The OC? Oh, please: featuring TV's only lead lesbian teen character, cable's South of Nowhere is the new "it" soap.

In an era when teen dramas bring up the big issues--sexuality, drugs, race, class--only in one-time "very special episodes," TV producer Tom Lynch set out to make a realistic series exploring the lives of LGBT teenagers in which "every episode would be a 'very special episode,' because that's how life is."

Lynch came up with the idea for a show while out to lunch with a close friend who is a right-wing Republican. "[My friend] told me his teenage son had just come out to him," Lynch recalls. "When he asked his son 'How do you know you're gay?' his son replied, 'How do you know you're straight?'"

This conversation inspired South of Nowhere, a drama now in its second season on Viacom's cable channel the N. The show follows Spencer Carlin (played by Gabrielle Christian) and her family as they transition from life in Ohio to Los Angeles. To keep the show true to teenagers' real experiences, Lynch took the scripts to a Los Angeles high school drama class and asked for feedback.

Season 1 began with sweet, reserved Spencer questioning her sexuality and befriending 16-year-old resident bad girl Ashley, who's "not into labels." Their friendship gradually started to develop into something more, and season 1 ended with the girls' first kiss. Season 2, which kicked off in late September, continues to explore the girls' relationship and the reactions of their families and friends.

Fans have fallen in love with the couple and christened them "Splashley" on message boards.

"Mandy [Musgrave, who plays Ashley] and I think it's hilarious," says the 21-year-old Christian. "We always read about everyone like 'Bennifer' in the tabloids, and now they've turned our characters into that! It's cool that people are cheering us on."

South of Nowhere is the only TV show currently featuring a queer teenage girl as the main character. Fans of all ages appreciate that unique aspect of the show. "People from the older generation tell me they wish they had something like South of Nowhere when they were younger," Christian says.

Even at 24, Bekki Morgan of Pennsylvania finds herself wistful. "If I had a show like this when I was in high school, I would've dealt with my fears and feelings [better]," says the out Morgan, who was only in her mid teens when Ellen DeGeneres came out and felt she couldn't relate to a lesbian so much older.

"Seeing teens go through the whole sexual identity crisis is cathartic for me to this day," Morgan says. "It reminds me how far I've come."

Nicole McCraith, a 16-year-old from Spencer's home state, Ohio, is newer to the coming-out experience.

"The show really helped me to see that it's OK to be a lesbian," she says. "I thought that if I came to terms with [being gay], I would be bashed and wouldn't find anyone to be with, but that's only because you hear the bad stuff. [South of Nowhere] shows how good and right being gay can be."