More details on Hidden Palms, the CW’s teen soap for summer
We have a bit more information about Hidden Palms, which the CW is hoping will draw in teens who have nothing better to do during the summertime than watch television.
The show brings back some NYPD Blues alumni (Sharon Lawrence and Gail O’Grady), as well as Taylor Handley of The O.C.), Tessa Thompson from Veronica Mars and Leslie Jordan of Will and Grace.
It’s the story of Johnny (Taylor Handley, gun-wielding Oliver on “The O.C.”), who moves from Seattle to Palm Springs, Calif., with his mom (Gail O’Grady, “American Dreams”) and stepdad (D.W. Moffett).
Viewers meet Johnny in a prologue on the night of his father’s suicide when Johnny is a clean-cut kid — he does his homework while clad in an oxford button-down and sweater — and then we’re reintroduced to him a year later when he’s perfected a disaffected-youth look: An Army jacket over dark T-shirts, perfect gear for the kid who’s just out of rehab for alcohol abuse.
In Palm Springs, Johnny meets ne’er-do-well neighbor Cliff (Michael Cassidy, nice-guy Zach on “The O.C.”), who initially comes off as a vaguely menacing cad. Evidently producers felt that wasn’t enough to clue in the audience, so late in the pilot he kicks a dog.
Cliff has some sort of history with Greta (Amber Heard), the hottie Johnny romps through sprinklers with on a golf course at night. Cliff and Greta were friends with the kid who lived in Johnny’s room before him. That boy, Eddie (J.D. Pardo), is now dead, which sets up a mystery that runs through the eight-episode series. (Williamson promised closure at a January press conference: “Yes, there is a wrap-up. Yes, we do reveal everything we need to reveal. And yes, (the story) continues.”) Initially, some of the character archetypes seem like a retread of “Dawson’s” with Greta as the Jen character and less-glamorous neighbor Liza (Ellary Porterfield) as the Joey, but subsequent episodes appear to disprove that notion.
The show premieres on May 30th on the CW.
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