For followers of "The O.C." (and they are legion), Thursday marks a hallowed occasion. So great is the miracle of this night’s episode, it will likely inspire atheists to accept God into their lives, motivate divorced viewers to lovingly remarry their exes and stir the former cast of "Beverly Hills 90210" to build an altar to the kids from Orange County

On this evening, indie rock lions Death Cab for Cutie will play the Bait Shop.

Yep, the Bait Shop - Newport Beach’s fictitious, yet premier, all-ages venue and favorite hangout of O.C. character and resident Death Cab fanboy Seth Cohen. Those who watch the show know that Seth’s attachment to the band is so great, he once intoned to his lady Summer, "Do not insult Death Cab." And you know he meant it.

When TV shows add live music clubs, the venues and artists almost become characters in and of themselves. Not only does the idea of going to see live music become an important part of the plot, but the venue offers a more active way to include music rather than just having a cool soundtrack.

The Bait Shop, which opened its doors for the show’s second season and has welcomed such buzzy acts as Modest Mouse, the Killers and the Walkmen, is what O.C. creator Josh Schwartz calls "personal wish fulfillment." Likewise, for its second season, Showtime’s "The L Word" has renovated its coffee shop hangout the Planet into a nighttime haunt where musicians as varied as the band Betty and virtuoso guitarist Sharon Isbin have taken the stage.

But shows beware: If there’s a whiff of artificiality about your intent, you may fall prey to the dreaded Peach Pit After Dark syndrome.

This disorder manifested itself in the waning years of "Beverly Hills 90210" when the gang’s diner hangout, the Peach Pit, became a rock club with visitors from musical planet Mars, such as the Flaming Lips. In recent years, the Lips have replayed their bizzaro prime time moment on a screen behind them during concerts.

"With a case of the "90210" occasion with the Flaming Lips, it had nothing to do with anything the show had established with the characters, their personalities or any connection to their lives whatsoever," said Arthur Smith, a researcher at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. "It was clearly put there by someone trying to sell more records."

Smith says that historically a show like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" got it right when it came to including live music. The Buffy gang hung out a club called the Bronze and the trip-hoppy/alt-rock music suited the taste of the characters. When singer-songwriter Aimee Mann played the Bronze, she quipped from the stage, "Man, I hate playing vampire towns."

Josh Schwartz, wunderkind creator of "The O.C.," says that when conceiving the Bait Shop, the writers considered "the iconic locations that add to the mythology of the show, such as the pool house, the pier and the beach."

During the first season, the kids went to a Rooney concert; Schwartz says it was part of the inspiration for the Bait Shop.

"We thought, how great would it be if we could do more with all this music that we love on the show?" Schwartz says. "How great would it be to feature some of these bands more prominently?"

Schwartz admits that not everyone is pleased with the addition of the Bait Shop. In a recent episode "O.C." episode that subtextually aired some viewers’ complaints about declining quality of the second season versus the first, Seth uttered a line about last year having more fist fights and this year having more live music.

There are bound to be haters, Schwartz says: "Apparently not everybody is as psycho about music as I am. Now we’re trying have more fist fights and live music, so everybody wins."

Ilene Chaiken, creator of "The L Word," says that adding a live music venue was part of a longer evolution.

"Originally we had no notion to actually incorporate music as an element of the show," she says. What changed things was that the character Kit Porter (played by Pam Grier) jelled and Kit clearly had a musical history as a faded R&B star.

"When her character took over the Planet, we decided to use her music background and have her make it into a music venue," Chaiken says. "We decided to use the opportunity to both put her on the stage and start have her pulling in acts," Chaiken says.

Chaiken also hired Elizabeth Ziff of the band Betty to be the musical composer for the show. Betty sings the theme song and Ziff consults on the music scenes at the Planet, among other duties.

"Even if we’re doing something that’s canned music and people are lip synching to it, everything in that picture will not indicate it at all," Ziff says. "A real mic will be there in the right place, with the right amplifier. Things that musicians would look at and go, ’OK, this a real setup.’"

One real musician who won’t be tempted to jump into television any time soon is Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard. He found filming his band’s scene for the O.C. illuminating yet patience-testing, with all the stops and starts television requires.

"There’s definitely a glory and art to doing that kind of stuff," he says, "but I’m glad that I make music."