After last week's pilot episode, I think a lot of people were down on North Shore. To be honest, the show had a lot to work on whether it be the plastic expressions of Brooke Burns or the confused ways they liked to fade their shots before commercials. I had a good amount of faith that things could get better. People are still comparing North Shore to The OC, and to expect the former to be the equal of the latter overnight was a little too much. With that being said, it seems that the after filming the pilot, Fox sent writers from the North Shore to sit on the set of The OC, and it looks like they picked up a few pointers.
The first pointer North Shore picked up from The OC was not so much a pointer as a cast member, namely Amanda Righetti who blows in like a gale force wind as "Hurricane" Tessa. Tessa makes her presence felt quite early, getting bombed on tequila and singing karaoke with plenty of zeal, but little talent to show for it. And if it wasn't bad enough that she pissed off the Frankie, MJ, and Jason triumvirate that night, she is left with nothing the next morning except a trashed hotel room and a missing tall, dark, and handsome.
Speaking of Frankie, MJ, and Jason, we learned that they not only work together, but they are also roommates. This is not all that strange because, as we know, The OC made its money thanks to some dysfunctional houseguest action throughout the entire season. One thing is strange, however, and that is bartender Frankie, who never knew of the relationship of Jason and Nicole despite apparently having to deal with a lot of her stuff in their house. We get this little piece of knowledge thanks to the pre-credits breakfast banter, also made popular by that show from Newport Beach. Anybody find a trend yet?
Now we all know that Jason is a nice guy who is a strong believer that the wealth you are born with is not an indicator of the quality of your character. So, while he is making one of his trips along the beautiful seaside highway and spots Tessa with only a couple of dollars and some Parliaments to her name, he offer her a job at the hoterl, as a maid no less. Her first assignment? Clean up her own trashed room. Of the irony!
Nicole, as you can imagine, is not exactly gung-ho with the new hire, but she has enough problems dealing with her insomnia and all of those other little things that are just everyday life in the hostpitality biz. The rest of the employees also have things to worry about. Gabriel, who is absent from most of the episode, and Frankie are trying to help a hopeless young romantic from Minnesota snag his Coloradan dream girl, dispensing plenty of generic love advice. What they neglected to mention is that the poor kid is on a one way trip to Carrot Top impersonation school unless he finds somebody with some scissors, or a razor, or anything to rid his head of one of the worst attempts at a haircut that I have seen in a long time.
MJ, our plucky yet angry waitress, is all a flutter with her own love situation. Her first date with Chris goes well and despite having yell "Don't look at my ass!" after realizing his breakfast/rappelling adventure may have been a cheap attempt to cop a feel, she finds some time for him later the day for a little bit of a nooner on the hotel grounds. MJ comes to her senses and separates herself from Chris in just enough time to bump into Tessa. Seeing Tessa wearing a maid's uniform, MJ quickly warms to her new coworker and offers to buy her lunch. In appreciation, Tessa removes some Ziggy's Sex Wax from MJ's hair.
During lunch, Tessa explains the perils of guys who seem to perfect, and then runs into her former tall, dark, and handsome. We learn that they are a con team, although she seems an unwilling participant and wants to change her ways. MJ, meanwhile, is now completely paranoid and cancels her next nookie appointment with Chris. Afterwards, Chris laid on some fairly lame and unoriginal compliments saying how MJ was the girl for him and he would wait until she was ready to take the relationship further. This whole exchange has me believing Chris is more interested in playing sticky finger than actually sticking together.
« M.O.M.A. to MTV: "Please Stop" | Main | Hawaiian Punch Up: North Shore Gets Gooder »
Comments (1)
I definitely forgot to watch last night but thanks to your enthused play-by-play of the second episode, I will certainly be viewing North Shore next week. I'm up for any show that is chasing the demo, ratings and storyline of The OC. What's that you say? The OC twice a week - with some of the same cast members? Yup, I'm there.
Agreed on the greetings J-Unit. Really, it's time to say goodbye to the "hey." It's official - no one in our generation says hello anymore - or at least, our TV generation.
Small side plug for your reality mavens: check out the premiere of Outback Jack tonight. I believe it will be on TBS on 9PM. Though I may be one of reality programming's biggest skeptics, I'll be watching. I hope to see some comments on the site tomorrow that whole-heartedly mock these pampered women who, much to their surprise, will be competing for their 'Bachelor' in the great outdoors. Good fun.
And, Congrats to tvgasm favorite Jenny Alden! All of us folks from the Big Green are personally proud to see one of our own grace the mini-screen.
1 of 1 | Posted by Grabz | Posted on June 22, 2004 1:32 PM