Tonight airs the final episode of The O.C., a program that writers and producers put so much of themselves into the first season, they had nothing left to give after that.

Seasons 2 through whatever they’re up to (I stopped watching when the rest of America did) now fall into the same category as Rocky V, The Golden Palace and Lex Luthor’s interview with “Father Felony”: Parts of the story we pretend never happened otherwise it ruins everything thing that happened before it.

From the beginning, The O.C. had all the ingredients necessary to get me interested in a program: hot girls. But getting me drawn in was only half the battle. The first season was intelligent, quirky and heart warming. There was also a great big fight and/or disaster in every episode that usually interrupted and/or ruined the most glamorous of social events.

But that first season was far more than just a network TV drama. It was a vehicle for social change. It made Jews cool and geeks chic. It showed us that the wealthy are just as screwed up as the poor. It introduced us to Chrismukkah, the ultimate melting-pot holiday that began on The O.C. and eventually was listed in Time Magazine as one of the “buzzwords” of 2004.

But above all, The O.C. brought attention to deaf rights and the importance of closed-captioning. Never in the history of television has there been an actor like Adam Brody (Seth Cohen). The guy, for as witty and goofy as he is, has a severe mumbling problem and a knack for swallowing his punch lines. Countless times I was forced to rewind and put on my closed captioning to figure out what the hell he was saying. This taught me the perils of what it must like to be deaf and really made me appreciate their hardships.

While most of us said goodbye to The O.C. a few years ago, tonight is the official farewell. I will not be watching so if anyone does, please let me know what happened. Actually, on second thought, I don’t care.