''Hidden Palms'' is an American

teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

television series that ran on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

in the United States from May 30 until July 4, 2007. It was canceled after eight first-run episodes. The series, created by Kevin Williamson, portrays the fictional lives of a group of teenagers and their families residing in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

Production

Origin

The series, produced by Lionsgate Television, began production in late 2006 with the tentative title ''Palm Springs''. The pilot episode was subsequently leaked onto the Internet before the series premiered. In early 2007, ''Hidden Palms'' was announced to begin on March 6, 2007, at 9:00 pm Eastern/8:00 pm Central on The CW, but this timeslot later became occupied by '' Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll''. The series eventually premiered on The CW on May 30, 2007 at 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central. It was announced on June 12, 2007, that ''Hidden Palms'' would wrap up two weeks earlier on the CW, which would stop rebroadcasting it on Sundays.

Filming

Because of the high labor costs of filming in

, ''Hidden Palms'' was actually filmed at a studio in Avondale, Arizona. In the promos, mountains are shown in many (if not most) clips. However, parts of the pilot episode were filmed in Palm Springs, including downtown Palm Springs.

Broadcast

''Hidden Palms'' premiered on

in the United States on May 30, 2007, at 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central. ''Hidden Palms'' also simultaneously premiered in Canada on

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

, whilst premiering later in other countries around the world, including

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

on Fox Life on July 21, 2007, Thursday at 10:00 pm EET,

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and

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on the A&E Network,

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on Viasat3,

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on Fox televizija, Spain on Cuatro TV,

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on TV3, Italy on Raidue,

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on TV3,

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on TV3, on Fox Life in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, on Prime in

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and on Sky One the United Kingdom in September 2007, Go in

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. The

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in Australia has acquired the rights to broadcast it. In the Netherlands, the entire series was released on DVD by RCV Entertainment in the summer of 2009.

Cast and characters

Main

* Michael Cassidy as Cliff Wiatt * Taylor Handley as Johnny Miller * Amber Heard as Greta Matthews, Johnny's girlfriend * Sharon Lawrence as Tess Wiatt, Cliff's mother * D. W. Moffett as Bob Hardy, Johnny's stepfather * Gail O'Grady as Karen Miller-Hardy, Johnny's widowed mother * Ellary Porterfield as Liza Witter * Tessa Thompson as Nikki Barnes

Recurring

* Leslie Jordan as Jesse Jo * J. D. Pardo as Edward "Eddie" Nolan * J.R. Cacia as Travis Dean * Valerie Cruz as Maria Nolan * Kyle Secor as Alan 'Skip' Matthews

Episodes

''Hidden Palms'' was first slated to be a mid-season show and 13 episodes had been ordered. During production, the show's episode number was lowered to 8.

Ratings

Critical reception

As of June 2007, the series received mixed reviews. It had a composite score of 45% based on 22 reviews at

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. Linda Stasi of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' called it "the best rich kid show to appear on TV since that other California show died." Diane Werts of '' Newsday'' said the show "is enough to make me forgive The CW's entire sorry first season". Conversely, Mike Duffy of the '' Detroit Free Press'' said the show is "luridly derivative" and that "there's nothing remotely hip" about it. Charlie McCollum of the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' said the show "spends far too much time exploring the whiny angst of the teens". Tom Shales of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' said of the show, "you're likely to find more fascinating figures and intriguing dramatis personae in the latest catalogue from J. Peterman."

Controversy

The show came under fire from the

Parents Television Council The Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), formerly the Parents Television Council (PTC), is an American media advocacy group founded by Conservatism in the United States, conservative political pundit L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, which ...

, which called the pilot "cliché-ridden" and claimed the overall plot was inappropriate for its teenage target audience due to depictions of underage drinking, parental suicide and sex. The pilot and finale were named the most offensive television programming of the weeks of their respective broadcasts.

References

External links

* * {{The CW programming 2007 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings 2000s American mystery television series 2000s American teen drama television series American television soap operas The CW television dramas American English-language television shows Television series about families American television series about teenagers Television series by Lionsgate Television Television shows set in Palm Springs, California Television series created by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)