‘Siesta Key’ is a real walk on the (Laguna) ‘Beach’
New reality show is a slightly more adult sun-filled melodrama
It’s like going back. Back to the beginning. MTV’s new reality series Siesta
Key, premiering Monday (10 p.m. ET/PT) feels like running on a sun-drenched beach toward an arm-tangled reunion with Lagu
na Beach. The first season of the original beach-set reality series, which aired from 2004-06, centered around a group of high school students in Orange County, and introduced us to the love triangle between Lauren Conrad, surfer bro Stephen Colletti and a chunky highlights-wearing Kristin Cavallari. Cameras captured teenage rites of passage like prom and spring break.
Siesta Key, the brainchild of
Laguna Beach producers, is reminiscent of MTV’s early successes in reality TV. The New York Times reported in 2005 that the show averaged 2.2 million viewers in its first season. In 2006, the Laguna
Beach spin-off The Hills, which documented Conrad’s move to Los Angeles and internship at
Teen Vogue, averaged 2.9 million viewers during its premiere in 2006.
It seems Siesta Key producers relied on a tried and true formula: documenting the drama of attractive people, sans confessional interviews, spliced overtop popular songs á la Kelly Clarkson’s Since
U Been Gone, which may still conjure up a very specific limousine scene for Laguna fans.
The new show trades one sunny beach location (SoCal) for another: Siesta Key, an island on Florida’s west coast.
The first of 10 hour-long episodes highlights the tension between Alex and two girls vying for his attention, Juliette and Madisson. With a cool girl’s confident air, Juliette plays it coy compared with Madisson. But like LC and Ste-Phen, she and Alex have a history — they were high school sweethearts. And to make the triangle all the more scandalous, Alex cheated on Juliette with (you guessed it!) Madisson.
However, unlike the apparent disdain between Kristin and LC, Juliette and Madisson appear to be on better terms. Madisson even agrees to tell Juliette if Alex asks her out.
“Summer in Siesta Key is like no other, trust me,” Chloe, playboy Alex’s bestie who is positioned as the alpha female, promises in the trailer.
While the show’s set-up feels familiar, there are noticeable variances. Unlike its predecessors, Siesta
Key’s inaugural season focuses on an older crew of twentysomethings. The cast also is slightly less homogenous, featuring a member of Cape Verdean heritage, Brandon. His flirty ways confuse Chloe, who is open about her admiration for the heartthrob, though his coquettish ways make it nearly impossible to decipher his feelings.
Couple Kelsey and Garrett round out the cast. Kelsey, whose modeling career has taken her around the world, is now tending bar and caring for her mother who has MS. After the first episode, it appears she might leave her personal trainer boyfriend Garrett for Alex’s affection. As escapist television, Siesta
Key delivers. Though the lighthearted drama — like the angst surrounding the quest to find the perfect bathing suit — may feel highly consequential to its charming players, the tumult-lite program will likely seduce fans of
Laguna Beach and its ilk.