Looks are everything in Fox's frothy 'North Shore'

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Saturday, June 12, 2004

Looks are everything in Fox's frothy 'North Shore'

By MELANIE McFARLAND
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER TELEVISION CRITIC

Last Tuesday, Fox embarked on its year-round programming experiment with the premiere of a new series called "The Jury." Its purpose, ostensibly, was to show that the network is serious as a judge about bringing audiences to its neck of the broadcast TV woods, 52 weeks a year.

But there was a problem: The show really tanked. Royally. In its first two hours, "The Jury" scored lower ratings in the coveted 18-to-49 demographic than The WB's new series "Summerland," which is really saying something.


	Fox goes Hawaiian with "North Shore," starring, from left, Kristoffer Polaha, Brooke Burns and James Remar.

Later on down the line, when "The Jury" is gone, Fox might use the excuse that it just wasn't a good fit with the season and the ease that audiences demand of summer TV. So we have to wonder what kind of excuse the network can come up with if its Hawaiian soap opera "North Shore," premiering Monday at 8 p.m. on KCPQ/13, doesn't become the hit it's expecting it to be.

Granted, "North Shore" does have a number of sunny qualities going for it. It's set on a beachfront paradise, meaning, bikinis are a go. The first episode even has a high-end luxury sports car in it. Yes, "North Shore" has the setting down. As for the script, the acting and everything else, you'll need about a gallon of rum and an assortment of mixers to put up with any of it.

Astute viewers may understand the temptation to place one's hopes on a show like "North Shore." Last season's most successful Fox series was "The O.C.," a wild little sudser with which "North Shore" shares a few elements. The Grand Waimea Hotel's sunny luxury, beautiful people and drama mamas checking in and out of the place every week would appear to be the stuff of frothy summer TV viewing.

However, the focus is less upon the guests than the staff, specifically the hotel general manager Jason Matthews (Kristoffer Polaha), who does his best to keep each guest happy and remain in the good graces of the hotel's owner, Vincent Colville (James Remar).

That's right, "Sex and the City's" Richard Wright is slumming it in "North Shore" these days. He doesn't do much more than bellow at the help and look imposing in the pilot, in which he foists a prickly guest and a tennis star VIP off on poor Jason.

Other than that, everything's swellegant in dear Jason's life until the woman who broke his heart, Nicole Booth (Brooke Burns), shows up as the hotel's latest hire, the director of guest relations. We can only assume that a goodly portion of each week will be devoted to watching Jason and Nicole smolder bitterly in one another's presence, but that's a problem. They have no heat. Zero. Hold a stick of butter up to the screen while the two of them are on and it actually might harden in your hands.

But that could be excusable if you focus on the crowd of near-naked employees surrounding them, each with his or her own problems.

There's MJ Bevans (Nikki DeLoach), a tough talking waitress who dreams of becoming a top T-shirt designer and catches the eye of local "thrill seeker" Chris (Jay Kenneth Johnson). Young Gabriel Miller (Corey Sevier) is a lifeguard and aspiring pro surfer who has to fight off skanky 15-year-olds.

But forget about them, ladies. The only name you have to remember is Frankie Seau (Jason Momoa), the hot bartender. Indeed, Frankie and his hotness could be this series' saving grace -- that is, if the producers simply fired everyone else and allowed him to read from a tourist guide for an hour. Hot. Bar. Tender.

We realize that's not going to happen but, my goodness, it should, since image is the only positive this frivolous bit of TV has going for it.

Now "The Casino," that could be a winner.

Premiering in the slot following "North Shore," "The Casino" follows the challenges of new owners Timothy Poster and Thomas Breitling as they attempt to return the classic Golden Nugget Las Vegas hotel and casino to its former swingin' glory.

The successes of NBC's "Las Vegas" and Discovery's new Friday series "American Casino," are strong indicators that gambling and glitz are the true "in" things on television right now . So, thematically speaking, "The Casino" may be Fox's best summer gamble.

That it's the work of Mark Burnett, a guy who has more monstrous reality hits to his name than misses, which also bodes well. Plus, pairing "The Casino" with "North Shore" must have seemed like a nice double punch of prime-time vacation on a Monday night, in the spirit of coupling "The Love Boat" with "Fantasy Island" back in the '70s.

Since review tapes weren't available in time for this assessment, we can't be sure. Besides, "The Casino" has another challenge cut out for it at 9 p.m. in the guise of NBC's "For Love or Money 3," already up and running on KING/5, followed by the series debut of Joel Silver's reality series "Next Action Star" at 10. 'Action Star' will normally air on Tuesdays at 8.

Are you a betting kind of person? Odds are reality will continue to come on top on TV schedule, now and for the forseeable future.

P-I TV critic Melanie McFarland can be reached at 206-448-8015 or tvgal@seattlepi.com.

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