2004.


title: Kabaddi

text: Kabaddi the national sports of Nepal. Kabaddi is played and taught in most primary schools beginning in about the third grade in most Nepali schools. Kabaddi was also played by the British Army for fun, to keep fit and as an enticement to recruit soldiers from the British Asian community. Kabaddi was brought to United Kingdom by Indian, Nepali and Sri Lankan immigrants.


title: Sosie Bacon

text: Sosie Ruth Bacon (born March 15, 1992) is an American actress. Her first role was playing 10-year-old Emily in the movie "Loverboy" (2005), which was directed by her father, Kevin Bacon. James Duff, producer of "The Closer", was compelled by Bacon's performance in "Loverboy" to suggest that she play the role of Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson's niece Charlie in the fifth season of the show. Although her parents were opposed to her being involved in acting, Bacon accepted the role and appeared in four episodes alongside her mother, who played the role of Chief Johnson. Bacon portrayed the character Skye Miller in the TV series "13 Reasons Why". In 2022, she starred in the hit horror film "Smile".


title: Sosie Bacon

text: Sosie Bacon was born in 1992 to married actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. Bacon was provided with a "fairly ordinary" upbringing, according to producer James Duff, and her parents were determined that she not follow them into acting.


title: Sosie Bacon

text: While directing "Loverboy", Kevin Bacon decided to cast his daughter Sosie in the film. Asked about the choice, Kevin said he made the decision as a director, not as a father, because he believed his daughter was perfect for the role, and "Sosie was cool. She kind of got it out of her system. She said 'Oh, that was fun—now I'm going back to school'." Sosie portrayed the main character Emily in a flashback, while the adult Emily was portrayed by Sosie's mother Kyra Sedgwick. As Emily, Sosie sang an "a cappella" version of the David Bowie song "Life on Mars?", that was described in a review from "The New York Times" as "grotesquely funny". Her brother, Travis Bacon, was cast in a smaller role in the film. Kevin praised Sosie's work on "Loverboy", but said he would not be encouraging her to pursue acting further.


title: Sosie Bacon

text: Her performance in "Loverboy" is what James Duff, the producer of "The Closer", has said first prompted him to suggest that Bacon begin acting. Duff had wanted to write her into the series since she was 12 years old, according to Sedgwick, who plays the role of Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the show. However, Sedgwick was opposed to the idea, insistent on Sosie's not getting involved with acting. Eventually, Duff says, he was able to get Sosie's parents to agree to her having a brief role on the series provided it did not interfere with her education. He described the agreement as being "more like a treaty negotiation" than an arrangement.


title: Sosie Bacon

text: Sedgwick's version of events was different. She said she had told Duff she would discuss it with her husband, but that Duff went directly to Sosie, who accepted the role, and at that point, her mother said, "there was no turning back".


title: Sosie Bacon

text: On the show, Sosie portrayed Charlie, who is left in the care of her aunt (Johnson) and her husband, Special Agent Fritz Howard. The role lasted for four episodes and led to what Sedgwick has said was one of the hardest scenes for her on the show, where Brenda is telling Charlie that she has to go home, and Charlie responding by asking, "Do you not want me to stay?" Sedgwick has said she would not find it unusual if Duff offered Bacon a more regular role on "Major Crimes", a spin-off of "The Closer" series.


title: Sosie Bacon

text: Following her role on "The Closer", Sosie began studying at Brown University and has studied at musical theatre company CAP21. She joined the cast of "Fiction in Photographs" in 2012, an off-Broadway musical by Dan Mills and Randy Redd.


title: Sosie Bacon

text: On November 21, 2013, Sosie was crowned Miss Golden Globe 2014. Chosen each year by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Miss Golden Globe assists with the Globes ceremony and is typically the daughter of Hollywood celebrities. The outgoing recipient was Francesca Eastwood, the daughter of Clint Eastwood and Frances Fisher.


title: Sosie Bacon

text: Sosie was cast in the leading female role of the independent film "Off Season" (2014), opposite Chance Kelly. Following up her role in "13 Reasons Why, "Bacon was cast in "Here and Now", a 2018-debuting HBO family drama series from award-winning writer-producer Alan Ball, as Kristen, the youngest daughter of a couple played by Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter.


title: First-person shooter

text: First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the player character in a three-dimensional space. The genre shares common traits with other shooter games, and in turn falls under the action game genre. Since the genre's inception, advanced 3D and pseudo-3D graphics have challenged hardware development, and multiplayer gaming has been integral.


title: First-person shooter

text: The first-person shooter genre has been traced back to "Wolfenstein 3D" (1992), which has been credited with creating the genre's basic archetype upon which subsequent titles were based. One such title, and the progenitor of the genre's wider mainstream acceptance and popularity, was "Doom" (1993), often considered the most influential game in this genre; for some years, the term "Doom" clone was used to designate this genre due to "Doom"s influence. Corridor shooter was another common name for the genre in its early years, since processing limitations of the era's hardware meant that most of the action in the games had to take place in enclosed areas, such as in cramped spaces like corridors and tunnels.


title: First-person shooter

text: 1998's "Half-Life"—along with its 2004 sequel "Half-Life 2"—enhanced the narrative and puzzle elements. In 1999, the "Half-Life" mod "Counter-Strike" was released and, together with "Doom", is perhaps one of the most influential first-person shooters. "GoldenEye 007", released in 1997, was a landmark first-person shooter for home consoles, while the "Halo" series heightened the console's commercial and critical appeal as a platform for first-person shooter titles. In the 21st century, the first-person shooter is the most commercially viable video game genre, and in 2016, shooters accounted for over 27% of all video game sales.


title: First-person shooter

text: First-person shooters are a type of shooter game that relies on a first-person point of view with which the player experiences the action through the eyes of the character. They differ from third-person shooters in that, in a third-person shooter, the player can see the character they are controlling (usually from behind, or above). The primary design focus is combat, mainly involving firearms or other types of long range weapons.


title: First-person shooter

text: A defining feature of the genre is "player-guided navigation through a three-dimensional space." This is a defining characteristic that clearly distinguishes the genre from other types of shooting games that employ a first-person perspective, including light gun shooters, rail shooters, shooting gallery games, or older shooting electro-mechanical games. First person-shooter games are thus categorized as being distinct from light gun shooters, a similar genre with a first-person perspective which uses dedicated light gun peripherals, in contrast to the use of conventional input devices. Light-gun shooters (like "Virtua Cop") often feature "on-rails" (scripted) movement, whereas first-person shooters give the player complete freedom to roam the surroundings.


title: First-person shooter

text: The first-person shooter may be considered a distinct genre itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider action game genre. Following the release of "Doom" in 1993, games in this style were commonly referred to as "Doom clones"; over time this term has largely been replaced by "first-person shooter". "Wolfenstein 3D," released in 1992, the year before "Doom", has been often credited with introducing the genre, but critics have since identified similar, though less advanced, games developed as far back as 1973. There are occasional disagreements regarding the specific design elements which constitute a first-person shooter. For example, titles like "Deus Ex" or "BioShock" may be considered as first-person shooters, but may also fit into the role-playing games category, as they borrow extensively from that genre. Other examples, like "Far Cry" and "Rage", could also be considered adventure games, because they focus more on exploration than simple action, they task players with multiple different objectives other than just killing enemies, and they often revolve around the construction of complex cinematic storylines with a well defined cast of secondary characters to interact with. Furthermore, certain puzzle or platforming games are also sometimes categorized as first-person shooters, in spite of lacking any direct combat or shooting element, instead using a first-person perspective to help players immerse within the game and better navigate 3D environments (for example, in the case of "Portal", the 'gun' the player character carries is used to create portals through walls rather than fire projectiles). Some commentators also extend the definition to include combat flight simulators and space battle games, whenever the cockpit of the aircraft is depicted from a first-person point of view.


title: First-person shooter

text: Like most shooter games, first-person shooters involve an avatar, one or more ranged weapons, and a varying number of enemies. Because they take place in a 3D environment, these games tend to be somewhat more realistic than 2D shooter games, and have more accurate representations of gravity, lighting, sound and collisions. First-person shooters played on personal computers are most often controlled with a combination of a keyboard and mouse. This system has been claimed as superior to that found in console games, which frequently use two analog sticks: one used for running and sidestepping, the other for looking and aiming. It is common to display the character's hands and weaponry in the main view, with a heads-up display showing health, ammunition and location details. Often, it is possible to overlay a map of the surrounding area.


title: First-person shooter

text: First-person shooters generally focus on action gameplay, with fast-paced combat and dynamic firefights being a central point of the experience, though certain titles may also place a greater emphasis on narrative, problem-solving and logic puzzles. In addition to shooting, melee combat may also be used extensively. In some games, melee weapons are especially powerful, as a reward for the risk the player must take in maneuvering his character into close proximity to the enemy. In other games, instead, melee weapons may be less effective but necessary as a last resort. "Tactical shooters" tend to be more realistic, and require the players to use teamwork and strategy in order to succeed; the players can often command a squad of characters, which may be controlled by the A.I. or by human teammates, and can be given different tasks during the course of the mission.


title: First-person shooter

text: First-person shooters typically present players with a vast arsenal of weapons, which can have a large impact on how they will approach the game. Some games offer realistic reproductions of actual existing (or even historical) firearms, simulating their rate of fire, magazine size, ammunition amount, recoil and accuracy. Depending on the context, other first-person shooters may incorporate some imaginative variations, including futuristic prototypes, alien-technology or magical weapons, and/or implementing a wide array of different projectiles, from lasers, to energy, plasma, rockets, and arrows. These many variations may also be applied to the tossing of grenades, bombs, spears and the like. Also, more unconventional modes of destruction may be employed by the playable character, such as flames, electricity, telekinesis or other supernatural powers, and traps.


title: First-person shooter

text: In the early era of first-person shooters, often designers allowed characters to carry a large number of different weapons with little to no reduction in speed or mobility. More modern games started to adopt a more realistic approach, where the player can only equip a handheld gun, coupled with a rifle, or even limiting the players to only one weapon of choice at a time, forcing them to swap between different alternatives according to the situation. In some games, there's the option to trade up or upgrade weapons, resulting in multiple degrees of customization. Thus, the standards of realism are extremely variable. The protagonist can generally get healing and equipment supplies by means of collectible items such as first aid kits or ammunition packs, simply by walking over, or interacting with them. Some games allow players to accumulate experience points in a role-playing game fashion, that can generally be used to unlock new weapons, bonuses and skills.


title: First-person shooter

text: First-person shooters may be structurally composed of levels, or use the technique of a continuous narrative in which the game never leaves the first-person perspective. Others feature large sandbox environments, which are not divided into levels and can be explored freely. In first-person shooters, protagonists interact with the environment to varying degrees, from basics such as using doors, to problem solving puzzles based on a variety of interactive objects. In some games, the player can damage the environment, also to varying degrees: one common device is the use of barrels containing explosive material which the player can shoot, harming nearby enemies. Other games feature environments which are extensively destructible, allowing for additional visual effects. The game world will often make use of science fiction, historic (particularly World War II) or modern military themes, with such antagonists as aliens, monsters, terrorists and soldiers of various types. Games feature multiple difficulty settings; in harder modes, enemies are tougher, more aggressive and do more damage, and power-ups are limited. In easier modes, the player can succeed through reaction times alone; on more difficult settings, it is often necessary to memorize the levels through trial and error.


title: First-person shooter

text: First-person shooters may feature a multiplayer mode, taking place on specialized levels. Some games are designed specifically for multiplayer gaming, and have very limited single player modes in which the player competes against game-controlled characters termed "bots". Massively multiplayer online first-person shooters allow thousands of players to compete at once in a persistent world. Large scale multiplayer games allow multiple squads, with leaders issuing commands and a commander controlling the team's overall strategy. Multiplayer games have a variety of different styles of match.


title: First-person shooter

text: The classic types are the deathmatch (and its team-based variant) in which players score points by killing other players' characters; and capture the flag, in which teams attempt to penetrate the opposing base, capture a flag and return it to their own base whilst preventing the other team from doing the same. Other game modes may involve attempting to capture enemy bases or areas of the map, attempting to take hold of an object for as long as possible while evading other players, or deathmatch variations involving limited lives or in which players fight over a particularly potent power-up. These match types may also be customizable, allowing the players to vary weapons, health and power-ups found on the map, as well as victory criteria. Games may allow players to choose between various classes, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, equipment and roles within a team.


title: First-person shooter

text: There are many free-to-play first-person shooters on the market now, including "", "Apex Legends", "Team Fortress 2", "Planetside 2, and Halo Infinite Multiplayer." Some games are released as free-to-play as their intended business model and can be highly profitable ("League of Legends" earned $2 billion in 2017), but others such as "Eternal Crusade" begin their life as paid games and become free-to-play later to reach a wider audience after an initially disappointing reception. Some player communities complain about freemium first-person-shooters, fearing that they create unbalanced games, but many game designers have tweaked prices in response to criticism, and players can usually get the same benefits by playing longer rather than paying.


title: First-person shooter

text: The earliest two documented first-person shooter video games are "Maze War" and "Spasim." "Maze War" was originally developed in 1973 by Greg Thompson, Steve Colley and Howard Palmer, high-school students in a NASA work-study program trying to develop a program to help visualize fluid dynamics for spacecraft designs. The work became a maze game presented to the player in the first-person, and later included support for a second player and the ability to shoot the other player to win the game. Thompson took the game's code with him to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where with help from Dave Lebling to create an eight-player version that could be played over ARPANET, computer-run players using artificial intelligence, customizable maps, online scoreboards and a spectator mode. "Spasim" had a documented debut at the University of Illinois in 1974. The game was a rudimentary space flight simulator for up to 32 players, featuring a first-person perspective. Both games were distinct from modern first-person shooters, involving simple tile-based movement where the player could only move from square to square and turn in 90-degree increments. Such games spawned others that used similar visuals to display the player as part of a maze (such as "" in 1979), and were loosely called "rat's eye view" games, since they gave the appearance of a rat running through a maze. Another crucial early game that influenced first-person shooters was "Wayout". It featured the player trying to escape a maze, using ray casting to render the environment, simulating visually how each wall segment would be rendered relative to the player's position and facing angle. This allowed more freeform movement compared to the grid-based and cardinal "Maze War" and "Spasim".


title: First-person shooter

text: A slightly more sophisticated first-person shooting mainframe game was "Panther" (1975), a tank simulator for the PLATO system. Atari's first-person tank shooter arcade video game "Battlezone" (1980) was released for arcades and presented using a vector graphics display, with the game designed by Ed Rotberg. It is considered to be the first successful first-person shooter video game, making it a milestone for the genre. It was primarily inspired by Atari's top-down arcade shooter game "Tank" (1974). The original arcade cabinet also employed a periscope viewfinder similar to submarine shooting arcade games such as Midway's video game "Sea Wolf" (1976) and Sega's electro-mechanical game "Periscope" (1966). "Battlezone" became the first successful mass-market game featuring a first-person viewpoint and wireframe 3D graphics, with a version later released for home computers in 1983.


title: First-person shooter

text: "MIDI Maze", an early first-person shooter released in 1987 for the Atari ST, featured maze-based gameplay and character designs similar to "Pac-Man", but displayed in a first-person perspective. Later ported to various systems — including the Game Boy and Super NES under the title "Faceball 2000 "— it featured the first network multiplayer deathmatches, using a MIDI interface. It was a relatively minor game, but despite the inconvenience of connecting numerous machines together, its multiplayer mode gained a cult following; 1UP.com called it the "first multi-player 3D shooter on a mainstream system" and the first "major LAN action game".


title: First-person shooter

text: Id Software's "Hovertank 3D" pioneered ray casting technology in May 1991 to enable faster gameplay than 1980s vehicle simulators; and "Catacomb 3-D" introduced another advance, texture mapping, in November 1991. The second game to use texture mapping was "", a March 1992 action role-playing game by Looking Glass Technologies that featured a first-person viewpoint and an advanced graphics engine. In October 1990, id developer John Romero learned about texture mapping from a phone call to Paul Neurath. Romero described the texture mapping technique to id programmer John Carmack, who remarked, "I can do that.", and would feel motivated by Looking Glass's example to do the same in "Catacomb 3-D". "Catacomb 3-D" also introduced the display of the protagonist's hand and weapon (in this case, magical spells) on the screen, whereas previously aspects of the player's avatar were not visible. The experience of developing "Ultima Underworld" would make it possible for Looking Glass to create the "Thief" and "System Shock" series years later.


title: First-person shooter

text: "Wolfenstein 3D" (created by id Software as a successor of the successful 1980s video games "Castle Wolfenstein" and "Beyond Castle Wolfenstein" and released in 1992) was an instant success, fueled largely by its shareware release, and has been credited with inventing the first-person shooter genre. It was built on the ray casting technology pioneered in earlier games to create a revolutionary template for shooter game design, which first-person shooters are still based upon today. Despite its violent themes, "Wolfenstein" largely escaped the controversy generated by the later "Doom", although it was banned in Germany due to the use of Nazi iconography; and the Super NES version replaced the enemy attack dogs with giant rats. Apogee Software, the publisher of "Wolfenstein 3D," followed up its success with "" in 1993 which featured friendly non-player characters in the form of informants that would give the player hints and supplies. The game was initially well-received but sales rapidly declined in the wake of the success of id's "Doom", released a week later.


title: First-person shooter

text: "Doom", released as shareware in 1993, refined "Wolfenstein 3D's" template by adding support for higher resolution, improved textures, variations in height (e.g., stairs and platforms the player's character could climb upon), more intricate level design ("Wolfenstein 3D" was limited to a grid based system where walls had to be orthogonal to each other, whereas "Doom" allowed for any inclination) and rudimentary illumination effects such as flickering lights and areas of darkness, creating a far more believable 3D environment than "Wolfenstein 3D"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s levels, all of which had a flat-floor space and corridors. "Doom" allowed competitive matches between multiple players, termed "deathmatches," and the game was responsible for the word's subsequent entry into the video gaming lexicon. According to creator John Romero, the game's deathmatch concept was inspired by the competitive multiplayer of fighting games such as "Street Fighter II" and "Fatal Fury". "Doom" became so popular that its multiplayer features began to cause problems for companies whose networks were used to play the game, causing frequent bandwidth reductions.


title: First-person shooter

text: "Doom" has been considered the most important first-person shooter ever made. It was highly influential not only on subsequent shooter games but on video gaming in general, and has been made available on almost every video gaming system since. Multiplayer gaming, which is now integral to the first-person shooter genre, was first successfully achieved on a large scale by "Doom". While its combination of gory violence, dark humor and hellish imagery garnered acclaim from critics, these attributes also generated criticism from religious groups and censorship committees, with many commentators labelling the game a "murder simulator". There was further controversy when it emerged that the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre were fans of the game; the families of several victims later unsuccessfully attempted to sue numerous video game companies - among them id Software - whose work the families claimed inspired the massacre. In 1994, Raven Software released "Heretic", which used a modified version of the "Doom" engine that allowed for vertical aiming, an inventory system to store and select items, and gibs.


title: First-person shooter

text: "" was released in 1995 after LucasArts decided "Star Wars" would make appropriate material for a game in the style of "Doom". However, "Star Wars: Dark Forces" improved on several technical features that "Doom" lacked, such as the ability to crouch, jump, or look and aim up and down. "Dark Forces" also was one of the first games to incorporate 3D-designed objects rendered into the game's 2.5D graphics engine. Apogee's "Duke Nukem 3D" (sequel to the earlier platformers "Duke Nukem" and "Duke Nukem II"), released in 1996, was "the last of the great, sprite-based shooters" winning acclaim for its humor based around stereotyped machismo as well as its adrenalinic gameplay and graphics. However, some found the game's (and later the whole series') treatment of women to be derogatory and tasteless.


title: First-person shooter

text: Most shooters in this period were developed for IBM PC compatible computers. On the Macintosh side, Bungie released its first shooter, "Pathways into Darkness" in 1993, which featured more adventure and narrative elements alongside first-person shooter gameplay. "Pathways" had been inspired by "Wolfenstein 3D", and born out of an attempt to take their previous top-down dungeon exploration game "" into a 3D setting. In the subsequent year, Bungie released "Marathon", which streamlined concepts from "Pathways" by eliminating role-playing elements in favor of the shooter action. "Marathon" was highly successful, leading to two sequels to form the "Marathon Trilogy", and becoming the standard for first-person shooters on that platform. "Marathon" pioneered or was an early adopter of several new features such as default freelook, dual-wielded and dual-function weapons, versatile multiplayer modes (such as King of the Hill, Kill the Man with the Ball, and cooperative play), and friendly non-player characters (NPCs). The "Marathon" games also had a strong emphasis on storytelling in addition to the action, which would continue in Bungie's future projects, like "Halo" and "Destiny".


title: First-person shooter

text: In 1994, Japanese company Exact released "Geograph Seal" for the Sharp X68000 home computer. An obscure import title as far as the Western market is concerned, it was nonetheless an early example of a 3D polygonal first-person shooter, with innovative platform game mechanics and free-roaming outdoor environments. The following year, Exact released its successor for the PlayStation console, called "Jumping Flash!", which placed more emphasis on its platform elements. "Descent" (released by Parallax Software in 1995), a game in which the player pilots a spacecraft around caves and factory ducts, was among the earliest truly three-dimensional first-person shooters. It abandoned sprites and ray casting in favour of polygonal models and allowed movement through all of the six possible degrees of freedom.


title: First-person shooter

text: Shortly after the release of "Duke Nukem 3D", in 1996, id Software released the much anticipated "Quake". Like "Doom", "Quake" was influential and genre-defining, featuring fast-paced, gory gameplay, within a completely 3D game environment, and making use of real-time rendered polygonal models instead of sprites. It was centered on online gaming and featured multiple match types still found in first-person shooter games today. It was the first FPS game to gain a cult following of player clans (although the concept had existed previously in "MechWarrior 2"'s "Netmech", with its "Battletech" lore as well as amongst MUD players), and would inspire popular LAN parties and events such as QuakeCon. The game's popularity and use of 3D polygonal graphics also helped to expand the growing market for video card hardware; and the additional support and encouragement for game modifications attracted players who wanted to tinker with the game and create their own modules. According to creator John Romero, "Quake"s 3D world was inspired by the 3D fighting game "Virtua Fighter". "Quake" was also intended to expand the genre with "Virtua Fighter" influenced melee brawling, but this element was eventually scrapped from the final game.


title: First-person shooter

text: Based on the James Bond film, Rare's "GoldenEye 007" was released in 1997, and as of 2004 it was still the best-selling Nintendo 64 game in the United States. It has been the first landmark first-person shooter for console gamers and was highly acclaimed for its atmospheric single-player campaign and well designed multiplayer maps. It featured a sniper rifle, the ability to perform head-shots, and the incorporation of stealth elements (all of these aspects were also included in the game's spiritual sequel, "Perfect Dark") as well as some "Virtua Cop"-inspired features such as weapon reloading, position-dependent hit reaction animations, penalties for killing innocents, and a newly designed aiming system that allowed players to aim at a precise spot on the screen.


title: First-person shooter

text: Though not the first of its kind, "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six" started a popular trend of tactical first-person shooters in 1998. It featured a team-based, realistic design and themes based around counter-terrorism, requiring missions to be planned before execution and in it, a single hit was sometimes enough to kill a character. "Medal of Honor", released in 1999, gave birth to a long running proliferation of simulative first-person shooters set during World War II.


title: First-person shooter

text: Valve's "Half-Life" was released in 1998, based upon "Quake"s graphics technology. Initially met with only mild anticipation, it went on to become a commercial success. While most of the previous first-person shooters on the IBM PC platform had focused on visceral gameplay with relatively weak or irrelevant plots, "Half-Life" placed a far bigger focus on strong narrative; the game featured no cut scenes but remained in the first-person perspective at all times. It capitalized heavily on the concepts of non-enemy characters (previously featured in many other titles, such as the "Marathon series" and "") and wider in-game interactivity (as first introduced by the likes of "Duke Nukem 3D" and "System Shock") but did not employ power-ups in the traditional sense, making for a somewhat more believable overall experience. The game was praised for its artificial intelligence, selection of weapons and attention to detail and "has since been recognized as one of the greatest games of all time" according to GameSpot. Its sequel, "Half-Life 2", (released in 2004), was less influential though "arguably a more impressive game".


title: First-person shooter

text: "," also released in 1998, was a multiplayer online shooter allowing more than 32 players in a single match. It featured team-based gameplay with a variety of specialized roles, and an unusual jet pack feature. The game was highly popular and later imitated by many other titles such as the "Battlefield" series. Id's "Quake III Arena" and Epic's "Unreal Tournament," both released in 1999, became the real milestones for multiplayer gaming, thanks to their incredible graphics and frenetic, yet accessible and perfectly balanced online modes; on the other hand, both games only featured a very limited single player campaign designed for a more "disposable" arcade approach. "Counter-Strike" was also released in 1999, a "Half-Life" modification with a counter-terrorism theme copied from "Rainbow Six". The game and later version "" (2004) went on to become the most popular multiplayer game modification ever, with over 90,000 players competing online at any one time during its peak.


title: First-person shooter

text: At the E3 game show in 1999, Bungie unveiled a real-time strategy game called ""; aka Halo CE at the following E3, an overhauled third-person shooter version was displayed. In 2000, Bungie was bought by Microsoft. "Halo" was then revamped and released as a first-person shooter; it was one of the launch titles for the Xbox console. It was a runaway critical and commercial success, and is considered a premier console first-person shooter. It featured narrative and storyline reminiscent of Bungie's earlier Marathon series but now told largely through in-game dialog and cut scenes. It also received acclaim for its characters, both the protagonist, Master Chief and its alien antagonists. The sequel, "Halo 2" (2004), brought the popularity of online gaming to the console market through the medium of Xbox Live, on which it was the most played game for almost two years.


title: First-person shooter

text: "Deus Ex", released by Ion Storm in 2000, featured a levelling system similar to that found in role-playing games; it also had multiple narratives depending on how the player completed missions and won acclaim for its serious, artistic style. The "Resident Evil" games "Survivor" in 2000 and "" in 2003 attempted to combine the light gun and first-person shooter genres along with survival horror elements. "Metroid Prime," released in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube, a highly praised console first-person shooter, incorporated action adventure elements such as jumping puzzles and built on the "Metroid" series of 2D side-scrolling platform-adventures. Taking a "massive stride forward for first-person games", the game emphasized its adventure elements rather than shooting and was credited by journalist Chris Kohler with "breaking the genre free from the clutches of "Doom"".


title: First-person shooter

text: Efforts to develop early handheld video games with 3-D graphics have eventually led to the dawn of ambitious handheld first-person shooter games, starting with two Game Boy Advance ports of "Back Track" and "Doom" not long after the system was launched in 2001. The GBA eventually saw the release of several first-person shooter games specifically tailored for it, including "Duke Nukem Advance", "Ecks vs. Sever" and "Dark Arena", with a sizable amount of them being praised for pushing the hardware to the limit while providing satisfying gameplay. Despite their varying reception, they would demonstrate the viability of first-person shooters on handhelds, which became more apparent with new technological advances that accompanied future handheld systems.


title: First-person shooter

text: "World War II Online", released in 2001, featured a persistent and "massively multiplayer environment", although IGN said that "the full realization of that environment is probably still a few years away." "Battlefield 1942", another World War II shooter released in 2002, featured large scale battles incorporating aircraft, naval vessels, land vehicles and infantry combat. In 2003, "PlanetSide" allowed hundreds of players at once to compete in a persistent world, and was also promoted as the "world's first massively multiplayer online first person shooter." The "Serious Sam" series, first released in 2001, and "Painkiller", released in 2004, both emphasized fighting waves of enemies in large open arenas, in an attempt to hearken back to the genre's roots.


title: First-person shooter

text: "Doom 3", released in 2004, placed a greater emphasis on horror and frightening the player than previous games in the series and was a critically acclaimed best seller, though some commentators felt it lacked gameplay substance and innovation, putting too much emphasis on impressive graphics. In 2005, a film based on "Doom" featured a sequence that emulated the viewpoint and action of the first-person shooter, but was critically derided as deliberately unintelligent and gratuitously violent. In 2005, "F.E.A.R." was acclaimed for successfully combining first-person shooter gameplay with a Japanese horror atmosphere. Later in 2007, Irrational Games' "BioShock" would be acclaimed by some commentators as the best game of that year for its innovation in artistry, narrative and design, with some calling it the "spiritual successor" to Irrational's earlier "System Shock 2".


title: First-person shooter

text: Finally, the Crytek games "Far Cry" (2004) and "Crysis" (2007) as well as Ubisoft's "Far Cry 2" (2008) would break new ground in terms of graphics and large, open-ended level design, whereas "" (2007), "" (2006) and its sequel "Resistance 2" (2008) presented increasingly refined linear levels and narratives, with the fast pace and linearity of the "Call of Duty" games bearing a resemblance to rail shooters. BLACK in 2006 was considered to be a leader in cinematic game design, with strong sound design and destructible environments. In 2007, "Portal" popularized the concept of puzzles mechanics in first-person perspective. In 2006, Gamasutra reported the first-person shooter as one of the biggest and fastest growing video game genres in terms of revenue for publishers.


title: First-person shooter

text: "Team Fortress 2", originally a user-made mod for "Quake" but made into an official product by Valve by its release in 2007, launched a new type of team-based subgenre called hero shooters, which consist of first-person and third-person shooters where players selected from one of several pre-made characters with existing weapons and skill sets, using those different characters effectively to complete objectives against their opponents. The hero shooter genre had significant growth following the release of "Overwatch" in which refined the hero shooter formula by adding unique characters and larger narrative as they expanded the game in future updates.


title: First-person shooter

text: The use of motion-detecting game controllers – particularly the Wii's – "promised to make FPS controls more approachable and precise with an interface as simple as literally pointing to aim" and thus "dramatically reshape the first-person shooter." However, technical difficulties pertinent to functions other than aiming – such as maneuvering or reloading – prevented their widespread use among first-person shooters.


title: First-person shooter

text: The Pointman user interface combines a motion-sensitive gamepad, head tracker and sliding foot pedals to increase the precision and level of control over one's avatar in military first-person shooter games.


title: First-person shooter

text: In the late 2010s, first-person and third-person shooters enjoyed a surge in popularity with the rise of battle royale games, in which many players battle for survival on a large map to be the last man or team standing through intense action-packed combat, with "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" (2017) reaching the highest number of concurrent players ever to be recorded on Steam. Its free-to-play mobile game version, "PUBG Mobile" (2018), reached over downloads worldwide by early 2021 and grossed over by early 2022.


title: First-person shooter

text: In 2010, researchers at Leiden University showed that playing first-person shooter video games is associated with superior mental flexibility. Compared to non-players, players of such games were found to require a significantly shorter reaction time while switching between complex tasks, possibly because they are required to develop a more responsive mindset to rapidly react to fast-moving visual and auditory stimuli, and to shift back and forth between different sub-duties.


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: Andrew James Clutterbuck (born 14 September 1973), known professionally as Andrew Lincoln, is an English actor. His first major role was as the character Egg in the BBC drama "This Life" (1996–1997). Lincoln later portrayed Simon Casey in the Channel 4 sitcom "Teachers" (2001–2003), Mark in the Christmas-themed romantic comedy film "Love Actually" (2003) and Dr. Robert Bridge in the ITV television series "Afterlife" (2005–2006).


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: Beginning in 2010, Lincoln gained recognition for his portrayal of Rick Grimes, the lead character on the AMC post-apocalyptic horror television series "The Walking Dead". For his portrayal of Rick Grimes, Lincoln won the Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television in 2015 and 2017. He departed the cast of "The Walking Dead" in 2018, but reprised his role as Rick in 2022 as a cameo appearance in the series finale. He is also set to appear as Rick in a spinoff of "The Walking Dead" television series that is set to be released in 2023.


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: Clutterbuck was born on 14 September 1973 in London, the son of an English civil engineer and a South African nurse. His family moved to Hull when he was 18 months old, and then to Bath, Somerset when he was eight or nine. He attended Beechen Cliff School, where at age 14 he had his first acting role as The Artful Dodger in a school production of "Oliver!". He named John Scrine and Tony Lawdham as two teachers that encouraged him the most. After leaving school, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) drama school and began to use "Andrew Lincoln" as his stage name.


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: In 1994, Lincoln made his TV debut in "Births and Deaths", an episode of the Channel 4 sitcom "Drop the Dead Donkey". In 1995, soon after finishing drama school, he was cast in his first major role playing Edgar "Egg" Cook, one of the lead characters in the BBC drama "This Life". He went on to star in British television series and dramas such as "The Woman in White", "The Canterbury Tales", and "Wuthering Heights", including probationary teacher Simon Casey in the Channel 4 sitcom "Teachers". He also had a lead role as university lecturer and psychologist Robert Bridge in "Afterlife", and starred in the Sky 1 series "Strike Back" with Richard Armitage in 2010. Lincoln appeared in several films such as "Human Traffic" and "Gangster No. 1" and starred alongside Vanessa Paradis in Pascal Chaumeil's "Heartbreaker". In particular, his role as Mark in the 2003 film "Love Actually" gained him wider recognition.


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: Lincoln has performed in plays, including "Hushabye Mountain" in 1999, "Blue/Orange" in 2000 and 2001, "The Late Henry Moss" in 2006, the "Parlour Song" in 2009, as well as radio productions. He has done voice-overs for documentaries, advertisements, and government campaigns. He directed two episodes in the third series of "Teachers" for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best New Director (Fiction) in 2004.


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: In April 2010, Lincoln was cast as Rick Grimes, the protagonist of AMC's post-apocalyptic series "The Walking Dead". Grimes is a sheriff's deputy who awakens from a coma in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. He becomes the leader of a group of family and friends who are forced to relentlessly fight off flesh-eating zombies and hostile humans. In 2010, Lincoln signed up for the show for a potential six years and renegotiated a deal for two further seasons. Lincoln appeared on the show for the final time on 4 November 2018, having previously stated that he wished to spend more time with his children. According to "The New York Times", Lincoln's role on "The Walking Dead" made him "the center of one of the world's biggest pop culture franchises". Following Lincoln's departure from "The Walking Dead", it was planned that he would reprise his role of Rick Grimes in a trilogy of feature-length films. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the films were delayed. They were subsequently replaced with 6-hour show starring both Lincoln and Danai Gurira.


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: Lincoln has received various awards and nominations for his portrayal of Rick Grimes; he won the Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television in 2015 and again in 2017. In 2012 and 2015, TVLine spotlighted Lincoln as "Performer of the Week" for his performance in the fourth episode of season 3 ("Killer Within") and for the fifteenth episode of season 5 ("Try"), respectively. Regarding Lincoln's performance on "Try", TVLine said that he "could act his way from A to Z all within the span of a single hour". Jacob Stolworthy of "The Independent" said that Lincoln's performance in the first episode of season seven is "a moment where Andrew Lincoln excels, his character coming full circle".


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: In 2019, Lincoln was cast in and filmed his first non-"The Walking Dead" role since 2010 in the drama "Penguin Bloom".


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: On 10 June 2006, Lincoln married Gael Anderson, daughter of Ian Anderson, flautist and vocalist of Jethro Tull. They have two children, Matilda (born 2007) and Arthur (born 2010).


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: He was educated in Bath, where he was childhood friends with former Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale. In 2017, Lincoln said "One of my oldest and dearest friends happens to be Paul Tisdale. So I've been watching him very avidly throughout his whole career and I've been very proud of him."


title: Andrew Lincoln

text: Lincoln has appeared in a video in support of the Robin Hood tax in 2014. Along with others involved in the video he has encouraged the public to get behind the measure, noting its "incredible support from people across Europe."


title: The O.C.

text: The O.C. is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initialism of Orange County, the location in Southern California in which the series is set.


title: The O.C.

text: The series centers on Ryan Atwood, a troubled and gifted young man from a broken home who is adopted by the wealthy and philanthropic Sandy and Kirsten Cohen. Ryan and his adoptive brother Seth, a socially awkward, quick-witted teenager, deal with life as outsiders in the high-class world of Newport Beach. Ryan and Seth spend much time navigating their relationships with girl-next-door Marissa Cooper, Seth's childhood crush Summer Roberts, and the fast-talking loner Taylor Townsend. Storylines deal with the culture clash between the idealistic Cohen family and the shallow, materialistic, and closed-minded community in which they reside. The series includes elements of postmodernism, and functions as a mixture of melodrama and comedy.


title: The O.C.

text: The series premiered with high ratings and was one of the most popular new dramas of the 2003–2004 television season. It was widely referred to as a pop cultural phenomenon and received mostly positive reception from critics. However, ratings declined as the show went on. The low ratings led to its cancellation in early 2007, even after an online petition that gained over 700,000 signatures.


title: The O.C.

text: "The O.C." has been broadcast in more than fifty countries worldwide. The series has also been released on DVD as well as on iTunes and streaming service HBO Max.


title: The O.C.

text: Season 1 focuses on Ryan Atwood's arrival in Newport Beach to live with Sandy and Kirsten Cohen, who take him in after his mother kicks him out. A major theme of the first season is the culture shock Ryan feels as he adjusts from a life of domestic abuse and poverty to living in a superficial high-class society. He quickly befriends and bonds with Seth Cohen, and begins to have a romantic relationship with Marissa Cooper. Although coming from very different backgrounds, Ryan soon discovers that he deals with similar issues to his new peers, such as self-identity conflict and familial alienation. The relationship between Ryan and Marissa flourishes when he supports her through her parents' divorce. As the show progresses, Ryan takes a very protective role over Marissa, showing Ryan to be a much more stable, controlled person than originally portrayed. Other storylines include Seth's development from a friendless loner to having two romantic options in Summer and Anna, as well as the arrivals of Oliver Trask, a troubled teen who befriends Marissa during their coinciding therapy sessions, and Theresa Diaz, Ryan's close friend and former love interest from his hometown of Chino. Meanwhile, Sandy Cohen frequently comes into conflict with Caleb Nichol, Kirsten's father and a wealthy industrialist who is said to "basically own Newport."


title: The O.C.

text: The second season of "The O.C." continues to follow the tumultuous romantic relationships between Ryan and Marissa, Seth and Summer, and Sandy and Kirsten. Josh Schwartz, the show's creator, stated that in Season 2, the show would "no longer be about Ryan's past; now it's going to be about Ryan's future," and that this season would "slow down the storytelling a little bit ... and evolve the characters." For example, the story closely follows Ryan in his advanced physics class, where tension is created between him and another student, Lindsay, who presumes that Ryan will be useless as a lab partner, who thus prevents him from contributing to the work that must be submitted. Ryan's character begins to grow when he stands up to Lindsay and convinces her to allow him to contribute, forcing them to work together to complete the assignment. They later become involved romantically, creating extreme complications and relational shifts amongst the now "Cooper-Nichol" family. The Bait Shop becomes a prominent social destination for the teenage characters. A number of recurring characters are introduced, such as D.J., Lindsay Gardner, Zach Stevens, and Alex Kelly, with whom the main characters form a variety of relationships. Ryan's brother, Trey Atwood, gets out of jail and threatens to bring Ryan's old life into his new one. Sandy and Kirsten also face new conflicts after drifting apart during the summer. Season 2 ends with Marissa shooting Trey after Ryan confronts him for attempting to sexually assault Marissa.


title: The O.C.

text: Season 3 creates many dynamic changes with regards to relationships and power within the characters' society. Firstly, Marissa is expelled from the Harbor School. The Cooper family, left with little money, is forced to move into a trailer park. Julie Cooper-Nichol, once one of the richest women in all of Newport, struggles to put food on the table for her daughters. Marissa's life begins to spiral out of control, as she struggles with alcohol and drug abuse, as well as dealing with the loss of her close friend Johnny. Similarly, Kirsten confronts her alcohol addiction and eventually leaves rehab, only to encounter more problems when she begins business with a con artist. The other characters look towards college, with Seth and Summer competing for a spot at Brown University. Sandy's moral compass becomes imperiled when a past love interest makes her way back into his life, and he takes over Caleb's old position as head of The Newport Group, pursuing a project to establish more low-income housing in Newport. Ryan also attempts to resolve his individual relationships with his mother, and with his childhood friend Theresa Diaz. He also pursues the idea of a post-secondary education, with encouragement from both Sandy and Kirsten to visit Berkeley. Ryan's life is quickly put on hold when, in the season 3 finale, Ryan decides to drive Marissa to the airport, and they are run off the road by Kevin Volchok, Marissa's most recent love affair gone wrong. In the last few minutes of the episode, Ryan pulls Marissa out from the burning car, only to watch her die in his arms.


title: The O.C.

text: The fourth and final season begins five months after Marissa's death in the car accident. Ryan starts the season in isolation as a broken, grieving man, seeking revenge on Volchok. With the help of Julie, both she and Ryan are able to track Volchok down in Mexico, and turn him in to federal officials. The continued love of the Cohen family and the company of the eccentric Taylor Townsend guide him back to the light. Meanwhile, Seth and Summer face the problems of a long-distance relationship as Summer leaves to attend college. The first half of the season focuses on the characters accepting the reality of Marissa's death. The second half focuses on the characters "finding themselves" while facing myriad identity crises. This final season contains multiple surprises, such as a new addition to the Cohen family, a visit to an alternate universe in which Sandy becomes mayor, and a natural disaster that leaves Newport devastated.


title: The O.C.

text: In 2002, creator Josh Schwartz met with Joseph "McG" McGinty Nichol and Stephanie Savage of production company Wonderland Sound and Vision. They told Schwartz they wanted to create a television show based in McG's hometown of Newport Beach, Orange County, California. Savage suggested producing a police or extreme sports "21 Jump Street"-style show, but Schwartz knew little about the genre. Having had experiences with people from Newport Beach during his time at the University of Southern California, Schwartz came back to them with his own characters. The show was pitched to Fox in August 2002. Fox targeted a summer launch for the show, and Doug Liman was brought in to direct the premiere after McG withdrew due to his scheduling conflicts with "". The show was confirmed for the 2003–2004 schedule in May, and an August 5, 2003 broadcast date was selected in June.


title: The O.C.

text: Schwartz said that inspiration for the show came from being a fan of Larry Sanders, Cameron Crowe and other "quirky character-driven shows like "Freaks and Geeks", "Undeclared", and "My So-Called Life"". Schwartz went to college at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, and later said that "The O.C." was "very much based on sort of the experiences I had when I was in college" as a "Jewish kid from the East Coast ... surrounded by all these kids from Newport Beach who were water-polo players, and these very blonde girls who only wanted to date them. I felt very much like an outsider." Although Orange County residents criticized the show's title, stating that people did not call the county by the phrase, Schwartz claims that USC students did say that they were from "The O.C." He also stated that Cohen family in season one resembles his own family life, adding that "The dynamic between Sandy and Seth is very much based on me and my dad." Schwartz reasoned that, "As much as our audience enjoys living vicariously in this wealthy world, I think the true wish fulfillment comes from wishing that they had a family like the Cohens — where the parents could be that cool and that grounded and that loving, but also real parents."


title: The O.C.

text: Schwartz said that he wrote the highly regarded Pilot episode in his boxer shorts. "I had no idea what would come of it and there was just that purity to it." The script for the Pilot attracted most of the regular cast to the project, including film star Peter Gallagher, who said of the Pilot, "In that recently post-9/11 America, I read this script and thought it was astounding. I thought it was exactly the right story to be telling at that point in time. It was about a family living in a not very embracing community, one that doesn't necessarily share all their values. [..] they don't lose their sense of humor or their inclination to help. They still open their arms and embrace this outsider kid. And I thought that was powerful in an era with a kind of xenophobia, a kind of looking-over-your-shoulder and getting small and angry, sort of creeping into the PATRIOT Act-fueled environment. This espoused a kind of America... It just felt right. And it had a sense of humor."


title: The O.C.

text: Although the show is set in Newport Beach, financial penalties imposed for filming outside the studio zone meant much of the show was filmed in the Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles County region. Many of the beach scenes were also filmed in Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance. Sites in Los Angeles County were used for many different on-screen locations, which include Ryan's hometown of Chino, Luke's father's Portland home, Johnny's father's Indio office and Tijuana.


title: The O.C.

text: For the first episode, "Premiere", the Cohen family home was shot on location in Malibu. A mock pool house was built for use in the pilot, and taken down after filming completed. The Cohens' home was recreated on a soundstage at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach for filming during the rest of the series; the pool was only 4-feet deep meaning that the cast had to act on their knees. External shots of the original house remained in use throughout the show. The pilot was shot on 35 mm film stock, while subsequent episodes used digitally post-processed 16 mm in order to reduce the cost of production.


title: The O.C.

text: The Harbor School is the local school that the show's adolescents attend. Based on Newport's Corona del Mar High School, which executive producer McG attended, the filming location was Mount St. Mary's College, a private woman's college in Brentwood, Los Angeles. The University of California, Los Angeles was the location used to represent Berkeley, and the University of Southern California was used to represent Brown University. The FAA First Federal Credit Union building in Hawthorne was used to depict the Newport Group in season two. Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes was used three times on the show—twice for a wedding and once for a funeral. The Cohens' original home in Berkeley, which they return to in "The End's Not Near, It's Here", was shot in South Pasadena.


title: The O.C.

text: The restaurant dubbed the "Crab Shack" on the show is actually local landmark The Crab Cooker. Julie refers to the restaurant in a Season 3 episode by its real-life name. Scenes from the show were also shot at the landmark Wattles Mansion located in Hollywood.


title: The O.C.

text: The Cohen household is a fictitious "McMansion" built by Caleb Nichol and The Newport Group. The house is based on two homes located in Malibu, California. The exterior shots of the front of the home and the driveway were filmed from a home on Ocean Breeze Drive in Malibu, California, built in 2002. This was filmed multiple times and used continuously for all four seasons. The interior, backyard, and infinity pool were filmed for the pilot episode in another home down the street also in Malibu. The pool house was built for the pilot episode.


title: The O.C.

text: After the show got picked up to reduce production costs the interior, backyard, and pool house was rebuilt at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, CA. During some early episodes in season 2, the Cohens were doing some extensive remodeling; this was probably written in because the new set did not accurately recreate the original home in Malibu. The kitchen countertop changed from a dark grey granite to a light beige marble countertop. The sink in the island countertop switches to the other side and the backsplash tile changes. During the pilot episode Ryan walked out of the pool house to look at the ocean view. Past the property line there were houses, streets, cars, and land between the house and the ocean. After the set was created, there was just an ocean and sky backdrop as if the house were sitting on a cliff; also artificial grass and studio lighting looked less realistic than in the pilot episode.


title: The O.C.

text: Alexandra Patsavas, who had previously worked on shows including "Roswell" and "Carnivàle", was appointed as music supervisor on "The O.C.". Patsavas worked alongside creator Josh Schwartz, in selecting the music to be used. Schwartz said that he had "always intended that music be a character on the show" "The O.C." made indie rock a "main focus of the series" and also its marketing plan, releasing six soundtracks throughout the series. In the second season, a fictional new night club and concert venue, called The Bait Shop, was introduced. Bands including The Walkmen, The Killers, Modest Mouse, The Thrills, Rachael Yamagata, Death Cab for Cutie and The Subways all made guest appearances on the show performing at the venue. In addition to having guest artists perform on the show, it also premiered many new music singles from artists including the Beastie Boys, U2, Beck, Coldplay, Gwen Stefani, and The Shins.


title: The O.C.

text: Many bands gained exposure through the show, which caused an increase in sales of their music. Rooney, who were the first band to guest appear on the show, experienced a "200 percent increase in sales" after their appearance. Even artists who just had their songs featured benefited: Imogen Heap became "a household name stateside," and Youth Group, who recorded a song specifically for the show, had "more than 5,000 iTunes downloads [of that track] in its first week" following it being played. However, not all bands were keen to feature on the show. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were asked to perform, but they turned it down because they were worried that it could diminish their credibility. Some fans and critics echoed that sentiment by stating that such appearances and mass marketing techniques are creating sell-outs.


title: The O.C.

text: Generally the music was well received. Ben Spier from "Entertainment Weekly" described the show as a "mixtaper's dream" and "Rolling Stone" commented that the soundtrack was the reason people kept watching the show. However, Karyn L. Barr from "Entertainment Weekly" stated that using acts like U2 on a show that dedicated time to indie bands was "selling out." Noah Davis of PopMatters.com criticized the show for neglecting plotlines and replacing them with "the gang's countless trips to the Bait Shop."


title: The O.C.

text: The series touches on themes such as inter-generational conflict, social class, social mobility, social alienation, sexual performance anxiety, hope, loneliness, virginity, emotional insecurity, environmentalism, alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling addiction, mental illness, homophobia, bisexuality, May–December romances, teen pregnancy, political activism, and eventually death and the acceptance of loss. These topics are examined through both lighthearted comedy and heightened operatic drama.


title: The O.C.

text: Within the series, Seth Cohen has a Jewish father and a Protestant (Presbyterian) mother. As a way to merge the two religions, Seth claims to have "created Chrismukkah" when he was six years old. The series included annual Chrismukkah episodes for every season of its run. Particulars of when exactly the holiday was celebrated were not given; Seth simply said in the first season's Chrismukkah episode that it was "eight days of presents, followed by one day of "many" presents." Chrismukkah later received mention in the television series "Grey's Anatomy".


title: The O.C.

text: In December 2011 the pop-culture website "The A.V. Club" reviewed all four Chrismukkah episodes for its "TV Club Advent Calendar." The writer noted, "When thinking back on holiday specials of yore for this project, the first thing that popped into my head wasn't nostalgia for my Rankin/Bass- and Chuck Jones-filled youth. Instead, I immediately focused on a much more recent obsession: Chrismukkah. Created by "The O.C."s Seth Cohen ..." The reviewer continued, saying that "A thread of underlying sadness unites all four Chrismukkah episodes, but it's a sadness that begs to be redeemed by the end of the hour. Chrismukkah is really about traditional Christmas togetherness and your standard happy ending; it's the everyday miracle of people coming together to create something magical."


title: The O.C.

text: Several episodes feature a fictional show-within-the-show called "The Valley", an in-show equivalent to "The O.C." "The Valley", like "The O.C.", has a fictional reality TV counterpart, "Sherman Oaks: The Real Valley", which causes Seth to ask, "Why watch the plight of fictional characters when you can watch real people in contrived situations?" Season 2 also focuses on the creation of a fictional comic book called "Atomic County", written by Seth Cohen, that is used for similar self-deprecating purposes.


title: The O.C.

text: "The Valley" and "Atomic County" are used throughout the series to comment on aspects of the show itself, such as message board criticism of the show's reliance on love triangles, the trope of mid-twenties actors portraying teenagers, and the inability of the series to be renewed for another season. In addition, several of the characters talk as if they are aware that they are in a television series. One episode in the second season finds Seth commenting that "we tried some new things," but that "last year was just better," echoing response from fans that the second season was inferior to the first.


title: The O.C.

text: "USA Today" remarked that "The O.C."s "undertone of sarcasm and self-parody' was one of the aspects of the series that made it compelling. Writer Ken Barnes opined that "The O.C." took "meta-TV" to its "sublime peak" with "The Valley". He continued, saying that the "device allowed producers and writers to have fun mocking critical and public perceptions of "The OC", its supposed soap-operatic excesses and pop-culture obsessions. In a book written by Alan Sepinwall that examined the series, Sepinwall noted that "Schwartz spends enough of his day trolling message boards to know exactly what fans are complaining about and which references to other shows and movies they've caught, and he incorporates it into his scripts."


title: The O.C.

text: An entire chapter of the book is devoted to perceived self-mockery within the series, with much attention given to the episode "The L.A." from Season One. Producer Allan Heinberg said that many instances of meta-commentary had to be cut if the network or Schwartz felt they had gone too far, saying that "Sandy at one point had a speech about the Golden Globes that we felt was maybe a little inside." Schwartz similarly declined a request to have "The O.C." actors portray themselves on "Arrested Development", another FOX show set in Orange County.


title: The O.C.

text: The first season premiered at 9:00 p.m. (EDT) on August 5, 2003, on Fox, and was simulcast in Canada on CTV. The original, English-language version of the show also aired in other continents. In the United Kingdom, the first episode was aired at 9:00 p.m. (GMT) on March 7, 2004, on Channel 4, but subsequent episodes were first shown on sister station E4, a week in advance of being shown on Channel 4. In Australia, the pilot was first broadcast on the Nine Network but the channel later dropped the show. Network Ten picked up the show and by the fourth season was airing episodes within days of it being broadcast in the U.S. In New Zealand, the show was aired on TV2, and in Ireland it was broadcast on TG4. In South Africa it premiered on April 1, 2004, on satellite television channel Go and was shown on terrestrial channel SABC 3 in December 2006. In India, the English-language channel Zee Café debuted the show on December 30, 2005. For the fourth season, in the week before an episode was broadcast on television, it was available via on demand streaming through Fox Interactive Media's MySpace and MyFoxLocal stations.


title: The O.C.

text: It was also aired in non-English speaking countries. It aired across Latin America on the Warner Channel, in Brazil the show premiered on November 3, 2003 and the last episode was aired on April 12, 2007. It was also broadcast on the SBT television network under the name "O.C. – Um Estranho no Paraíso" was broadcast between 2004 and 2009. In addition to being broadcast by the versions of the Brazilian terrestrial television channels Glitz (2012-2013), VH1 (2012) and MTV (2013-2014). In France, it aired on France 2 under the name "Newport Beach". It aired in Germany on ProSieben, in Switzerland on SF zwei, and in Russia under the name "OC – Lonely Hearts" on STS. In Italy it was shown on Italia 1, with pay-per view channel Joi being the first to make available episodes of season 3 onwards through the digital terrestrial television service Mediaset Premium. In Poland the series was broadcast under the local title "Życie Na Fali" on TVN in 2006 and 2007 in a daytime block from Monday to Friday at 2:00 p.m. with single episodes attracting up to a million viewers. Then, it was also repeated on TVN7.


title: The O.C.

text: Due to low ratings, it was rumored that the show would not return for a fifth season. In June 2006, Fox confirmed that "the current order for "The O.C." is 16 episodes", but added that there was a chance to add more installments. In September 2006, Rachel Bilson said that she felt like "the show is over", and co-star Kelly Rowan stated that many of the cast realized the show was close to being cancelled. Rowan said that "when [the fourth season] was picked up for just 16 episodes this year the cast had a feeling the end was near."


title: The O.C.

text: On January 3, 2007, Fox announced that "The O.C." was to be cancelled. In a statement, Schwartz said "This feels like the best time to bring the show to its close" adding that "what better time to go out than creatively on top." Fox launched an official campaign on their website called "Save The O.C.", which garnered over 740,000 signatures. There were rumors that the show would be saved by The CW. The CW president Dawn Ostroff confirmed in January 2007 that while the move was discussed, it was decided against.


title: The O.C.

text: The O.C. was syndicated on Soapnet from 2007 until 2012 in the United States, and the series began airing on Pop in 2016. The show became available for streaming on The CW Seed in 2015, and Hulu in 2016. In 2020, it was taken off of Hulu for rival streaming service HBO Max.


title: The O.C.

text: "The O.C. The Complete Series" was released on November 27, 2007, in Canada and the United States, which included the first season remastered in widescreen. The complete series was also released as a Region 2 DVD on November 19, 2007, but did not include the remastered version of the first season. Additionally, the boxset included a note from Josh Schwartz, a printed conversation between Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, two rare bonus discs, a season four gag reel, and "Atomic County" excerpts.


title: The O.C.

text: For registered members of selected regional iTunes Stores, the complete series is available to purchase and download. These seasons are also available in the US as video on demand from Amazon Video. The fourth season was also made available in the Zune.


title: The O.C.

text: Season one of "The O.C." received generally positive reviews from critics and is frequently regarded as the best season. Upon the show's premiere, Gael Fashingbauer Cooper of MSNBC described Ryan and Seth's friendship as "the most promising plot". "The New York Times" noted that "Mr. Schwartz pulled it off, sneaking a truly smart show past the gatekeepers in the guise of something commercial and trashy and fun." The reviewer also praised how the show "steered clear of both Aaron Spelling-style camp and the soggy earnestness that often characterises teen drama" and praised the integration of the adult cast into the plotlines. IGN called it "far more engaging and interesting" than its predecessors in the teen genre. The reviewer pointed to the show's sense of humor and respect for its audience, praising the series as "very funny" and "well-acted", while referring to Mischa Barton as the weak link. "Time Magazine" critic James Poniewozik was fond of the premiere episode, saying that the show "looks to have enough heart, talent and wit to generate a few seasons' worth of luxurious suds. As Ryan would say, in the teen-soap business, being 100% original doesn't make you smart. Delivering a formula with so much style and believability that it feels new again—that does."


title: The O.C.

text: Despite much positive reception, the first season was not without some criticism. "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," and that "Whoever at FOX thought Benjamin McKenzie could pass for anything younger than 25 should be fired."


title: The O.C.

text: The second season was widely regarded as inferior to the first, but still received generally positive reception. IGN noted that Season 2 contains some of the best moments of the series, and praised the bisexual romance between Alex and Marissa. It was said to have "managed to surpass its ratings ploy outer trappings to actually work as one of the better Marissa plotlines, at least initially, by doing a solid job of portraying her "I've never done this before..." confusion and excitement." Another review praised episodes "The Chrismukkah That Almost Wasn't" and "The Rainy Day Woman" as standout quality hours of the series, and praised the storyline that focused on Sandy and Kirsten's marriage.


title: The O.C.

text: In contrast to the first two, Season 3 of the series was met with mostly negative reception. After the eventual cancellation of the show, Schwartz admitted that "the whole first half of the third season was a total mess." IGN faulted a season which, in their opinion, had "far too much time and too many episodes spent with the less than beloved character Johnny." IGN also noted that "Kirsten and Sandy both suffered from unsatisfying stories," and that the departure of character Caleb Nichol had been a mistake "as he had been a great character to bounce off both of the elder Cohens." In September 2007, Schwartz admitted in an interview for "New York" that the show "went down the wrong road" with Johnny. The season did, however, receive some praise. The new character Taylor Townsend was stated as being "played to perfection by Autumn Reeser" and her character was described as "one of the greatest elements of "The O.C."" Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk described the storylines as "very intelligent and also incorporate a great deal of humor to keep your interest." While looking back on the series in an interview for the complete series box-set, Schwartz explained that "somewhere around Season 3, for reasons too numerous to discuss, I lost focus. The network wasn't really supporting the show." Schwartz went on to say that Season 3 was probably "the most important season, because it's where I learned the most. About television, about myself as a writer, about discipline and trying to hold onto your focus even if you're hearing a lot of opinions or being forced to add things creatively that you don't agree with. And I don't think Season 4 would have been as fun or as adventurous or as weird and zany and ultimately emotional if it weren't for that experience."


title: The O.C.

text: The final season is generally regarded by fans and critics as a return to form for the series. "Variety"s Josef Adalian said that "[the show] is once again in great creative shape." He added that "the scripts are snappy, the plots make sense, the acting's solid, [and] the music is appropriately indie" but criticized Fox for "throwing away" the show by giving it the Thursday 9:00 p.m. timeslot. Buddytv.com praised the season premiere, saying "this episode is the best OC episode since the show's first season. The absence of Mischa Barton character of Marissa Cooper is the best thing that's happened to The OC in a long time. The cast is now exceptional from top to bottom and the show is, at least in the first episode, much darker in tone than the first three seasons. This is a good sign." Later in the season, Buddytv.com lamented that "The OC is winding down, in all likelihood, and it's a shame. The show is hitting its creative stride just now, in its fourth season, and no one cares." Critic Alan Sepinwall said of the premiere, "Damn. That was... not bad. No, better than that. That was good. Confident, in character, funny on occasion (any scene with Che), genuinely touching at others (the comic book store intervention), really the most like itself the show has felt in a long time, maybe even going back to season one." In a review of a later episode, Sepinwall related that Season 4 was a "resurgent season" and that "every "O.C." episode review just turns into a list of things I liked."


title: The O.C.

text: Belinda Acosta of "The Austin Chronicle" agreed, praising the show's "new energy" and its ability to successfully cover "the transition between high school and college that other series have stumbled over." "Entertainment Weekly"s Ken Tucker commented that the fourth season was "a succession of terrific subplots" and praised new main cast member Taylor "as a fine, funny love interest for Ryan." Greg Elwell of "DVD Talk" described Bullit as "the breakout character of the season" but commented that the season's "dark opening (...) didn't do much to keep viewers around." IGN's Eric Goldman was also critical, saying that "as amusing as Che was, his inclusion into some later episodes gets a bit tired." Goldman also commented that "the second half of Season 4 wasn't quite as solid as the first [half]"; however, he added that while the fourth season had to prove itself again as an enjoyable watch "Josh Schwartz rose to this challenge (...) once again creating a show that was witty and self-aware."


title: The O.C.

text: The pilot episode attracted 7.46 million viewers in the United States, came second in its time slot behind the season finale of "Last Comic Standing", and was the highest rated show of the night in the 12–17-year-old demographic. The most watched "O.C." episode was "The Rivals", the seventeenth episode of season one. It attracted 12.72 million viewers, and was the lead-out to "American Idol", which attracted 29.43 million viewers that week. "The O.C." was the highest-rated new drama of the 2003–2004 season among adults aged 18 to 34, averaging a total of 9.7 million viewers.


title: The O.C.

text: For the second season, the show moved to an "ultra-competitive Thursday" timeslot against the likes of "Survivor", "Joey" and "Will & Grace". This is often cited as a cause of "The O.C."s decline in popularity. The move improved Fox's performance at the new time slot, but lost the show viewers, as average viewing figures decreased thirty percent from the previous season to 7million.


title: The O.C.

text: For the third season, average viewing figures decreased a further twenty percent from the previous season to 5.6 million. The Thursday 9.00 pm timeslot placed the show against two other very popular shows, "" and "Grey's Anatomy".


title: The O.C.

text: The fourth season premiered in November 2006 with very little promotion or advertisements from FOX, and was once again in the Thursday timeslot. The premiere episode attracted 3.4 million viewers, which was a series low. For the series finale, 6.7 million viewers tuned in. This was 76 percent more than the season average of 4.6 million viewers.


title: The O.C.

text: For the debut episode, "Premiere", Schwartz received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Screenplay in an Episodic Drama, and casting directors Rush and Silverberg nominated in the Dramatic Pilot category of the Artios Awards. Luke's declaration in the premiere episode of "Welcome to the O.C., bitch" was placed 83rd by TV Land in its "100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases" in 2006. The first season picked up four Teen Choice Awards, and was nominated for another two. Additionally it was nominated for the Outstanding New Program TCA Award, and in Australia it won a Logie Award for Most Popular Overseas Program in 2005. For the second season the show was nominated for five Teen Choice Awards, and won four of them, including best drama. It was nominated for the Favorite Television Drama People's Choice Award, and Kelly Rowan won a PRISM Award for Performance in a Drama Series Episode, with Peter Gallagher getting a nomination. The second-season finale was nominated for a PRISM TV Drama Series Episode award. The third season was nominated for five Teen Choice Awards and won four of them, including "Choice Drama/Action Adventure Show" and "Choice Actor: Drama/Action Adventure," which Adam Brody won for the third consecutive year.


title: The O.C.

text: "The O.C." popularized its setting, Orange County, and led to copycats like MTV's reality show "" and the Bravo documentary series "The Real Housewives of Orange County", and its success as a prime-time soap opera helped Marc Cherry get "Desperate Housewives" on the air. The show generated a dedicated and thriving international fan community. DVD Verdict said, ""The O.C." has become one of those rare shows whose influence has begun to extend far beyond the television screen, and has actually started to take an active role in shaping American teenage pop culture." Fans of the show, sometimes dubbed "OC Groupies", have been active in developing a large number of fan websites and forums dedicated to the program. Famous fans of the show include the Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara, and Princess Beatrice. Additionally, actual UC Berkeley students created in 2004 the Sandy Cohen Public Defender Fellowship in honor of Peter Gallagher's character Sandy Cohen. The fellowship is awarded to students who plan to work as public defenders and has been presented by Gallagher.


title: The O.C.

text: Comedy group The Lonely Island created a parody of "The O.C." called The 'Bu. At Boston College, students created and produced a parody titled "The BC" that received nationwide acclaim and features in "The New York Times" and "CBS Evening News". On April 14, 2007, Saturday Night Live aired a Digital Short titled "Dear Sister" that satirized the final scene of "The O.C."s second-season finale. The short became popular enough to beget a wave of re-enactments and parodies using "Hide and Seek" with the music set to slow-motion scenes of violence from various films and television series.


title: The O.C.

text: Marvel described "Runaways" (created for television by Schwartz and Savage) as "The O.C." of the Marvel Universe, even before they hired Schwartz and Savage to run the series.