Greetings,
I have an uncanny ability to spot a star on the rise. Sometimes they only remain a star in my own eyes, but every so often, the rest of the world catches on to this as well. I believe I revealed this special power in my Gerard Butler retrospective, but there have been others. My favorite actor, Gary Sinise, for example. Yep, I saw him in The Stand and thought, "Oh, yeah. THAT guy. That guy right there. Keep your eyes on that one." And then there was Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. I was twelve when I figured out she was going to hit it big. And how did I discover her? Well, I'll tell you right now. But first, a hint. It's the twentieth anniversary of this momentous occasion.
In the summer of 1992, a little show crept up on the horizon called Swan's Crossing. It was a daily, half-hour, soap-opera about a group of rich teenagers going about their drama ridden lives in a fictional town called - what! - Swan's Crossing. Before you ask, yes, everything in the town was swan themed. And I do mean everything. You couldn't cough in that place without your germs hitting something swan-shaped. It was like a ritzy version of Raytown on Mama's Family. As I said, it aired in the summer, and it took place during the summer. Just one summer. Yes, it only lasted three months, but it was three of the best months of my life. Let's delve into the drama, shall we?
Now I won't take you through all the goings on of the whole three months, because, especially in the soap world, a lot can happen in a short time. And a lot did. Still, I cannot help but share some of the fabulousness of what went on in this place, so I'll just give you the highlights of the first week or so, which will be plenty of excitement all on its own.
Whether it was supposed to be this way or not, Sarah Michelle Gellar was the star of the show portraying Sydney Rutledge, the glamorous, spoiled, only daughter of the mayor. Oh, and she's like fourteen. Yeah, everybody is basically fourteen, which is why every little event of their lives is dramatized to an overwhelming degree. Sydney was pretty much a mini Erica Kane. I guess someone else noticed this, since she eventually got cast as Erica's daughter on All My Children.
Of course, the gorgeous, rich girl needs a boyfriend. Not to worry. Enter Garrett Booth, played by Shane McDermott. Some of you may remember him as the star of the 1993 film, Airborne a.k.a. the movie that both Jack Black and Seth Green have most likely paid IMDB to take off their resumes. But I doubt it. Anyway, Garrett was a cute, but hilariously arrogant young man, cut from the same cloth from which we would later get Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass. His catch phrase, if you will, was, "Oooh, I love myself!". No lie. And it was said in the most over the top way imaginable. Somehow, though, it worked.
So where's the drama in this relationship? Uh-oh! Their parents hate each other! You could cut the originality with a knife on that one. It turns out that through some past feud on which we are never really filled in, Sydney's mother despises Garret's father and vice versa. So the young couple are forced to keep their secret . . . from their parents. Because pretty much everyone else in town knows they're together. You know what, let me amend that statement. Literally, every single person in town knows about their relationship, except for their parents. May I remind you that Sydney's mother was the mayor, presumably with her "people" going to and fro throughout the entire town, and she still didn't know what was going on. Wow. Just wow.
Our first episode centers around Garrett's return to Swan's Crossing after his father had sent him to Europe for some time in order to keep him away from Sydney. Because that is what rich people do with their kids when they disobey. That episode was amazing, full of crying and yelling and even an explosion! Okay, it's just a big, toy rocket type thing that blows up. No harm, no foul, but Sydney is convinced that the explosion killed Garrett. What? And how? It's okay, though. He was just hiding to screw with her. Yes, it's that kind of a relationship. There's a thin line between love and rich kids so bored with their lives that they occasionally fake their own deaths to torture each other. My word, you mix youth and the one percent, and this is what you get.
During the first week, the kids - who am I kidding? - the tiny, tiny adults find out that there's a new girl moving to town. Not just any new girl, a former child star named Mila Rosnovsky played by future Sweet Valley and Doublemint twin Brittany Daniel. Everyone is pretty excited, except for Sydney. She is very worried. You may be thinking why. So what if another beautiful, rich girl moves to town. Well, what if she's nice (spoiler: she is)? But Sydney is beautiful, rich and kind of . . . a "B". Sorry, I don't say that word. But she was also a "B" that you could tell was, underneath it all, very insecure. Yes, I, too, was shocked that a show aimed at teens had a character that wasn't so one dimensional.
Okay, new girl in town, seems easy enough, but - another uh-oh! - Mila's not the only one coming to town. We also have Callie Walker played by an actress named Stacey Moseley. I'll discuss her more in a bit, because she has earned that honor. There's no hoopla over Callie because no one knows she's coming, and she's not a star. She's kind of a tomboy, and her dad's a bit of a recluse. Oh, yeah, and she lives in a submarine. I am NOT making this up. She and her dad, who is some kind of captain, I'll guess Navy, lived in a for-real submarine. They arrive in Swan's Crossing, and still no one knows. No one but Garrett that is, because he is slick, and he uses the info to his advantage. By the way, if you're wondering how no one noticed a docked submarine, there is a logical explanation. Their periscope is shaped like (dramatic pause) a swan. And those fluffy, moving, noise making swans look exactly like one made out of metal with a lens sticking out of its mouth. Indeed.
And so the week ends with all the residents of Swan's Crossing, old and new, finally meeting face to face. Then, this tower thing falls down, and this deck or whatever collapses into the lake. Chaos ensues and one of the new girls needs to be rescued. That about sums it up.
Now besides the ones I mentioned, we also have just about every cliche of a character you would hope to find on a teen show. We have the sweet girl, Glory Booth, who is also Garrett's little sister. There's her computer geek boyfriend, J.T. Adams, who along with his friend, Neil Atwater, is developing some kind of . . . computer thing that appears to put them in danger. As those things tend to do. There's Nancy Robbins, who can be kind of a lower case "b" but seems eager to go upper case, and also Bobby DeCastro, who changes his name to Saja, because he's all into some kind of Eastern philosophy stuff. We have Jimmy Clayton. He works at a garage, along with Callie. They serve as each other's sometimes nemesis, sometimes object of affection. What's the difference? We even have a token poor girl, Sandy Swan. Now that "swan" reference is because her ancestors founded the place, not because they changed their name so they would fit in. She's also a singer/songwriter with her nerdy friend, Owen Fowler. Joke, if we must, but the girl had a great voice.
Of course, we had random adults, parents and whatnot, like Jazz (hopefully, not her real name), a waitress at Swan's (surprise!)Soda Shop, and Jimmy and Callie's boss, Barek, whom she finds a bit suspicious. Shady or not, I thought the guy was kind of hot. And we can't have a show about rich people without a butler in there, so we had the one that worked for Sydney named Ralph. He provided some good comedy for us. Oh, and Mira Sorvino was also on this show for about two weeks, playing Sophia, Saja's seventeen year old (right!) sister. Yes, THAT Mira Sorvino. And I believe this show was occurring as her father, Paul, was starring on Law and Order. This is an acting family with some serious range, people.
Some of the people on this show did have some acting chops, but, as I said, I'd like to single another one out. I did figure that Sarah Michelle would break out and be a star, but she wasn't the only one about whom I thought that. It was the aforementioned Stacey Moseley. This girl was a really good actress. She could be subtle, but also dramatic while never overdoing it. Now before this, she actually had a small role in Born on the Fourth of July. So clearly, others saw the talent. Since her days in the land of the Swans, I've seen her on an episode of Law and Order and, more recently, on an episode of Leverage. I truly cannot believe that she is not in the same stratosphere as some of her co-stars. Well, as long she's happy, and I hope she is.
And so that is how I spent the summer of my twelfth year. I would love relive this some time, but, as of yet, no one has had the good sense to officially put this show on DVD. The best I can do is a search on YouTube for some really bad quality episodes. Seriously, though, would it really be that hard to get this thing on DVD? Come on, Sarah Michelle. Help out your fans who knew you when.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
