Or, she said, "they might call me and say 'I really need a breakup song' or 'I need a song for this specific moment,' and I often find myself pitching for specific scenes as they come up in the editorial process. Sometimes there's clearly a winner, clearly the perfect song, and sometimes it takes a long time and many, many choices to find the perfect song."
While at the University of Illinois -- Urbana in the late '80s, Patsavas booked university venues and local clubs, what she called " 'The O.C.' bands of the day, alt-rock bands like Nirvana, Afghan Whigs and Soul Asylum. I feel like the times in music now are really rich just like they were then -- except that radio doesn't realize that music is so good again."
For research, Patsavas has multiple resources: Her Sunset Strip office is across the street from Amoeba Records, the country's largest indie store.
"I listen to satellite radio and go to shows," she said, often with "The O.C.'s" music-savvy young actors, who also provide essential feedback. "And since I've been doing this for a while, I have friends in management so I hear a lot of brand-new things, even demos."
Since "The O.C.'s" out-of-the-box success, Patsavas has been inundated with material, both commercially released and from unsigned bands.
"I just listen and hope for good songs, but, honestly, the songs have to fit the show. We first have to serve the picture, serve the characters and the emotions of the characters."
Now she's eager to kick-start the new season, which started shooting July 7.
"We have five months of great songs that we can't wait to get on the air," Patsavas said. Some stellar big names are also in the mix: a new U2 song, "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," shows up in Episode 4, and Episode 5 features "Cool," a track from Gwen Stefani's upcoming solo debut -- made cooler, Patsavas pointed out, by the fact that "she's an 'O.C.' girl, absolutely."
Patsavas's Faves
Alexandra Patsavas finds tracks for several shows including "Without a Trace," "Carnivale" and "The Mountain." Three of her favorite songs from "The O.C.":
n Finley Quaye, William Orbit and Beth Orton's trip-hop ballad "Dice," used at the end of the New Year's episode "The Countdown." "A great musical moment," Patsavas said.
• Nada Surf's cover of OMD's 1986 hit, "If You Leave" in "The Goodbye Girl" episode, when Seth is saying goodbye to girlfriend Anna at the airport. "We specifically commissioned them to cover it. That was my youth and Josh's youth and a great old song that I felt became really relevant again."
• A double of Franz Ferdinand's "Jacqueline" and the Beastie Boys' "Ch-Check It Out," both used in the Las Vegas-set "The Strip" episode. In a bow to the show's power, the Beastie Boys approached "The O.C." with their comeback single after a six-year break. "That was incredibly flattering," Patsavas said. "They're so difficult to license and have not been much involved in TV at all, so I was thrilled."
