Fared as the new ‘Laguna Beach’, ‘Siesta Key’ is currently halfway through its first season, and so far, it’s putting its viewers into a siesta of their own. Over the last few weeks, the show based on Sarasota County has experienced a steady decline in viewers. The MTV reality show hoped to rein in on the previous successes of some of its predecessors such as ‘Jersey Shore’ and ‘The Hills’; however, the reality in Sarasota has fallen short on such expectations.
The show follows the lives of eight local young adults living in the upscale coastal community in Sarasota, Florida. It’s supposed to highlight their lives, as they go on partying, beaching, boating, and whatever else that go on in such communities. Most of the filming is done in Alex Kompothecras’ father’s mansion–Alex being one of the main characters. Matter of fact, Alex’s father, Gary, was the one who first conceptualized the show after seeing the type of lavish lifestyle his son and friends lived on a daily basis. Some of the characters are college students or recent graduates who either still lives in Sarasota or just recently moved back. The rest of the crew includes Pauly Apostolides, Chloe Trautman, Juliette Porter, Garrett Miller, Madisson Hausberg, Kelsey Owens, and Brandon Gomes.
The storylines are typical: the college life, balancing lifestyles and work, the usual lovers among friends, and the like. In a span of five episodes, the show has managed to create an already complicated romantic entanglement between some of the characters. Alex hooked up with Amanda, whom Brandon had feelings for. Brandon is now seeing Madisson, who was Alex’s high school sweetheart. Madisson and Juliette swears off Alex completely, but not before Alex starts to flirt with Kelsey, who happens to be Garrett’s girlfriend. You get the ultimate picture.
It’s almost a cliché of sex sells. One begs to ask the question whether young adults today can ever just party and beach it without having to overcomplicate relationships. But then again, where’s the show in that? The network execs must have some definitive answer to that question with their obvious moves to try and salvage the show’s midseason crisis. A Bimini vacation seems to be in the near future, maybe in hopes to excite viewers à la Kardashian style. There are also desperate attempts to engage fans in social media with romantic team hashtags flashing on screen for polling.
Possibly one of the only few things that is going well for the show is the location shoot. The local views of Sarasota are just gorgeous; who wouldn’t want to live there? While the support of the local community and businesses has been temperamental, there’s no question that the show is driving some type of interest in the area. Whether the show will have enough substance to keep its national and even local audiences interested will remain to be seen as the next few episodes unfold. Let’s hope ‘Siesta Key’ gives us something to stay awake for in the next five weeks, or they might be sleeping in for good.
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