Summerland lands on June 1

Surf will be up in Summerland on June 1 on the WB Network’s new show, which shares a name with our fair burg. SummerlandThe show stars Lori Loughlin as 30-something fashion designer who inherits her sister’s three kids when their parents are killed in an accident. They live in a hip beach community, natch. But it’s the fictional community of Playa Linda, said Andrea Gruber, Publicity Manager for the WB Television Network. “Summerland is just the title of the show basically because it’s a summer series,” she said.

Gruber, who grew up in Montecito, predicts tourists will still trek to Summerland to try to spot Lori Loughlin and her ensemble of beach-worthy co-stars. When “Dawson’s Creek” was hot, the show was set in the fictional town called Capeside. There happens to be a real city of Dawson in the Yukon Northwest territories of Canada, and Gruber said they had oodles of tourists who were fans of the show, as did the coast of Massachusetts, where the fictional Capeside was supposed to reside.

Of course, “Dawson’s Creek” ran for years and built up quite a following. “Summerland” has a commitment from the network to run for 12 weeks, from June 1 until the end of August, on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. After that, the jury’s still out on the show.

Loughlin came up with the original concept for “Summerland.” The network then paired her up with Executive Producer Aaron Spelling, of “Love Boat,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Melrose Place,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Dynasty,” and “7th Heaven” fame. Also involved with “Summerland” as executive producers are Remi Aubuchon, Stephen Tolkin and Spelling’s partner E. Duke Vincent.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on May 13, 2o04.

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