Hidden Palms

I just took a look at the pilot of "Hidden Palms," a new TV show on the CW. My first thought was: "This is the OC all over again, just in Palm Springs." But while there are definite similarities between any show centered around overly beautiful teenagers in a milieu of vain bourgeois opulence, it had a couple of interesting twists to my mind.

1. The main character seems extremely well-adjusted but just came out of rehab. There will be an Alcoholics Anonymous component of this show (meetings are held at the very real St. Paul in the Desert Episcopal Church [you can read the sign]). Sadly, like all television shows in these kinds of settings, teenagers have far too easy access to alcohol.

Even better, I suspect the main character's sponsor will be a rather adorable Southern drag queen (think a shorter version of L. Crew), played by the brilliant and dimunitive Leslie Jordan.

2. Very early in the show, we see a pretty teenage girl dressed in full lab gear in her garage heat some sort of ammonium nitrate mixture on her Bunsen burner, stick in a thermistor, and then looks briefly panicked as the thermistor records the heat evolution of a reaction very much out of control, causing a small explosion. If I were 16 and knew someone like that, I would be very much in love. Of course, she instantly develops a crush on the main character, who is barely conscious of her existence. I want to know what she's working on.

The writer is Kevin Williamson of Dawson's Creek fame, and episodes will appear all summer. So if you're looking for something dramedic this summer, this might not rot your brain.