Malibu, California. Home to such important historical events as that one time it was really sunny and lots of people went to the beach, and that time some guy on a surfboard went a really long time without falling down. Such vital, spellbinding moments from the distant past will now be brought to life thanks to the magic of television, our link to the past.
First off is an as-yet-untitled "darkly comedic drama" from former 90210 showrunner Rebecca Sinclair, set in Malibu in 1961, at the beginnings of California surf culture. Set to air on The CW (pronounced "the C-Word"), the show will follow a crew of surfers up and down the beach, with the turbulent 1960s as a backdrop. We imagine it was pitched as a cross between Mad Men and Baywatch, two things that should pair together only slightly less successfully than chocolate and peanut butter. Said Sinclair, "We'll lure the audience in with gorgeous beaches, girls in bikinis, and hot shirtless guys, but then leave them grappling with big ideas." Big ideas like, Where did that guy's shirt go? Is it coming back? Maybe he never had a shirt in the first place! It really makes you think.
Something else to think about is that Rob Lowe is literally returning to TV in a hurry. Besides starring in an ex-tennis-pro comedy, Lowe will also be producing (but not, as far as we know, starring in) a show based on his 2011 memoir Stories I Only Tell My Friends, about his childhood growing up in that crucible of historical import, Malibu. The Point will follow a single mother raising two supernaturally handsome future stars of innumerable television shows, with the turbulent late 1970s as a backdrop. The show will display the town's "colorful personalities," and the era's "seismic cultural changes." (Oh, culture, will you ever stop seismically changing?)