Autumn Reeser and Benjamin McKenzie restore their dignity with their respective storyline in “The O.C.” PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE YARISH

Credit: Jason Hall

The O.C.

Fox, Thursdays at 9 p.m.

Dear “O.C.”,

I’m so sorry, OK? I don’t know what else to say. I didn’t have faith in you, and I might have lost you as a result. Yes, I know I broke up with you, but is it too late to ask you to take me back?

I know I said some harsh things about your storytelling and characters when we last spoke, and I still think that those things are true. But then I caught two of this season’s episodes on Myspace, and now I’m hooked again.

First off, I love Love LOVE the pairing of Taylor and Ryan. In fact, I’m trying to come up with a cutesy name for the couple (even though they haven’t actually gotten together yet) but so far all I can come up with it RyTa, which kind of sucks. But give me time, I promise to come up with something better.

It’s just such an odd pairing that it works perfectly. Autumn Reeser has reinvigorated the entire show with her fantastic line readings and emoting, so much so that I’m tempted to go back and watch season three’s DVDs just to see her. Tempted, but I probably won’t do it because then I’ll get mad at you again.

Next up, I love how you haven’t forgotten about the parents. With Marissa dead and Seth heading off to college soon, I was all too worried that mama and papa Cohen and Julie Cooper would be relegated to the background, and I’m ecstatic to see that the opposite is true. Way to go, O.C.

Look, I know we’ve had our problems in the past, and I know you don’t have much longer to live if the ratings are to be believed, but how about we give it one more go, for old time’s sake?

Love and kisses,

Bob

Grey’s Anatomy

ABC, Thursdays at 9 p.m.

Well, “Grey’s Anatomy” seems to have finally gotten past its recent air of predictability and has almost gotten back to the quality of the second season.

I’m excited to see that the Christina/Burke storyline, which has taken much too long to develop, has finally come to a head. The episode where Burke and Christina’s relationship literally crumbled while they performed surgery was incredibly tense. Christina ultimately admiting to their deception was a shocker.

Speaking of shockers, was anyone else as surprised as me to see that George’s father survived his major surgery? Since it was the last episode before the show took its winter break, I was almost positive that daddy redneck was a goner. But no, he lives to force George to shoot turkeys and talk about classic cars another day.

Does this mean the show is perfect? Heavens, no. Like most TV shows, now that McDreamy and McWhiney are finally together in a stable relationship, they have lost most of their passion. I wish the producers would let them team up to overcome something major in the hospital to remind viewers why we rooted for them in the first place, or at least do something with them. Anything would be nice.

Contact ALL correspondent Robert Taylor at [email protected].