The Lake: Summer By the Water

The WB.com introduced a new web series called The Lake on August 10, featuring four (4) separate installments of the series running roughly 10 minutes each.  The series is executive produced by Peter Aronson (former Disney executive), Jordan Levin (former WB CEO), Michael Petok (the Bernie Mac Show), Jason Priestley (yes, the actor from Beverly Hills, 90210) – who also serves as the director of the web series – and Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin (Defying Gravity), who are also the writers of the series.

New episodes "The Lake" premiere Mondays on theWB.com

Set in the fictional town of Lake Eleanor, the show focuses on six teenagers and their parents as they spend the summer along the lake, dealing with typical teen issues such as romance, popularity, family troubles and much more.

In the debut episode, entitled “Summer Begins”, viewers are introduced to the cast of characters, including:

• Olivia (newcomer Heather Ann Davis), a 17-year-old who comes to Lake Eleanor to visit her Aunt Leslie (Elisa Donovan, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Clueless).  Olivia seems to have an unhappy secret as she tells her aunt, “I just want to be normal again, at least for three months.”;

• Mom, Sondra (Amy Stewart, Raising the Bar) and son, Ryan (newcomer Drew Van Acker) – are back at the lake sans father and husband Steve, who seems to be missing in action;

• Newlyweds Dennis (Mark Totty, Joan of Arcadia) and Claire (Mim Drew, Huff) who have brought their children – Alexis (Samantha Cope, Drake & Josh), Claire’s daughter – and Drew (Devin Crittenden, Disaster Movie) and Madison (newcomer Erica Dasher) – Dennis’ kids – together into a not-too-happy mixed family; and

• The local Riley family:  Dad Jack (Robb Derringer), son Luke (newcomer Nick Thurston) and daughter Shelby (newcomer Meredith Dilg), who has a secret that is keeping her away from the Lake for the summer.

“Summer Solstice,” the second episode, focuses on Olivia getting a job at the Yacht Club where Ryan works as a lifeguard.  Olivia and Ryan met in the debut episode with Olivia falling hard for him only to discover in this episode that he has been dating Alexis for the past three years.

Drew, the awkward teen who is trying so hard to be cool this summer, is hung up on Olivia, but he soon realizes that she only has eyes for Ryan despite his relationship status.  His sister Madison is friends with Luke, the local boy who just doesn’t meet up to the standards of her “wicked” step-sister Alexis, all the while avoiding the fact they both like each other despite having been friends since they were kids.

After the six teens spend the day at the Lake, Alexis learns from Ryan that his dad won’t ever be coming to the Lake again, as he is having an affair with his secretary and his mom wants to keep their family troubles secret.

In the third installment, “Summer Sparks” we learn that Alexis believes that “tonight’s the night” for she and Ryan to have sex, but her special night gets interrupted when the kids decide, after having a night of underage drinking at the Yacht Club, to break into the kitchen to make s’mores (of all things).

They are nearly able to get out of the kitchen without being caught until Ryan decides to scare Alexis and knocks over cooking utensils, which signals to the security guard on duty that trouble was afoot.  Instead of allowing all six of the kids to be caught, Luke takes the blame.

Also in this episode we learn that Drew is a musical prodigy, playing cello at Juilliard.  And that newlyweds Claire and Dennis have only been together for six months.

The final of the four episodes, “Summer Secrets,” shows that Luke has been grounded by his dad for the breaking and entering at the Yacht Club; that Leslie is the only one at the Lake who knows about Shelby’s secret other than her family; and that Alexis’s mom learns she wanted to have sex with Ryan and is, obviously, very upset.

During this installment, viewers also learn that Shelby, whose mother left the family when she was 13, got pregnant and decided to move away from Lake Eleanor to stay with extended family until the baby is born at which time she will give the baby away.  Shelby and her dad have a strained relationship because of this unplanned pregnancy, but Leslie, who went with Jack and Luke to visit Shelby, gave him a pep-talk about working things out with her.

This show can be considered a cross between the series Falcon Beach that aired on the ABC Family Channel and the syndicated soap Monarch Cove. The Lake is on par with most teen angst series in terms of story archs; however, unlike several series on TV right now the acting is not wooden but rather believable and the writing is somewhat simplistic and sophomoric but is rounded out by likeable characters and realistic portrayals.

The next four installments are available now, and the final four will be posted next Monday, August 24. Log in and check it out for yourself.