Quite possibly the definitive
Guilty Pleasure of a daytime
Soap Opera. Had a particularly large fandom in the
United Kingdom during its heyday. Such was its popularity over there that petitions were sent to the UK broadcaster (
Channel Five) begging them to have it
uncancelled in America. This was despite the fact that the quality fell into
So Bad, It's Good status several times. Wobbly scenery, dodgy dialogue and woeful acting were abound.
The plot featured
Meg who, after discovering that her fiancé was cheating on her on their wedding day, packs her bags and leaves her Kansas home-town for a
Handsome Stranger with whom she has been conversing via e-mail for months. She arrives at his home-town of Sunset Beach and lodges at his mansion. At first she finds
Ben withdrawn and unsociable, which she later finds out is due to the death of his first wife at sea. He even keeps a large portrait of her dressed in white, on a swing-set in his living room.
Meg finds a rival for Ben's affections in his childhood friend
Annie Douglas who takes an immediate dislike to her. The Ben, Annie and Meg
Love Triangle takes up the first story arc of the series, expanding to include the other residents of Sunset Beach in various yet interlocking story-lines.
Gregory Richards, the mogul of the town, owns the newspaper for which Meg works. His wife
Olivia is a secret drunk. Their daughter
Caitlin is involved in a torrid love affair with
Cole Deschanel, a con-artist whom Gregory despises and with whom Olivia is having a secret affair. Ben finances some of Gregory's operations. Meg makes friends with the local lifeguard
Casey who at the time is dating
Rae, who is also Meg's doctor...
Phew, got that yet?Now, Casey is also friends with
Michael, a lifeguard, later sports physician, who is currently dating
Vanessa, a plucky reporter with a nose for trouble. Vanessa also works for the same newspaper as Meg. Olivia's best friend
Bette, who is the town gossip and dispenser of sage advice, provides Meg with a kind ear and information about Ben's past.
Ricardo hates Ben because his first wife was Ricardo's sister. Ricardo is in a relationship with
Paula Stevens, a fellow police offer. Both are involved in
Long Lost Sibling sideplots. Together all these shared lives and histories form the basis of plots for the series.
Tropes featured in the show:
- All Just a Dream: subverted. In the series finale, following the double wedding of Meg and Ben and Michael and Vanessa, Meg wakes up in Kansas, and realizes that the past three years in Sunset Beach have been a dream and that the characters in the show were actually her friends and family in back home, in a homage to The Wizard of Oz, only to wake up from THAT dream the day after her wedding to Ben.
- Asian and Nerdy: Rae is a doctor.
- Bed Trick: Ben's evil twin seduces Meg by pretending to be Ben, essentially raping her. Even worse, he forces Ben to watch through a two-way mirror.
- Betty and Veronica: For Ben, Meg was the Betty and interchangeably Annie/Maria were his Veronicas. For Meg, Ben was her Veronica and Tim was her Betty.
- Big Screwed-Up Family: The Richards family, as headed by their patriarch Gregory.
- Bishōnen: Casey.
- Brainless Beauty: Caitlin Richards.
- Brainy Brunette: Meg, Maria, Gabby, several.
- Dead Man's Chest: Annie's friend Tim gets stuffed into a chest temporarily after being murdered, before finally being buried in cement.
- Dream Sequence: Often provided by Annie, but a feature of the other characters as well. Sometimes these would segue into flashback scenes. About halfway through the show, the surreal scenes mostly disappear, however, as they stop fitting into the tone of many of the storylines.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Casey. He does get his girl in the finale, though.
- Evil Red Head: Annie, who is responsible for most of the trouble in the show.
- Evil Twin: Derek to Ben. On a related note Gregory and Tobias, though it was more a case of Evil Nephew/Good Uncle. Sort of.
- Faking the Dead: Used frequently. It's a soap opera, people!
- Fish out of Water: Meg on arrival at Sunset Beach.
- Flash Back: Used frequently to avoid Continuity Lockout. It's rare for an episode to not flash back at least twice.
- Gilligan Cut: Any time a character has a flashback, to the point of being a Running Gag.
- Girl Next Door: Meg, Ben's love interest.
- Heroes Want Redheads: Annie. Everyone wanted a piece of her in-show, except for the one guy she actually wanted to notice her.
- Hotter and Sexier: The mid-season re-tool.
- Hot Men At Work: Everyone, but the lifeguards are impossibly ripped.
- Hot Mom: Olivia, Bette, Maria. Quite a few actually. The show was fairly equal opportunity when it came to attractive cast members.
- Hot Dad: Gregory, Cole.
- Karma Houdini: Annie is more pitiable than anything, but she manages to talk her way out of an astounding amount of trouble; despite causing the majority of the problems on the show, she never gets punished aside from being mistrusted.
- Lady Drunk: Olivia.
- Latin Lover: Take your pick; there's Cole, Ricardo and Antonio.
- Love Triangle: Several as part of the running side-plots.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Derek and Tess for Benjy, Elaine for Cole.
- Luke, You Are My Father: Bette is Annie's mother.
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