The Real Pretend: Summerland Flashback

In 2004, there was a show called Summerland on the WB, now the CW. It was created by Lori Loughlin, who was Becky on Full House. I think maybe she was trying to create a comeback or something, but she mostly just looked too blond and too tan.

I started to watch the show for two reasons: Lori Loughlin (Ava) and Merrin Dungey (Susannah). I was a loyal Full House viewer, and thought I would give Lori a chance. Also, Merrin had played Syndey Bristow's best friend on the best TV show of all time, Alias, but she had been killed off. I thought she deserved another chance.

The story line is that Ava lives in California on the beach with her friend Susannah, and they are fashion designers. Ava's sister, who lived in Kansas, was killed in a car accident along with her husband, leaving three children. The children come to live with Ava and have to sort out their emotional problems.

Besides Lori and Merrin, can we please talk about who the rest of the cast was? They were barely known and nobody cared.

The oldest child, Bradin, was played by Jesse McCartney. This was before he became a pop sensation and every girl wanted to rip his shirt off.

The middle child, Nikki, was played by Kay Panabaker, who isn't super famous, but has definitely become a Disney Channel regular. She was a character on Phil of the Future, starred in the movie Moondance Alexander, and was in the recent movie of Nancy Drew.

The youngest child, Derrick, people could still care less about. Which is why I didn't include a photo.

Bradin (Jesse McCartney) had a love interest on the show, played by Sara Paxton. After finishing Summerland, Sara Paxton later went on to star in the kids' movie about a mermaid, Aquamarine. She also had a TV show of her own, called Darcy's Wild Life, where she lived in Africa or something and there were all sorts of animals to take care of. She was also supposed to star in a new show quite recently called The Beautiful Life, where she plays a model, but after like two episodes airing, it got pulled.

But who takes the cake? Nikki's friend, Cameron. Cameron's father was going through a divorce, and he hated the world. Nikki sort of had a crush on him, and I couldn't see why because he was this dorky kid with bad hair and a gap in between his teeth. He would also scrunch up his face a lot to show emotion, but mostly I just wanted to slap him. I was like "Nikki, move on, he's not worth it." Who was Cameron played by, you wonder?

No big deal, just Zac Efron. Yeah, when he had a gap in his teeth. He was not popular, he was just some dumb kid the WB pulled to play stupid Cameron. And now where is he? All High School Musicaled out, making tons of money.

But you know who my favorite actor to appear on the show was? The hobo man on the beach, that gave Ava advice when she didn't know what to do once time. It was none other than Sully from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. I freaked out when I saw him. Even though he was playing a homeless man, he did not have his wolf dog with him.