The BC is back for second season

Can't seem to get enough of Mischa Barton, Adam Brody, Ben McKenzie, and Rachel Bilson? Well, you're in luck because this fall The OC is coming back to Chestnut Hill. The BC, created almost two years ago by Woody Tondorf and Joe Sabia, both A&S '06, was recently signed to the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) as a television series. The BC will release four new episodes this season.

The BC began as a parody of the hit Fox series The OC.

"One day in March, in between watching how obsessed this campus was with The OC and visiting the Taco Bell at BU, I said to myself, 'What if instead of a rough kid from Chino, it was a rough kid from BU? And instead of a pro-bono lawyer taking him into the glamour of The OC, it was a good-hearted Jesuit who took him into the haven of The BC,'" said Sabia.

As sophomores, Sabia and Tondorf paralleled the plot of The OC to student life at BC.

"I wanted to have a story that sucks in the viewer, and one that people can see as true to BC life. The BC is a tangible and personal OC," said Tondorf.

The aim of the series is to poke fun at the overstated drama of The OC while making a show that hits home for BC students. Some themes that touch on BC life are rendezvous' in the Quad, partying in the Mods, BU-BC rivalry, Halo obsessions, and popped collars.

A short trailer was created on this spoof and episode one was soon filmed and released.

"The trailer ended up getting 600 hits in the first two hours and we needed to make a Web site after that for accommodation," said Sabia.

"The popularity of it told us we had to make a first episode. At first, a lot of people, including ourselves, thought we were kidding about the whole thing, but here we are coming out with episode two," he continued.

Episode one of The BC introduced the character of Woody Atryan, played by Tondorf. Woody was previously a student at BU who attempted to steal a car but got caught. He is taken in by Rev. Don MacMillan, S.J., who decides to give him a second chance and enroll him at BC.

Woody is forced to make the transition from a thug-like BU student to a preppy, Abercrombie-wearing BC student.

The BC crew members have spent nearly 14 hours per week on filming and even more hours on editing this semester alone.

The show has not only gained popularity among BC students, but from across the country, receiving fan mail from schools around the nation.

They have even heard from BU students, who are amused by the concept of the show and are now questioning the quality of their own TV programming.

"It's cool to have something that has a lot of inside BC humor, but can also relate to college students everywhere," said Sabia.

In addition, The BC was recently featured in the October issue of Boston Magazine, in an article titled "Chestnut Hill, Here We Come."

"We are constantly in awe of how big this has gotten. We cannot express how grateful and thankful we are," said Tondorf.

"A big element of the show is community involvement. Where else are you going to see Fr. Don and Fr. Neenan discussing Usher, or Craig Smith getting rejected by the manager of the basketball team? The show is a great opportunity to draw all different types of people into 45 minutes of quality TV time," said Sabia.

The BC brings an eclectic group of people together to create a memorable cast that is representative of the BC community.

"Some of the ideas for shows are spur of the moment," said Katie Corkum, LSOE '07, who appeared as an extra in episode two. "We are asked for our input, and people gave suggestions for jokes and dialogue that were placed into the script."

Kathleen Murphy, CSON '07 also participated in episode two.

"We were told beforehand to dress like BC students for a classroom scene. The script is meant for BC students, so there are jokes about typical BC things such as thefacebook.com," she said.

There will be a public premiere of episode two on Oct.12th in Devlin 008 at 10 p.m. Viewers can also catch the new episode online at www.the-bc.com or on BC TV.

The original trailer and episode one are still available for viewing at the show's official Web site.

"Episode two is going to make episode one look like clay-mation," said Tondorf.

"We are talking Shrek vs. Gumby," Sabia added.