"Summerland" Pilot (2004)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Ian Toynton

Writers:

Lori Loughlin (writer)
Stephen Tolkin (writer)

TV Series:

"Summerland" (2004)

Original Air Date:

1 June 2004 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Ava Gregory is single and works as a fashion designer.Her life changes drastically when she finds herself...

Plot Keywords:

Television | TV Series Pilot | Surrogate Mother | Divorced Father | Marijuana

Cast

Lori Loughlin	...	Ava Gregory
Shawn Christian	...	Johnny Durant
Merrin Dungey	...	Susannah Rexford
Ryan Kwanten	...	Jay Robertson
Kay Panabaker	...	Nikki Westerly
Jesse McCartney	...	Bradin Westerly
Taylor Cole	...	Erika Spalding
Nick Benson	...	Derrick Westerly (as Nicholas J. Benson)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philip Boyd	...	Tommy
Christa Campbell	...	Fashion Model
Kylee Cochran	...	Nichelle
Gerald Downey	...	Dr. Mike
Patrick Fabian	...	Ian Straub
Amanda Fuller	...	Tracy
Hugh B. Holub	...	Mailman (as Hugh Holub)
Brad Horne	...	Announcer
Frieda Jane	...	Lynn
Haley Joel	...	Christy
Kate Lang Johnson	...	Ogling Girl
Tyler Patrick Jones	...	Chris
Joseph Kell	...	Bob Westerly
Nathan Moore	...	Messenger
Glenn Morshower	...	Ted Westerly
Wil Myer	...	Zach
Cole Petersen	...	Chris
Ashley Rose	...	Beach Girl (as Ashley Rose Orr)
Jay Sefton	...	Minister
Chelsea Staub	...	Sharon
Steve Tom	...	TV Preacher
Megan Ward	...	Karen Westerly
Michael David White	...	Jake

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13 | USA:TV-PG

Company:

Spelling Television

Quotes:

Ava Gregory: Hello?
Bradin Westerly: [Crying] My parent
Ava Gregory: Bradin?
Ava Gregory: Bradin? Bradin what is it?
Bradin Westerly: [crying] The river it broke through.
Ava Gregory: Bradin, honey talk to me!
Bradin Westerly: [crying] My parents... they're dead!
Johnny Durant: What is it?
Ava Gregory: My sister and her... her husband were killed in an accindent.

"Summerland" Is No Day At The Beach

Just like a smoothie, this movie is sweet, smooth fun with no way to improve that bittersweet sugar taste at the end. The plot begins when aspiring fashion designer Ava Gregory (Lori Loughlin) receives an over-dramatic phone call from her 16-year-old nephew, Bradin (Jesse McCartney), and learns that her sister and brother-in-law have died during a flood in their small Kansas hometown. This leaves Ava to forget her carefree lifestyle in California to care for Bradin, along with his 12-year-old sister, Nikki (Kay Panabanker), and little brother, Derrick (Nick Benson). Helping her are some incredibly irresponsible best friends (played decently enough by Ryan Kwanten, but dragged down with Merrin Dugney), but they all have such a strange view of parenthood that they don't help much. Through the rest of the season, normal problems occur, all while the old sparks begin to light up between Ava and her ex-boyfriend (Shawn Christian). The beginning of the series seems too rushed and too dragged on at the same time, and creative, interesting characters that are brought up seem to disappear as quickly as they arrived. And the cast isn't exactly the best pick for an Emmy, either. (It would do the writers a lot of good to get rid of Bradin, whose character seems self-absorbed, obsessed with sleeping with his girlfriend, and drowning in self- pity. Jesse can't act worth a dime, and he seems like he's desperately trying to establish a teen heartthrob image in between lines, like cutie Orlando Bloom did without trying in the Lord of the Rings.) Anyway, there are some parts of the show that are more than bearable, though, like the postcard-worthy beach scenes. There are also some small sparks of talent that the writers show when they create their interesting, nonconformist characters that mean a colorful cast, and the reactions to the sudden changes that always happen seem pretty realistic. This smoothie could use a few less bananas, more strawberries and ice, and a lot less sweetener to unsweeten that very last sip.