Echoes of other, superior American dramas reverberate through this sun’n’sand teen soap. Dawson’s Beach, then? More like Home & Away with better hair. Spanning a single summer in the fictional town of Falcon Beach, this sparkly, hyper-real melodrama is stuffed with beautiful people, gratuitous beach-body shots and a whole lot of, ahem, water sports. There are shimmers of promise in the feature-length pilot, dragged down by a nagging sense of familiarity that doesn’t let up for the remaining episodes; ditto the over-stuffed soundtrack. Cynics might well note the deft jabbing of sexy demographic buttons: there’s the druggy ex-model, the winsome geek, the bitch with a heart of gold, the horribly contrived love triangle. It lacks the wit of Dawson’s Creek... and the bite of The O.C., so thank God they’re all gorgeous.
DVD Extras:
Minor extras comprise two eight-minute Making Ofs.
