Summerland (TV series)
Summerland is an American television series which airs on The WB. The series ran from June 1, 2004 to July 18 2005.
Cast
- Lori Loughlin as Ava Gregory
- Shawn Christian as Johnny Durant
- Merrin Dungey as Susannah Rexford
- Ryan Kwanten as Jay Robertson
- Jesse McCartney as Bradin Westerly
- Kay Panabaker as Nikki Westerly
- Nick Benson as Derrick Westerly
- Taylor Cole as Erika Spalding
- Zac Efron as Cameron Bale
- Jay Harrington as Simon O'Keefe
- Executive producers: Remi Aubuchon & Stephen Tolkin and E. Duke Vincent and Aaron Spelling
Premise
Fashion designer Ava lives in a California beach town with her three best friends: her former boyfriend Johnny, Australian surf shop owner Jay, and her business partner Susannah. Their life, it seems, is perfect.
Then, Ava's sister and brother-and-law are killed in an accident, and their three children must make the move from rural Kansas, to Ava's home.
Sixteen-year-old Bradin has his own adolescent angst to deal with, but he does his best to help his younger siblings. Twelve-year-old Nikki has always adored her aunt but sometimes resents Ava's attempts to fill her late sister's shoes. Eight-year-old Derrick has enough on his hands just trying to understand the big issues of life, death and family.
Ava ends up turning to her friends for help in raising her new surrogate children: Susannah's level-headedness, Johnny's abilities as a father figure, and Jay's boyishness. And while Nikki begins puberty, and Derrick deals with the big changes in his life, Bradin is discovering sex and women - particularly in surfing instructor Erica.
History
Summerland was part of the wave of summer programming that rose after FOX's 2003 success with The O.C.. The first season - of 13 episodes - aired from June - August 2004, and was a reasonable success.
The series benefited largely from the star appeal: Loughlin's return to television, and Dungey - who had become well-known on J.J. Abrams's cult series Alias. Teen star McCartney also launched a singing career during this time, which helped the show's appeal in a youth demographic. Australian soap star Kwanten also helped ratings when it aired in his own country.
However, when the second season began in February 2005, ratings were significantly lower - possibly in part due to the midseason return. In April, after eight episodes had aired, the series was put on hiatus and the WB eventually announced the cancellation. The remaining episodes of the season aired in June and July 2005.