"I'd go on the message boards, and (fans) write 'He's so cute. He's awesome.' Then it's like, "all right! Cool!"' Brody says.

Then he kept on reading. Big mistake.

He found comments like "he (stinks)" and "he looks like a dork." And there were pictures to back up the claim.

Maybe he should have stopped while he was ahead.

"I'm like, 'wait, wait!' I'm never going online again! What am I doing?" he says.

Brody is recollecting the shock that comes with sudden fame. First comes the adoration. Then comes the criticism.

Before "The O.C." came along, Brody, 25, was a relatively unknown actor with small parts in "American Pie 2" and "The Ring."

Playing the upper-crust nerd Seth Cohen on "The O.C." (8 p.m., EST/PST, Thursdays, Fox) put him on the map. Suddenly he was the "it" guy for young girls, and something of a nerdy icon to male viewers.

The teen soap had some of the best buzz of any new show in 2004.

Critics love it for the humor, thanks in no small part to Seth's awkward demeanor. The ratings were solid enough for the show to come back for a second season.

For most of the cast, the show's success is the first taste of a real hit.

It also introduced Brody to a whole new animal: the fickle public.

"I'd lie if I said I didn't care about reviews and what people think," Brody says. "That stuff matters to me. Hopefully, I have not been trounced yet. Everybody has their day in court (of public opinion), and even the best actor in the world is not loved by everybody."

Brody sounds a lot like his insecure TV character.

Seth is "The O.C.'s" resident geek, a guy who was daring enough to form a comic-book club at his high school. There are only three members, and one of them doesn't even read comics.

Seth is also the guy who rarely gets the girl and doesn't always get along with his parents. He's an outsider among the pack of rich and beautiful insiders that populate "The O.C."

"I don't really consider Seth that much of a nerd," he says. "On the show, in this cool world of 'The O.C.,' he is considered The Nerd, but he's more like a proud nerd. He's not shy to say what he likes, even if it's something like comic books."

Geekiness and Internet rumblings aside, Brody doesn't dismiss the impact of the series. He says it has changed his life for the better. It's given him financial security and introduced him to a wide audience.

No amount of criticism can change that.

"No matter what happens to me for the rest of my life, nothing will have more of an impact on me than this past year," he says. "Even if I win an Oscar, it will not have the same impact."

Taken from The Modesto Bee