West vs East Coast Showdown: Gossip Girl or The OC?

We’ve all had heated arguments, debates, and fights over the ultimate: which is better, West Coast or East Coast? Sure, the West Coast has better guacamole, but the East Coast has better pizza. The West Coast has The O.C., but the East Coast has Gossip Girl, two iconic TV shows that are pretty similar in nature. But which show was better? The O.C. aired from 2002 to 2007, and Gossip Girl picked right up after, airing from 2007 to 2012, so they’ve never competed on air together. This isn’t just a matter of speculation, but coastal pride. Which was more entertaining—watching the adventures of the teenage residents of Orange Country, or following along with the shenanigans of the children of the Elite Upper East Side? We can’t even use numbers to decide. According to IMDB, The OC ranks literally 0.01 points higher than Gossip Girl. They’re literally neck and neck. So here’s the issue: can we solve this unsolvable question? How I ask you, HOW? There’s only one way to solve this conundrum: who had the better characters? Let’s look at the lineup!

First up for the OC:
Ryan Atwood (played by Benjamin McKenzie)
Ruggedly attractive, troubled, and sensitive, he was the classic bad boy we all fell in love with. The outsider in the affluent Orange County, he was a very relatable character and sometimes served as the audience’s perspective.

As for Gossip Girl:
Nate Archibald (played by Chace Crawford)
Yet another cute troubled boy, Nate had it all—good looks, popular at school, everything handed to him on a silver platter. And then his dad lost all his money. Instead of a rags to riches story like Ryan, Nate went from riches to rags. Nate was more than a little bit promiscuous, having several affairs—and sometimes didn’t make the best life decisions–

And for the leading ladies The OC had:
Marissa Cooper (played by Mischa Barton)
A turbulent character, she constantly struggled with alcohol and drugs throughout the series to the point where Marissa even ended up dying in a car crash. She was a character that created a lot of controversy, either loved or hated. Many people say that they stopped watching after Marissa was written out of the show.
But on the flip side there’s:
Serena van der Woodsen (played by Blake Lively)
Serena describes herself as “Trying to be a good person with bad people around me.” Before the series started she was an insane party girl, but (spoiler alert) she calmed she decided she needed to turn her life around. In the beginning she’s very sympathetic but after a while it also becomes quite annoying how it constantly ‘just happens’ to her.

And then there are the real better halves of the leading lady:

For Gossip Girl:
Blair Waldorf (played by Leighton Meester)
Very similar to Summer Roberts, we have Blair Waldorf who played a popular, pretty girl. While Summer was seen as superficial, Blair never gave the impression she was anything but cunning, intelligent, and calculating. She had the ambition to boot, making it very clear she wanted to go to Yale from day one. A true Slytherin. C’mon, you have to admit that Blair’s schemes were one of the best things about the show. You never knew how they were going to go, and there were always the best twists.

The OC
Summer Roberts (played by Rachel Bilson)
A popular, pretty girl and more than a little spoiled. They’re almost all born with silver spoons, what can you expect? People thought she was just superficial, but she was actually quite intelligent. She showed you could be intelligent and still enjoy fashion and have social skills—they aren’t exclusive traits. So even though she was technically more of a ‘side’ character, she stole the show and our hearts

The OC had..
Seth Cohen (played by Adam Brody)
Most would describe Seth as the cute and quirky one. He is the first character that made ‘being a nerd’ a sexy profession. He frequently makes comic book and pop cultural references. (Fun fact: The actors for Seth Cohen and Blair Waldorf are married in real life – they just had a baby!)

Gossip Girl had..
Dan Humphrey (played by Penn Badgley)
He’s not very nerdy but was more cute and quirky. The ‘lonely boy’ type that was never part of the popular group, always on the outskirts. He gets his in with the Upper East Elite by dating Serena. But (SPOILER ALERT) it turns out he’s secretly the driving force of the show since he’s none other than Gossip Girl himself (yeah, what????). Kind of a weird and horrible twist for the show was naming Dan the ‘ultimate insider.’

So we’re pretty much at a tie yet again. How can we possibly decide which is better? They’re so similar! But, there is one thing that The OC didn’t have. There is one person that breaks the tie. And that person is Chuck Bass.

Chuck Bass (played by Ed Westwick)
Oh lord. Oh loooordielord. This character blows away all doubt which show was better. The OC never had a character that would just say “I’m [insert name]” and have everybody swoon. Chuck Bass ran a freakin’ hotel empire at just 20 years old and still somehow made time for scheming and games with the love of his life, Blair Waldorf. They were the ultimate Slytherin power couple. The on-again-of-again relationship between those two will always be remembered!

Metatags:
The OC Gossip Girl Show Teenager Series Chuck Bass Ryan Summer Marissa Seth Dan Blair Serena Nate Ultimate Question