When writer Josh Schwartz and producer McG were developing "The O.C.," they were in fact building a Trojan horse.

They knew FOX was looking for a young adult-oriented drama, a latter-day "Beverly Hills, 90210." Schwartz, a Rhode Island native who came to Southern California for college, and McG, a self-described former nerd who grew up in Newport Beach, where the show is set, had something a little different in mind.

"We knew we could sell the world," Schwartz told a packed house Tuesday (March 9) at the Museum of Television and Radio's William S. Paley Festival. "Then we could have our characters inside be our little soldiers."

What Schwartz, McG & Co. have done with their little soldiers is tweak the idea of the teen soap with large doses of self-aware humor and adult characters who are as interesting as their kids. The results have been good for FOX, which is drawing decent-sized audiences (about 9.3 million viewers a week) and strong ratings among its target demographics of teens and young adults.

The equal emphasis on grown-ups helped attract Peter Gallagher, Kelly Rowan, Melinda Clarke and Tate Donovan to the cast and is a big reason why the series has earned critical favor as well as the adoration of younger viewers, a number of whom punctuated Tuesday's event with frequent squeals of "Whooo!"

"The adult stories are really what drew me in," says Doug Liman ("Swingers," "The Bourne Identity"), an executive producer of the show and director of its first two episodes. "It's not just teenagers running around. Peter and Kelly have created a home on the show that I kind of wish I'd grown up in."

Allan Heinberg, another executive producer who's also written several episodes, thinks the best parts of the show are scenes where the adult and teen storylines intersect. He just didn't think he'd see much of it.

"The shock for me is that we've been allowed to get away with it," he says. "I fully expected a Plan B, where the adult stories would get smaller and smaller."

Gallagher feigns shock at this remark, causing Schwartz to shush Heinberg: "You're not supposed to tell them about Plan B."

"I have a Plan C," Gallagher says.

It's apparent watching the cast and crew interact that the banter between characters on screen continues off camera. Gallagher says working on the show, his first series since the short-lived comedy "The Secret Lives of Men" in 1998, has been a pleasant surprise, starting from when FOX chief Gail Berman offered him the role right after his audition for her.

"There's a really humane vibe about the show that started there and really hasn't stopped," he says.