It’s ironic that Rowan lacks what could be called real-life experience for the mother roles she has often played – the actress is single and has no kids. She doesn’t even cook. But she is quick to explain that playing a mother is no stretch: “I think that all women, whether you are an actual mom or not, have mothering qualities and we all mother in our own way. I think it is innate, just part of who we are.”

Yet Rowan doesn’t necessarily consider her character on The O.C. to be a perfect role model for modern motherhood. By the end of last season, Kirsten had been tested by her husband’s possible infidelity, the discovery of an unknown half-sister and her romantic feelings for her male co-worker. As melodramatic as packing them all into two seasons may seem, these are common experiences that require a certain amount of worldly knowledge to ring true. “It’s not that I’m not interested in what 20-year-olds are going through, it’s just that I’m more curious about women my own age,” says Rowan, echoing many of the viewers who identify with her character. “We have life experience, depth and a lot of complications and challenges to deal with that are a lot more relevant to me.”

She admits that she was caught off guard by the public’s response to some of her character’s bad behaviour, like a drunken interval at the end of season two. “But it’s great that people are becoming emotionally involved with the show to the point where they are disappointed with Kirsten,” she says. “They have really responded to both her character and her relationship with her husband, Sandy. ”

In fact, Rowan and actor Peter Gallagher (who plays her husband on the show) are often referred to as the coolest parents on TV. “ The O.C. is so blithe in its dismissal of the ‘kids good/adults bad’ opposition that it’s as if that tired dramatic conflict had never existed,” said a New York Observer cover story last fall. “That’s probably one of the reasons the show is a cross-generational hit.” Indeed, the Cohens are more than mere appendages – unlike, for instance, the virtually expendable Jim and Cindy Walsh from Beverly Hills , 90210 . (When the kids flew the coop to university, the show conveniently dispatched them to Hong Kong.) The Cohens have a mature, realistic relationship and as much sexy intrigue surrounding them as the youngsters that populate the show.

Finally, fully rounded married adult characters – a TV trend that’s welcomed by Calgary-born Lou Paget, a sex educator and the author of best-selling books, including the recent Hot Mamas on motherhood and sexuality. “Shows are looking to portray couples and partners as being cohesive and together with one another, physically, spiritually and emotionally. If they are going to make the father nifty” – and the shaggy-browed Gallagher, perhaps best-known for his racy star turn in Sex, Lies and Videotape , is indeed nifty – “and they want to have real interplay between the couple, then they have to make the mother nifty as well.” Today’s TV matriarch is not just a supporting role.