{"id":85479,"date":"2023-09-16T10:25:11","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T10:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?p=85479"},"modified":"2023-09-16T10:25:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T10:25:11","slug":"netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Karl Quinn<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The young cast of Surviving Summer: (l-r) Joao Gabriel Marinho as Marlon Sousa, Savannah La Rain as Bodhi Mercer, Sky Katz as Summer Torres, Kai Lewins as Ari Gibson, and Lilliana Bowrey as Poppy Tetanui. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Netflix<\/cite><\/p>\n

Save articles for later<\/h3>\n

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n

A few days ago, Mark Watkins was standing on the front doorstep of his Dundas Street milk bar overlooking the back beach at Rye, on Victoria\u2019s Mornington Peninsula, surveying the scene as he often does. \u201cAnd some of the local kids had a day off school, they\u2019re all around 15 or 16 and some of them compete in surfing at state level,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAnd I looked down and I thought, \u2018Wow, that is that TV show right there. A good-looking bunch of young kids, fit, healthy, surfing \u2013 that is exactly it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show he was thinking of was Surviving Summer<\/em>, the second season of which dropped this week on Netflix. It follows a group of aspiring pro surfers in their mid-teens as they battle with their ambitions, their emotions, their raging hormones, and of course rival surfers, while striving to be the best they can.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s their battles with the surf itself that have helped win over an audience well beyond the young adults the show\u2019s makers had in mind \u2013 middle-aged surfing dads.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost surfing shows, you\u2019ll have some good-looking person standing on some beach, and then they\u2019ll go to some random beach hundreds of kilometres away and show them pretend to be surfing, and it just doesn\u2019t look authentic,\u201d says Watkins, a 60-year-old grandfather who has been surfing since he was about 10. \u201cWhereas what they\u2019ve done in this show seems to be pretty good. You go, \u2018Oh, I know that spot\u2019. And it looks like all the actors can surf a little bit too, which helps, it makes it seem a bit more seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mark Watkins, who runs the Dundas Street milk bar in Rye and rates Surviving Summer for its depiction of surf culture.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Joe Armao<\/cite><\/p>\n

Leading man Kai Lewins does a lot of his own board work, and Liliana Bowrey does all of hers, while young Brazilian actor Joao Gabriel Marinho is thoroughly convincing as a representative of the brash and talented crop of South Americans who have put their own mark on the sport over the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, they get some pros to do some of the surfing,\u201d notes Watkins, and he\u2019s correct, \u201cbut it\u2019s pretty seamless, it\u2019s pretty authentic. That\u2019s our local beach, that\u2019s some locals surfing, and it\u2019s the local surf break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surviving Summer<\/em> centres on the kids of Shorehaven, a fictional town on the Australian coast. To eagle-eyed habitu\u00e9s of the Great Ocean Road west of Melbourne, some of the locations might be immediately recognisable: Fairhaven, Anglesea, Torquay, Bell\u2019s Beach, Airey\u2019s Inlet, Lorne. But in season two, the action takes the young cast further afield, as far north as Byron Bay, as the level of competition steps up.<\/p>\n

The show was created by producer Jo Werner \u2013 who counts The Newsreader<\/em>, Secret City<\/em> and Clickbait<\/em> among her other credits \u2013 and writer Joshua Mapleston.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had worked together on Dance Academy<\/em> and another tween show, Ready For This<\/em>, both really great aspirational kids\u2019 shows,\u201d says Mapleston. \u201cWe were looking for another project to work on together and Jo had the initial germ of an idea of an American girl (played by Sky Katz) landing in a small Aussie surfing town, and the conversation kind of spiralled from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

By late 2019, Mapleston had the bones of a pilot, and Netflix had expressed interest. He had been living in Los Angeles, but COVID sent him, his wife and their young daughter back home to develop the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was working mostly from my wife\u2019s childhood bedroom in a house in Dromana,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were within the ring of steel, so we barely left the house in 2020. We could just see a glimpse of ocean from the window, but we couldn\u2019t see any waves because we\u2019re on the bay side. For a show about the great outdoors and being in the ocean and hanging out with your best friends, it was not perhaps the most conducive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the outset, though, he was determined that the show have the ring of authenticity. Before he began writing in earnest, he started talking \u201cto a lot of young, up-and-coming surfers, professional surfers who\u2019d kind of been through the wringer, and started collecting those stories. And the more we talked to people, the more I was really conscious of honouring surf culture, and getting it right. That was always front of mind \u2013 we have to get the surfing right, we have to do this properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Russ Logan, a bricklayer from Flinders who has surfed all around Australia and in Indonesia \u2013 \u201cI was never professional,\u201d he hastens to add, \u201cthat\u2019s a whole other level\u201d \u2013 the series represents a welcome recasting of surf culture that stands in contrast to other screen versions such as Puberty Blues<\/em> and Barons<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think in general surfing is a pretty good lifestyle,\u201d he says. \u201cThe cliched side of it is the drugs, girls, partying sort of thing.\u201d It can be that too, of course. But, he adds, \u201cif you want to stay away from all that sort of \u2018bad\u2019 stuff and just lead a good healthy lifestyle, getting out in the water, it\u2019s good, it\u2019s healthy for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Poppy Tetanui (Lilliana Bowrey) and Marlon Sousa (Joao Gabriel Marinho) do their own surfing in the show.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Netflix<\/cite><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the version of surf culture Surviving Summer<\/em> presents. Its young protagonists all have ambitions to turn pro, to make a living or develop a social media following out of the thing they love and have grown up doing. Sure, they like to party too, but that has to fit around the training, the diet, the early morning rides, the long drives to competitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a good mixture of drama and surfing in it,\u201d says Logan. \u201cIt shows a pretty good mixture of different things going on with the young kids, a bit of anxiety, a bit of this and a bit of that. But I also think the surfing side of it is really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s for others to judge how well the show nails that aspect, says Mapleston, but with around one-third of each 30-minute episode spent in the water, it\u2019s certainly not for lack of trying.<\/p>\n

That it seems to have landed as a show that appeals to kids and at least some parents is a bonus, though not entirely accidental, he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more we talked to surfers the more it became clear how much families drive surfing culture,\u201d Mapleston says. \u201cBecause part of that culture is about passing knowledge and skills on from one generation to another, I really started to think about it as a family show from a fairly early stage. And that\u2019s almost a genre that doesn\u2019t exist anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kai Lewins cuts loose in season two.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Netflix<\/cite><\/p>\n

As for the surf dads, he knows it\u2019s struck a chord because of the way they seek him out to talk about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t help but comment on the surf conditions. They\u2019ll say, \u2018Why did you shoot those crap waves in episode six?\u2019 And I\u2019m going, \u2018Look, we had six weeks to do the show; sorry, but we couldn\u2019t wait six months for the perfect break\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they\u2019re slagging off the surf conditions in certain episodes to me,\u201d he says, \u201cI know they\u2019re taking it seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surviving Summer<\/em> season two is on Netflix now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contact the author at kquinn@theage.com.au, follow him on Facebook at karlquinnjournalist and on Twitter @karlkwin, and read more of his work here.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. <\/i><\/b>Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Most Viewed in Culture<\/h2>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Karl Quinn The young cast of Surviving Summer: (l-r) Joao Gabriel Marinho as Marlon Sousa, Savannah La Rain as Bodhi Mercer, Sky Katz as Summer Torres, Kai Lewins as Ari Gibson, and Lilliana Bowrey as Poppy Tetanui. Credit: Netflix Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. A few days<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nNetflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it - Celebrity Tidings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Netflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it - Celebrity Tidings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Karl Quinn The young cast of Surviving Summer: (l-r) Joao Gabriel Marinho as Marlon Sousa, Savannah La Rain as Bodhi Mercer, Sky Katz as Summer Torres, Kai Lewins as Ari Gibson, and Lilliana Bowrey as Poppy Tetanui. Credit: Netflix Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. A few days\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Celebrity Tidings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-16T10:25:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Scheid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Netflix-made-a-show-for-teens.-Surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Donna Scheid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/\",\"name\":\"Netflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it - Celebrity Tidings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-16T10:25:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-16T10:25:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lifestyle\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/category\/lifestyle\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Netflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/\",\"name\":\"Celebrity Tidings\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Donna Scheid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Donna Scheid\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Netflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it - Celebrity Tidings","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Netflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it - Celebrity Tidings","og_description":"By Karl Quinn The young cast of Surviving Summer: (l-r) Joao Gabriel Marinho as Marlon Sousa, Savannah La Rain as Bodhi Mercer, Sky Katz as Summer Torres, Kai Lewins as Ari Gibson, and Lilliana Bowrey as Poppy Tetanui. Credit: Netflix Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. A few days","og_url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/","og_site_name":"Celebrity Tidings","article_published_time":"2023-09-16T10:25:11+00:00","author":"Donna Scheid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Netflix-made-a-show-for-teens.-Surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Donna Scheid","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/","url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/","name":"Netflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it - Celebrity Tidings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-09-16T10:25:11+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-16T10:25:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-made-a-show-for-teens-surfing-dads-cant-get-enough-of-it\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lifestyle","item":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/category\/lifestyle\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Netflix made a show for teens. Surfing dads can\u2019t get enough of it"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/","name":"Celebrity Tidings","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Donna Scheid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Donna Scheid"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}