YMMV / Sunset Beach

• Anchored Ship: For many fans, the conclusion to Gabi/Antonio came off as kind of a shock. All through the show, even 'til the last few episodes, they were hinting towards the fact that they are each others' destiny, future, etc. (Carmen's "DESTINY" poster falling on them at the Career fair!)
  • In an interview with Nick Kiriazis who played Antonio, he explained that when he initially came on the show, the producers told him he wasn't going to be a priest for very long. But they kept prolonging the sexual tension every few months. Best guess: before the cancellation they were definitely planning on having Antonio leave the priesthood and eventually get with Gabi.
• Awesome Ego: Gregory is an elitist. Del recognized him as some kind of prodigy and took Gregory under his wing. He made a fortune as a defense lawyer, formed his own land development company, and currently owns the biggest house in Sunset Beach (1 Ocean Drive), along with most of the town. Anyone would develop an ego.
• Cliché Storm: Every horror movie convention in the book:
  • A romantic picnic in a cold, dark, damp, foggy swamp. Lovely. (Terror Island)
  • On his first trip to Derek's deserted lair, Ben literally takes a minute to ponder about which soap plot he's in. (Zombie? Ghost? Split personality?)
• Ham and Cheese: There were some notable people in the cast list, namely Lesley-Anne Down and John Reilly, who got clued in on the show's direction very early.
• He Really Can Act: LAD goes full-on William Shatner here. She can bring it down a notch and convey more with a raised eyebrow than most actors can with pages of dialog. It's just too bad that, like Buxton and Behrens, these guys really didn't have the best careers.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Sam Behrens was born to play Gregory. Seriously, is there a more hardcore character in daytime than this dude?
• Narm Charm: Yep—this was part of its charm and what made it strangely addictive.
  • Mark Wolper's absurd death scene. People cried. What made it rather tragic is that Mark deserved to die least of all, and certainty not at the hands of his surrogate father (or so he appeared at the time), thus depriving Sunset Beach of one of its few heroes. If Casey, say, had died then nobody would have given a toss.
  • Bette mourning the apparent passing of Annie. As scripted, it is a moving scene and well-played by Kathleen Noone—but then it starts to run on long, with the dramatic drop to the knees, clenched fists and tribal yell conveying, quite loudly, the depth of despair Aunt Bette is feeling. "DIDJA KNOW ANNIE? DIDJA KNOOOOOOOOOOOW??" You didn't know whether to laugh or cry, which is the show in a nutshell.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Some may recognise Laura Harring (Mulholland Dr.) as Paula Foster or Kelly Hu (Martial Law) as Rae from early episodes.
  • Even getting sent to Hell doesn't slow Alistair Crane down any.
  • You know Cole #1 better as the exploding man who leveled Grauman's Chinese Theater in Iron Man 3.
  • Tim is played by Serenity's original mechanic, who seemed more interested in getting inside Kaylee's working parts.
  • Mark is dodging another killer's knife in Bride of Chucky.
  • Michael can be seen on Grey's Anatomy as Bailey's love interest. His poisonous "friend", Jamal, played another gangster in Angel's "The Thin Dead Line." Virginia was the whammy bidder in Angel's "Parting Gifts".
  • Where did they dig up Kam Heskin? Working tables at Olive Garden? And what a joke that she replaced Sheridan on Passions.
  • Lisa Guerrero began her career as a cheerleader and shifted to sportscasting. She can also be seen acting alongside Danny Devito as "Campaign Bimbo" in Batman Returns. Today she is a TV personality and news correspondent.
  • Phideaux, Prog Rock musician, is the director of this show.
• The Scrappy: No shortage of these, but Tiff and Sean top the list.
  • A tie between Meg and Maria. This was helped by the shipping rivalry over Ben in their respective fandoms.
  • Actually the title belongs to Damien—er, Benjy. The kid was so hated that there are websites out there dedicated to proving how Benjy was orchestrating every evil plot that ever occurred on the show... despite being only five years old or so when the show ended.
  • Take That, Scrappy!: Benjy is included in the cast reunion of Meg's Kansas dream... except it's the name of the dog in this reality.
• Shipping Bed Death: Couples on this show had an alarming tendency to break up if there weren't any more barriers to cross. Vanessa miscarried thanks to Virginia's attack and (temporarily) broke off her engagement to Michael. Meg was more or less kicked out of Ben's home by his irritating pimple of a son. A.J. broke ties with Olivia when she crawled back into the bottle. Perhaps worst of all, Ricardo couldn't forgive Paula for not having his back during the rape trial.
• Serial Numbers Filed Off: "Shockwave" is The Poseidon Adventure done on a budget. "Terror Island" speaks for itself.

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