Surf's Up for FOX's 'North Shore'
LOS ANGELES - FOX has ordered 13 episodes of the drama series "The North Shore." Disappointingly, the series, from 20th Century Fox TV, has no connection to the 1987 surf classic, which starred Matt Adler, Gregory Harrison and Nia Peeples (or with The WB's reality series "Boarding House: North Shore"). Chris Brancato, Bert Salke, Kevin Falls and Peter Elkoff have signed on to executive produce the series, which is an "Upstairs, Downstairs" look at a Hawaiian luxury hotel, its guests and its staff. Formerly titled "Oahu," the drama stars Kristoffer Polaha ("America's Prince"), Rob Estes ("Melrose Place") and Navi Rawat ("The O.C."). "It's a very commercial idea with some very compelling characters at the center of it," Craig Erwich, executive vp at FOX, tells The Hollywood Reporter. The pick-up for "North Shore" is FOX's second early scheduling move in less than a week. The network, which vowed to begin year-round scheduling last summer, snagged 13 episodes of the comedy "Method & Red" last week. FOX has promised the premieres of several new series this summer, a strategy which helped turn "The O.C." into a demographic hit last year, but which failed to draw audiences to "Keen Eddie." In other behind-the-scenes pilot news, Shaun Cassidy will join The WB's drama "The Mountain" as an executive producer and showrunner. The series, from Warner Bros. TV, focuses on a 25-year-old (Oliver Hudson) who inherits the family's mountain resort. Barbara Hershey and Anson Mount co-star. Under his deal with WBTV, Cassidy ("Cold Case," "Tarzan") is also overseeing the CBS midseason drama pilot "Nice Guys." |
The Exec Producers come from some pretty serious shows so North Shore might not be as campy as The Place. Scantily clad women may be its saving grace.