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Sunset Beach

83 replies

ReneBumsWombats · 22/06/2022 08:50

Come and reminisce on the land of the mundane, where every plot happens daily in real life and couldn't be more plausible. From the guy who spent years tied to a chair behind a two-way mirror watching his evil twin seduce his wife who never noticed a thing until they shagged, while down the road a bitter ex broke into a hospital to tamper with skin samples to make her love rival believe she had a disfiguring illness. Where plots take three weeks to advance five minutes in story time and the blonde woman with the stolen baby got replaced by a completely different actress halfway through, but the whole narrative was so disjointed anyway that nobody even noticed. And more!

You know you loved it. Come and let's talk!

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peachgreen · 22/06/2022 15:47

The C5 continuity announcer who talked over the credits was just incredible. It was the first time I'd heard a continuity announcer being silly and it really paved the way for the style now, especially on C4.

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ReneBumsWombats · 22/06/2022 15:52

JemimaPuddlegoose · 22/06/2022 15:46

Or the woman who stole her grandchild and pretended it was her own baby, or did the daughter steal her mother's baby and pretend it was hers? I can't remember.

Okay:

Caitlin (spoiled but sweet and naïve daughter of Sunset Beach's wealthiest and most powerful couple) met and fell in love with reformed jewel thief Cole, got engaged and pregnant.

Cole had a one-night stand with Caitlin's mother Olivia right before he met Caitlin, without knowing who she was, which resulted in Olivia also becoming pregnant. So mother and daughter were pregnant by the same man at the same time.

Olivia and her evil husband Gregory didn't want Caitlin marrying a jewel thief so Gregory came up with an idea that Olivia would pretend she was pregnant (he didn't know then that she really was pregnant and maybe by Cole!), wait for Caitlin to go into labour, drug her, then when she woke up they'd tell her that her baby died, and pretend her baby was Olivia's baby. Later Olivia reveale

Caitlin found out about the plan and drove off in despair, crashing her car and miscarrying, and was later told the crash had rendered her infertile. She continued to pretend to be pregnant while desperately trying to illegally adopt a baby to pass off as her own, because she thought Cole would dump her for being infertile.

She asked Annie (who wanted to break up Olivia and Gregory's marriage because her dad's will said she'd only receive her inheritance if she could get Gregory to marry her by a certain date) to help her get a baby. Annie finds out about Gregory and Olivia's plot and is so horrified she decides to do to them, what they'd planned to do to their own daughter - with the added benefit that losing a child will break them up (Olivia and Gregory broke up once before because Olivia's alcoholism caused her to miscarry, so Annie thinks a second miscarriage/stillbirth will break them up again).

Annie steals Olivia's baby and gives it to Caitlin, pretending it's the child of a young unmarried friend of hers who gave the baby up for adoption. So Caitlin believes she's raising some random teen mum's kid that was consensually adopted and passes off her "adopted" child as her own, without knowing the baby she adopted was actually her own presumed dead half-brother/stepson.

This is all from memory, btw!

Amazing memory.

And yes, now I remember the faked pregnancy too!

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Wishenpoof40 · 22/06/2022 15:54

Do you remember the ridiculous episode with Vanessa and Michael and Virginia and when she put some potion in Vanessa's pie or drink or something and it gave her Martin's Syndrome.

I remember the hot priest, Antonio!

JemimaPuddlegoose · 22/06/2022 15:56

Gabby and Father Fit got caught on video making love during an earthquake (thought they were going to die). They survived but Gabby’s fiancée Ricardo saw the video and was so devastated he had some kind of stroke and couldn’t speak. He spent the rest of the time glaring evilly at Gabby and Father Fit (his brother) and plotting his revenge.

It's even more incestuous than that.

Gabi came to SB to visit her half-sister Paula, who was dating Ricardo. Gabi seduced and slept with her sister's boyfriend, then falsely accused him of rape. It turned out Gabi had actually been severely sexually abused by her own father growing up, and genuinely believed that Ricardo had raped her due to PTSD flashbacks. She realised he hadn't raped her and everyone forgave her for the fake rape allegation, since she didn't do it on purpose. But Paula left town over the stress. Gabi and Ricardo then started dating and got engaged, and later she slept with Ricardo's brother Antonio who was a priest.

Also Ricardo and Antonio were brothers to Maria, Ben's presumed dead first wife, hence Ricardo thinking Ben was a murderer. (When it was really his evil twin! Who didn't kill Maria! Because she came back from the dead! At Ben's wedding!!)

It's actually terrifying how much this has stuck in my mind.

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ReneBumsWombats · 22/06/2022 15:58

Admit it, @JemimaPuddlegoose , you were one of the scriptwriters, weren't you? You evil genius.

Pitch it and get it back on our screens!

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SABM10 · 22/06/2022 16:00

In 1997 I was 13 and moved to Portugal with my parents. We were in the arse end of nowhere, had no Internet or English TV channels, and the only English speaking shows on Portuguese TV were Sunset Beach and Baywatch. I swear those shows saved my bored shitless, angst filled teenage life over the next couple of years 🤣

TinaYouFatLard · 22/06/2022 16:14

@JemimaPuddlegoose we could definitely be friends in RL!

keeprunningupthathill · 22/06/2022 16:16

Wishenpoof40 · 22/06/2022 15:54

Do you remember the ridiculous episode with Vanessa and Michael and Virginia and when she put some potion in Vanessa's pie or drink or something and it gave her Martin's Syndrome.

I remember the hot priest, Antonio!

Yes the hot priest was my fave.

anothernamedoesntsmellsosweet · 22/06/2022 16:19

I loved sunset beach so so much. The voice over people who took the piss at the beginning and end were amazing. I can't take Ben in Greys anatomy seriously because he was on sunset beach

Uptoongirl · 22/06/2022 16:22

@peachgreen yes, the announcer was so funny!

@JemimaPuddlegoose where are you watching on YouTube? I had a little look but the quality (camera not storyline obvs) wasn't good.

JemimaPuddlegoose · 22/06/2022 16:55

https://www.youtube.com/user/ddieslter

The quality is very bad, unfortunately, but I assume it's all been converted from VHS tapes. (I actually used to swap VHS tapes and other stuff with fellow fans in the post!)

MaddieElla · 22/06/2022 17:04

LOVED this, what a blast from the past.

Although I'm getting my memories of this and The Bold and the Beautiful mixed up. Also a ridiculous but sublime TV show. 🤣

mrtumblesspottybg · 22/06/2022 17:06

OMG i loves this! Cole Dechanel was just 😍😍😍

LadyApplejack · 22/06/2022 17:41

Oh wow what a throwback. All I remember was Cole was dating Paula and then slept with her sister Gabby who the. accused him of rape!

QuillBill · 22/06/2022 18:20

Maria, Ben's dead wife who he mooned over was wearing a white dress in her portrait and when she came back from,the dead she was wearing that same white dress. Wasn't the hot priest her brother?

Was Vanessa trying to get pregnant with a turkey baster?

Olivia and Caitlin were pregnant for about three years.

VenusStarr · 22/06/2022 18:39

I've just remembered something else. Was it Annie who for some reason was in a coffin and then it went into the furnace? Did that happen? Can't remember if she was burned alive, but vaguely recall she came back from the dead?

LadyLindaT · 22/06/2022 18:42

Madam Carmen (Mother of Ricardo and Antonio) ran over the Archbishop..... I loved that show so much!

balletmuffin · 22/06/2022 18:44

I watched the omnibus on a Saturday afternoon in my first flat, on my own with a bottle of wine and some crisps. I absolutely loved it.

Maireas · 22/06/2022 18:49

Greetings, my tribe!
Surely one of the best televisual experiences of all time? My son was a baby at the time, and it coincided with his afternoon nap. Bliss. Cursed jewels, an evil twin, turkey basters and Father Fit. Genius.

LadyLindaT · 22/06/2022 18:50

Anyone remember the CGI bouquet that rolled for at least 3 episodes?

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ReneBumsWombats · 22/06/2022 19:48

I don't remember the continuity announcer. What sort of things did they say.

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TinaYouFatLard · 22/06/2022 20:08

ReneBumsWombats · 22/06/2022 19:48

I don't remember the continuity announcer. What sort of things did they say.

He was just funny in a piss-taking way. A bit like Graham Norton at Eurovision. I think he came up with the nicknames: Gobby, Father Fit, Madwoman Carmen, Saintly Smeg and my fave, Whispering AJ 😂😂😂 there must be more!

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ReneBumsWombats · 23/06/2022 11:56

He obviously made an impression. People keep mentioning him in online discussions about Sunset Beach. If anyone can link to a video with his commentary, please share the link! I can't find anything.

It's that sweet spot, isn't it...so bad it's good. It's hard to get that right. In a way, it's its own form of genius.

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MrsTaytodarling · 23/06/2022 19:20

I loved this. But am I dreaming or was there a ridiculous story of them building some monument and a dead body being hidden in it. But when they broke the bottle of champagne over it the bottle didn't break but the monument did revealing the hidden body!!

Andylion · 23/06/2022 21:05

VenusStarr · 22/06/2022 14:23

I used to love this! But all I can remember is when they changed the actor who played Cole and they did a voice over to introduce him! 😅

They always did that on American soaps. “The role of Cole Deschanel is now being played by Eddie Cibrian.”

It was only the second soap I watched from the beginning. The other was Santa Barbara.