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South Beach
SERIES: UPN, Wednesday 8:00p (60 minutes)


8.7

based on 18 reviews
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how did we calculate this?

based on 77 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Official Show Site

Starring Vanessa Williams, Marcus Coloma, Chris Johnson, Lee Thompson Young, Odette Yustman, and Giancarlo Esposito

UPN's latest stab at a prime-time soap (executive-produced by Jennifer Lopez) is set in South Florida's world of models, pools, beaches, drugs and nightclubs, with some gangsters thrown in for good measure.

GENRE(S):	Drama, Soap Opera
FIRST AIR DATE:	January 11, 2006

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

"South Beach" isn't the terrible waste of viewing time a cynic might expect. But it is a conventionally drawn, sudsy soap.

New York Post Linda Stasi

Unlike "Baywatch," it's not as bad as it sounds -- or as good -- depending on your opinion of beach dramas built largely around boobs and biceps.

LA Weekly Robert Abele

Serious about its silliness, this show grasps the concept of prime time as vacation time.

Entertainment Weekly Whitney Pastorek

It's The O.C. meets Miami Vice, the MTV Video Music Awards, and Models Inc., plus just a dash of Hamlet for flow. [13 Jan 2006, p.71]

New York Daily News David Hinckley

This latest attempt at a series with glamorous young people frolicking at an even more glamorous resort doesn't demonstrate significantly more depth than its unsuccessful predecessors.

USA Today Robert Bianco

Tawdry, empty and inept, South Beach is UPN's too-late-in-the-game attempt to transfer The O.C. to the other coast.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

It marks a return to the 80's era of "Dallas," "Dynasty" and "Knots Landing," when the prime-time landscape was dotted with lurid, silly soap operas that provided the kind of catty catharsis that regular shows neglect.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

"South Beach" could fall into guilty pleasure territory, but it really is as corny as it sounds.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

Filled with terrible dialogue.

PopMatters Mary Colgan

Despite the many hard bodies on display, South Beach is flabby.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

In between all the poolside exhibitionism and dance-floor romantic politics, guns appear and faceless thugs are killed. That means our young cast members get to angst about whether they're truly in danger and some villain is going to force them to eat a loaf of bread at gunpoint.

Los Angeles Times Paul Brownfield

[A] warmed-over hip-hop saga.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

Maybe the best way to explain UPN's new drama South Beach is to tell you that when Vanessa Williams warns a young model that ''South Beach will eat you alive,'' I fully expected the next scene to be a horde of zombie parking attendants chewing the entrails of half-naked girls in the lobby of the Delano. Cannibalism is about the only thing missing from this delirious new trashfest of hard bodies and soft brains.

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

It's pointless to talk about who "stars" in this bloated music video, but the agents for both Vanessa Williams and Giancarlo Esposito need to be fired, summarily.

Variety Phil Gallo

The scripts are sophomoric, the acting wooden and the direction uninspired -- [the] show starts so thin it must have been on the South Beach Diet for months.

Washington Post Tom Shales

A preposterous and pretentious drama series.... Fortunately, there is a way out: your channel-changing remote, wondrous transport to that blessed refuge known as Anywhere Else.

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

You'd think that someone somewhere down the line... would have lobbied for the rudiments of a story, characters with texture and dialogue more sophisticated than shopping mall conversation.

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

The dialogue and plot contrivances are banal, the acting is cartoon and the whole thing is more transparent than a see-through bikini.

The average user rating for this tv show is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 77 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Brooke J. gave it a10:
OF COURSE the show was TERRIFIC!!!! I am head over heels in love with it and believe me it was one of the best shows I have ever seen.Come on tell me that somebody didn't love it and I am going to say that he was crazy.bring it back to us.PLEASE!Matt+Arielle=forever together!!!

Malcolm B. gave it a9:
I think it's a really good show, if you look past the cliches and stuff, it's way cooland hey i think it's better than the o.c, so just to give support to the dead and buried, here: a 9/10

Brittney B. gave it a10:
I absolutely loved this show, personally I don't know why they decided to cancel this show either. I felt that this show was like no other show on the UPN network or the CW network. I also loved the cast on there, especially Lee Thompson Young who played (Alex Burer).

James S gave it a10:
I'm hooked on this show, why would you take it off air. it's very appealing to young people, the critics are obviously old, fat and STUPID!! MAKE MORE SOUTH BEACH :)

Niki P gave it a9:
I loved the show....is it ever coming back?? Bring it back.

CeCee gave it a9:
I liked the show, and I wanted to know what was going to happen with ari. her boyfriend was very cute. it went a little left field with the drug dealer guy though. he was too super natural

Samantha K gave it a10:
I love to watch south beach! Why does'nt it air anymore. i want it to come back! The characters are hot and sexy and i watch it to see if matt and ari are getting back together

South Beach SERIES: UPN, Wednesday 8:00p (60 minutes)

South Beach
SERIES: UPN, Wednesday 8:00p (60 minutes)