"North Shore" on FOX

[pzarquon]

The first of three (possibly four) new television shows set in Hawaii is "North Shore," airing on Mondays on FOX (premiering June 14). All we've got to go on are the ads and the official promo below, but as we see more and more of the show, let's hear what you think about this entry in Hawaii's 2004 "TV Boom."

Intrigue abounds at the Grand Waimea hotel, an exclusive Hawaiian escape for the wealthy, powerful and beautiful. Hawaiian native Jason Matthews (Kristoffer Polaha) runs the hotel and makes sure every guest gets everything they need. But when former flame Nicole Booth (Brooke Burns) arrives as the hotel's new Director of Guest Relations, Jason's world is turned upside down. But Grand Waimea owner, Vincent Colville (James Remar), is staying on top of him to make sure his past with Nicole won't affect their worklife.

Just as interesting as the hotel's clientele is its staff, which is filled with friends, thrill-seekers, former con artists and dreamers in paradise. Waitress MJ Bevans (Nikki DeLoach), Jason's surrogate little sister and roommate, is just waiting for her t-shirt design business to blossom into a fashion empire. Chris Remsen (Jay Kenneth Johnson) runs an adventure company that caters to Waimea guests and bartender Frankie Seau (Jason Momoa) keeps those guests well-lubricated while trying to hide a mysterious past. And let's not forget Gabriel Miller (Corey Sevier), the young lifeguard trying to carve out a surfing career, or Tessa Lewis (Amanda Righetti), a former con artist who's now putting her skills to use as the Waimea's concierge.

Intrigue and excitement await every guest at the Grand Waimea. Just ask the staff.

[mel]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

Fox was filming a part of "North Shore's" opening sequence in Waikiki yesterday.

[mel]

North Shore Premieres on Fox

Anyone catch the premiere of "North Shore" on Fox tonight? I watched most of the show after missing the first 5 or 6 minutes of it. Here is my quick and dirty review of the premiere episode:

The show is a soap opera about pretty mainland people running a luxury resort on Oahu. Nice scenics, good looking "Baywatch" type of characters. Definitely aiming at a young, female audience. Beautiful scenic shots around Oahu's North Shore, Haleiwa and Ko Olina Resort. Fact is Ko Olina is the stand-in set for some of the the fictitious hotel's exteriors. It looked like a few shots were done up at Turtle Bay too. The main interior shot is on the soundstage at the Diamond Head studio I believe (seen pictures of it before the show aired).....

Now there is this one sweeping overhead shot of the resort, and frankly I don't know if that shot is of the resort at Ko Olina itself (having not actually been there myself) or a computer enhanced landscape.

The show is somewhat fast paced built around standard soap-opera-like type of characters... beautiful girl comes back to Hawaii to work in hotel where her former boyfriend is the manager and her Dad owns the place. There are some supporting characters with the only local faces being the guy who was in Baywatch (can't remember his name now) and Robert Kekaula who had a bit part playing some kind of security guy or cop... can't remember....

The show is actually not my cup of tea and I don't know if I would come back to watch this week after week. Of course I am way out of the targeted demographic, so my opinion on this is probably not worth much to the network or show's creators.

Considering that Fox is taking a gamble by expanding their TV series to a year-round schedule it could be that they may have a hit on their hands if enough of the right demo group watches this and tunes in every week. The first new Fox show to debut last week, called The Jury tanked in the ratings.

Summer is not traditionally a time where people are aware of what is one prime time TV save for a handful of mindless reality shows and reruns that fill the schedule until the fall.

Opinions anyone?

[helen]

Re: North Shore Premieres on Fox

Cable TV series tend to start in the summer months. The third season of The Dead Zone started two Sundays ago. Likewise the third season of Monk starts this Friday. Both of these are on the USA Network.

On the Sci-fi channel the eighth season of Stargate SG-1 starts in July as well as the spinoff series Stargate: Atlantis starts a week later. Even when Stargate SG-1 was on Showtime they started their season during June.

So I was kind of surprised that FOX started this series during the summer. Maybe against repeats it might have a following of viewers that by the time fall starts their loyal viewer base will be there.

[pzarquon]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

I think the summer launch is in part to echo the surprise success of the last summer-filler series, "The O.C."

I can't believe I missed the premiere. And to think the reason was, I was configuring our second TiVo! Oh, the irony.

Been enjoying the snark on the Television Without Pity message board for this show. Mixed reviews, overall, and apparently a growing consensus that the men in the cast are providing better eye candy than the women. Hmm.

Jon's to-the-minute recap at TalkStink.com is also helpful. Who were the local cameos?

[LikaNui]

Re: North Shore Premieres on Fox

Beautiful scenic shots around Oahu's North Shore, Haleiwa and Ko Olina Resort.
...
Opinions anyone?

There were some shots of Makapu`u in there too.
As for my opinion, it is "pfffbbbbtttt". Boring show, just a soap opera with pretty visuals (and I mean the location shots, not the talent). I probably won't watch it again unless there's nothing else on at the same time, and then I'll do odd jobs around the house and just watch for the scenery. North Shore is up against new episodes of American Chopper (on the Discovery channel) on Monday nights, and I'll easily take AC over NS.
And I've got two major complaints about North Shore: not enough locals in the cast, and definitely not enough Hawaiian music!

[diamondhead]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

i just tuned in to watch robert kekaula as the head of security. nice job, robert....

[Mocha]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

Watched only part of the show last week...quite boring! But I'll give it a chance, the scenery is beautiful...and it does give exposure to Hawaii. Storyline quite weak.

[Erika Engle]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

Watched only part of the show last week...quite boring! But I'll give it a chance, the scenery is beautiful...and it does give exposure to Hawaii. Storyline quite weak.

A friend sent me the overnights for the two weeks of North Shore thus far. Yikes.

8 p.m. North Shore (Fox)
6/14/04 -
Overnights: 4.8/ 8 (#2t), Viewers: 5.99 million (#3), A18-49: 2.3/ 7 (#3)
6/21/04 -
Overnights: 3.8/ 6 (#4), Viewers: 4.65 million (#4), A18-49: 2.1/ 7 (#3)
Percent Change - Overnights: -21, Viewers: -22, Adults 18-49: - 9

[mel]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

Let's track this for the next few weeks.

[Ty Lee]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

Are thses numbers good or bad. I'm new at the media game.

TY Lee

***************************************

8 p.m. North Shore (Fox)
6/14/04 -
Overnights: 4.8/ 8 (#2t), Viewers: 5.99 million (#3), A18-49: 2.3/ 7 (#3)
6/21/04 -
Overnights: 3.8/ 6 (#4), Viewers: 4.65 million (#4), A18-49: 2.1/ 7 (#3)
Percent Change - Overnights: -21, Viewers: -22, Adults 18-49: - 9

[Linkmeister]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

Ty, I could guess at them, but all you really need to look at is that Percentage Change line. Negatives from week one to week two aren't good. You'd need to know if there was anything big competing in the time slot on any other channels before you could make a fair judgment, I guess.

[pzarquon]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

The debut of "North Shore" was beat by a rerunof a "Fear Factor" episode, if that gives you any indication (especially since, demographically, both are going for much of the same audience). There's no question that it was a ratings dud, but now Fox is spinning it by saying, "Well, 'The O.C.' was a dud at first too!" It can't get much more obvious how badly FOX wants "North Shore" to be the next "The O.C."

FOX recently announced that survivors of other failed new series are going to join the "North Shore" team to try and save the sinking ship:

NORTH SHORE (FOX) - Josh Hopkins ("Ally McBeal") and Dylan Bruno have each signed on for multi-episode arcs on FOX's new summer drama. Hopkins, who is set to appear in at least four episodes beginning July 5, will play the yet-to-be-seen fiance of Brooke Burns' character while Bruno, who's set for at least two episodes, will play a professional surfer and ex-boyfriend of Nikki Deloach's character. Both Hopkins and Bruno are no stranger to FOX as each were part of the network's recent failed drama pilots "Ricochet" and "The Break" respectively.

Meanwhile, the reviews have gone from ho-hum to downright harsh.

ELITESTV - The lightning in a bottle once captured by “The O.C.” has not translated over to “North Shore” at all. Don’t bother to watch. It will be gone soon.

NYDAILYNEWS.COM - Fox has given us "The North Shore," another dull and plodding soap - even with all the promotional and guest-cast efforts to link it with "The O.C."

USATODAY.COM - [Corey Sevier] has already has belly-flopped this month in one of the year's worst, and worst-cast, series: Fox's fast-sinking soap North Shore.

MYRTLEBEACHONLINE.COM - Fox prays its recently introduced island idiocy, "North Shore," doesn't slip beneath the waves.

[LikaNui]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

Any news on the latest ratings after last night's episode?
I sort-of watched, mostly to see local scenery, etc., and there wasn't much at all this time. And I'm extremely disappointed that there's no local music whatsoever.

[pzarquon]

Re: "North Shore" on FOX

Fast National ratings for Monday, June 28, 2004 (from here):

Fear Factor," 5.4/10, led the 8 p.m. hour for NBC. Repeats of "Still Standing" and "Yes, Dear" averaged 4.9/9 for CBS. ABC came in third with "My Wife and Kids" and "George Lopez." FOX's "North Shore" scored a 2.9/5 in its third week on the air. A rerun of "7th Heaven," 2.1/4, put The WB in fifth, a few tenths ahead of "The Parkers" and "Eve" on UPN.

CBS, NBC Share Top Honors in Monday Ratings (from here):

NBC also won the first hour of primetime with it 8 p.m. rerun of "Fear Factor" (8.7 million, 3.3/11). ABC wasn't much competition for the night (4.7 million, 1.8/5) with a stack of comedy repeats capped at 10 p.m. by the special "Weddings." Fox was only slightly better off, demographically speaking, with its new drama "North Shore" (4.3 million, 2.0/6) and 9 p.m. reality series "The Casino" (4.9 million, 2.3/6).

It debuted at 6 million, fell to 4.5 million, and seems to be holding there. This article at Michigan's mLive.com site brings some context:

Perhaps most disappointing is "North Shore," a soap about young workers at a luxury hotel in Hawaii. Fox hoped it would catch on as "The O.C." did last summer, but it drew 4.4 million viewers last week.

"While we're seeing the shows come out of the gate slowly, we are seeing growth in virtually every show each week and we're optimistic," said Fox spokesman Scott Grogin. "You can't start an entirely new way of programming a network and expect it to come out of the gate like gangbusters, especially in the summer." While the shows' numbers are small, Fox is taking some solace in the fact that they're not dropping much week to week, so they may have potential to build.

Fox has no plans to change its schedule, Grogin said.