Falcon Beach: The U.S. Market, She Shimmers, She Does...

You can tell that Falcon Beach premiered in the U.S. last week. Looking at my search stats, the vast majority of searches are for "Jennifer Kydd" "Falcon Beach" "How old" "where is it shot" and related terms.

It's an interesting reminder for we Canadian creatives: the pool is not just bigger down there, there's enough water to drown our market entirely. Think about it: more people watch a flop in the U.S. than watch our biggest hit up here.

Not to say that Falcon Beach is a flop. But the articles in Canada did always tend to focus on the fact that the ratings softened after a few weeks. And the reviews were middling. We'll see if the U.S. follows suit, but judging by a few reviews I've read, it seems worth noting that there is indeed a kind of "Degrassi Effect."

To wit: since Degrassi took off on The N, there's been this slow-growing idea idea that Canada is the place where we make teen-centred or teen-issue dramas that handle issues with sensitivity, not hysteria. This could be very useful to program makers; a niche, and a ready-made perception that we're good at this. Maybe it's time to focus energies on making more?

I mean, not like another Canadian spoof musical is going to sweep Broadway anytime soon. (Congrats to The Drowsy Chaperone, which picked up four Tony Awards last night. Guess Don McKellar's going to be extra insufferable now. Fantastic.)

Canadians are inveterate second-guessers. We may not have ever believed that any of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqi, or that Saddam Hussein worked with Al Qaeda, but we also never seem to learn the lesson that often the perception of something is more useful than the reality. It certainly was useful when it came time for Dubya, Rummy, and the Che-man to fix the case for war.

Right now there's a perception that we can make teen dramas that tackle issues in a way that U.S. shows can't. Partly because the hysteria level down south is so high, and because the American Family Association organizes a phone tree anytime a character so much as looks at a condom -- but the why doesn't matter. It's out there.

Now, the skinny may tell a different story. Yes, The N has refused to run episodes of Degrassi, and run others out of order. To their credit, Degrassi resisted calls to cut or change content, (a lesson that should get Canadian producers thinking) and The N made the call on whether to show the stuff to their audience. (They also got roasted by their online fan base for choosing to re-order or omit some episodes.)

I've heard from a reader of the blog that Class, the recently-announced Global University-set one-hour, is destined for a U.S. cable sale -- following that emerging Degrassi Effect narrative.

It's time we Canadian creatives were aware of it, and started talking it up -- capitalizing on it as a reality. Up here, everyone talks about Degrassi in a vacuum. It's not in a vacuum. Like "runaway production" and "Canada is a haven for terrorists," we shouldn't let this narrative be entirely shaped by others.

You want fuel? Look to a couple of the U.S. reviews, like this one...from a Pittsburgh Paper.

"Falcon Beach" comes across as the more responsible show. The characters have more depth and are more sympathetic.

Press notes say "Falcon Beach" is set in New England, but the flags seen in the background say Canada (the series was shot in Winnipeg)...

Wake-boarding stud Jason (Steve Byers) and more nerdy best friend Danny (Ephraim Ellis) want to begin the summer with a rockin' party, but the location they planned to use -- an abandoned beach house -- falls through when its owner, Ginny Bradshaw (Allison Hossack, "Profit"), arrives with her uptight, bratty daughter, Paige (Jennifer Kydd).

Eventually Paige loosens up and Jason is torn between her and his ex-girlfriend, Tanya (Devon Weigel), a coke-snorting model who's returned to town and soon takes up with Paige's druggie brother, Lane (Morgan Kelly).

"Falcon Beach" shows the consequences of anti-social behavior and evinces greater wit. Danny has a seemingly endless supply of brothers, including one who's taken a vow of silence. Lane refers to Paige's past boyfriends, who all worked for their father, as "The Extraordinary League of Yes Men," a clever turn-of-phrase.

By nature of its Canadian production, "Falcon" is a cultural cousin to "Degrassi," which may explain why it's the superior beach-set summer sudser. It also helps that parents do appear in this series, so it's not so much kids-gone-wild-at-the-beach (although beach beer blasts are a favorite pastime).

It's noteworthy that the ages of the "Falcon Beach" young hotties are never specified. Are Jason and Paige out of high school? Are they college age? Are they of drinking age? In Sunday's two-hour premiere, "Falcon Beach" doesn't clue us in. But they're young, attractive and having fun, so you can bet the teens and tweens watching at home will want to emulate them.

Pssst. We know teen drama. Pass it on.