A New Show Puts County in Spotlight

Which of these Orange County story lines is not part of a network television series:

A) Marissa meets Johnny while trying to open the wrong locker. Tough girl Heather shows up and apologizes to Marissa for being such a jerk. Summer is wandering the halls looking for Seth when she sees Taylor making out with someone. Not just someone. Dean Hess.

B) Kristin’s love life heats up as Talan and Stephen both try to win her over. Talan treats Kristin to a romantic candlelit outdoor dinner at his house, even cooking the entire meal for her. Within hours after dinner with Talan, Kristin arrives in San Francisco to patch things up with Stephen.

C) Straight-arrow sheriff Mike is surprised when Dean slaps him with a lawsuit, accusing Mike of hitting on his wife, Susan. Mike denies it but is worried because Erica also has accused him of hitting on her. George, Mike’s former best friend and former assistant -- who is also Erica’s brother-in-law and Susan’s cousin -- may be loving it, because Mike had fired him. George has his own problems: He faces trial, accused of accepting bribes from a man who gave illegal campaign contributions to Mike. Meanwhile, Joe, another former friend of Mike’s, and George’s attorney, is indicted by district attorney Tony, whose spokeswoman is married to Mike’s political advisor. A taped phone message from last summer surfaces in which Mike told Joe that George is a bleep and says it wouldn’t be a good idea to go public about Susan.

If you said (C), you’re a pretty sharp cookie, because it clearly is the best story line of the three. For the record, (A) and (B) are from “The O.C.” and “Laguna Beach,” respectively, and their crack writers must be wondering why they didn’t dream up something as good as the plots and subplots that are swirling around the Orange County sheriff and district attorney offices.

If you were pitching the story for TV, you’d tell the producers: “It’s Peyton Place meets Mayberry R.F.D. It’s a tight little circle of people all entwined in each other’s messes. It was one big, happy family until all hell broke loose. We’ll sell it as drama, but it gets so ludicrous and twisted that it’ll make people laugh, too. They won’t know from week to week who’s the good guy and the bad guy, or even if there are any good guys.”

Orange County secured its place on the nation’s “hip” scene with Fox’s “The O.C.” and has kept it going with “Laguna Beach.” Local and national media anointed our once-quaint county as a capital of cool

Who doesn’t want to be cool? Or, at least, cool in a TV sort of way? And after being portrayed as a John Birch Society bastion long after the last Bircher got his name in the paper, even fake cool sounded good.

And now this. Perceived good-guy sheriff Mike Carona is accused of being Bill Clinton with a badge, and his inner circle has imploded around him. Conspiracy theories abound, with defendants George Jaramillo and Joseph Cavallo suggesting that Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas has targeted them to settle scores either for his office or for Carona.

That kind of stuff doesn’t happen, does it?

Stay tuned. The cases against Jaramillo, the former assistant sheriff, and attorney Cavallo aren’t exactly explosive, big-ticket items. That doesn’t mean the D.A. doesn’t have cases against them, but discerning viewers would do well to wait till the episodes have run their course.

Let us hasten to add that the claims against the sheriff may dissolve, as well.

And yet ....

Well, let’s not try and guess the ending.

The sheriff is a harasser, or not. The district attorney is vindictive, or not. The county’s criminal justice system is in good hands, or not.

However it turns out, it makes for juicy drama.

Notice I didn’t say it was cool. With the potential this brings for embarrassment, the real O.C. may forfeit its short-lived claim on cool.