Paradise Beach

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paradise Beach was a short-lived Australian television series made by Village Roadshow Pictures in association with New World Television for the Nine Network between 1993 and 1994.

The series was set around characters living and working on Queensland's Gold Coast and was filmed largely on location, offering views of crashing waves, golden beaches and scantily clad young women and men. Paradise Beach was intended not only as a rival to Australian soaps Neighbours and Home and Away but also to be the first breakthrough Australian soap to make it in America.

Veteran Australian Producer Jock Blair was the driving force behind Paradise Beach, with Nick McMahon as Executive Producer, and the first episodes of the soap were clearly aimed at the American audience. Australian actress Tiffany Lamb faked a very suspicious sounding American accent in her role as Lisa Whitman, and her opening storyline revolved around her childhood sweetheart Cooper Hart (played by Olivia Newton John's husband Matt Lattanzi). Also appearing from the start were Robert Coleby (Chopper Squad, The Young Doctors) as Tom Barsby, and another familiar face was Andrew McKaige (Sons and Daughters, Prisoner) as Tom's younger brother Nick.

The rest of the original cast consisted of unknown actors all in their first acting roles. These included Ingo Rademacher, now famous for his separate roles in American series Titans and General Hospital. Here, he played Sean Hayden, and became particularly well known on set for his over-bearing confidence, earning him the nickname "Ego Runamucker"! Slightly more grounded perhaps was his on-screen sister, Tori, played by Megan Connolly. Sadly, the actress died on 6 September 2001 of a drug overdose, following short stints in Breakers and Home and Away. Finally, Raelee Hill was cast as scheming Loretta Taylor, Jaason Simmons was cast as bronzed lifeguard Harry Tait and Kimberley Joseph played Cassie Barsby, sister of Tom and Nick.

The series was largely savaged by the critics. With negative comparisons to the American shows Baywatch and Beverly Hills, 90210, the soap failed to make an impression in America. It was scheduled against The Oprah Winfrey Show at 3.30pm and, not surprisingly, failed to make any impact at all. It was a similar disastrous launch in Australia, where it aired at 5.30pm, and even in the UK where Australian soaps of any quality are generally very popular, it flopped in an early evening 6.30pm timeslot.

Paradise Beach was parodied extensively in the popular Australian comedy series The Late Show. Emphasized was the poor acting, the formulaic plot and characterization, characters dancing every time rock-and-roll music was played, and the cash-in mentality of filming the soap series at a beachside studio complex. Several times throughout the sketch the characters would, in unison, point offstage and exclaim "Hey! Warner Brothers Movie World!".

When Paradise Beach was taken off the air in America, all traces of Americanism were removed and the producers concentrated on making the series work in its homeland and Europe. Matt Lattanzi departed, but not before Olivia Newton John made a brief cameo, beaming down from the entrance of an Aeroplane. Further additions to the cast included more experienced actors from other soaps including Melissa Bell from Neighbours as Emily Harris, and former-E Street regular Melissa Tkautz arrived as Vanessa Campbell. However, after two seasons, Nine Network eventually cancelled Paradise Beach after just 260 episodes.

After the series ended, Jaason Simmons joined the cast of Baywatch the following year. Kimberley Joseph is currently featuring in a recurring role in the cult-TV hit Lost as Air Hostess Cindy Chandler.

In the UK, the soap was launched in a blaze of publicity on Sky Television in September 1993 in the 6.30pm time slot with a 1pm repeat the following afternoon. Sky moved the more popular, but recently axed E Street to a weekend slot, but when Paradise Beach flopped in Britain as well as Australia, Sky moved E Street back to weekdays and Paradise Beach was screened at 6pm and Midday, creating an 'Aussie Soap Hour' for a few months until August 1994.

Paradise Beach was screened in Venezuela by RCTV (Radio Caracas Television) on their matinal block of soap operas with a low rating.