South Beach: A Timeline, Celebrating a Rich History

[J_Michael]

Later this month, nearly ten years after the original premiere, South Beach will make a triumphant return to the web. With a history spanning over 100 episodes, including a miniseries and a spin-off series, it's my greatest pleasure to return to my roots and continue the story of South Beach.

November 1999

This is when I first discovered the world of web entertainment. At the tender age of fifteen, I had discovered my passion for writing and I was thrilled to learn that others shared my passion when it came to creating shows of our own. The first series I discoverd was the original Forever and a Day, produced by the very talented Matt Wittig. I soon disovered Footprints and then the Episodic Review- an online magazine dedicated to web serials.

By the end of 1999, I came up with the original concept of South Beach and began work on creating a site. I knew absolutely nothing about HTML or web design, and I must admit the earliest versions of the site looked a bit horrid. I can't be too hard on myself though, I was only fifteen after all.

February 29, 2000

On this date I premiered the original site for South Beach. I hosted my files on AOL's Hometown (Anyone remember Hometown back in the day?), and the site consisted of a very basic setup. The next week I officially joined the Episodic Review community (now known as The Epiguide) and started to promote the series.

March 9, 2000

On this date I premiered the first episode of the series. With ten to fifteen short scenes, I premiered the show with a cast of nearly 40. I’m not sure what I was thinking at the time, but as we shall later see, I would trim the cast down considerably. The episode was also presented in the traditional script format- a format that was popular with many serials back then.

Summer 2000

In the summer of this year I launched the show’s first miniseries. Trapped on Paradise Island, the miniseries, had its own site and featured several members of the cast who were trapped on a mysterious island together after their plane crashed. It was an interesting concept at the time and I’d love to revisit it one of these days.

March 2001

The series officially celebrated its first birthday this month! With the posting of Episode #50, the series would soon go on a short hiatus after this special season finale. By this time I had a canvas of over 40 and really needed to find a solution to the excess of characters I had. These characters, especially at my tender age, were like family and were very close to my heart. I simply couldn’t part with them and therefore I decided to work on a spin-off series.

May 2001

Two months later, South Beach returned with a brand-new spin-off series by its side. Entitled South Beach Memorial, the spin-off featured nearly twenty characters- a few new faces appeared, but most were from the original series. The show focused on the dramatic lives behind the doctors and nurses at SB Memorial along with their friends and family. I took a bit risk by moving key characters of the original series to the spin-off, but everything seemed to work out and I was able to integrate the new characters into the mix nicely.

November 2001

After nearly six months, I decided to put SB Memorial on hiatus and focus on other projects at the time- like the original series and a new e-zine I was working on entitled The Webisodic. Slowly but surely, the characters of SB Memorial drifted back to the original series and the spin-off would never be heard of again. This month officially marked the end of SB Memorial.

March 2002

We celebrated two very important milestones this month. In addition to celebrating the show’s 100th episode, we also celebrated the show’s second anniversary online. This was a huge accomplishment at a time where many web serials in the community came and went rapidly. I was very proud of the accomplishment, yet very burnt out at the same time. I tacked on the role as editor-in-chief of an e-zine dedicated to web serials, and in addition to South Beach, produced the serial Brookside Place and the online horror series, Hollow Pines.

To say I had too much on my plate was a complete understatement. The episode in March commemorating the anniversary would unfortunately be the last episode posted in 2002. I soon graduated from High School and entered the workforce. By the summer of 2002 I had disappeared from the community….but, like most of us, I certainly would bounce back.

Spring 2003

I would return to the community at this time and focus solely on South Beach. I would revive the series for ten episodes that concluded in May of 2003. The Crawford Matriarch, Eugene Crawford, would pass away and the will would be read to her greedy children….this was the last major storyline before the series came to an end….or so it seemed.

Summer 2006

After a three year absence from the online community, I would return this summer and regain a great interest in web serials and the community as a whole. I soon decided that I had the free time to produce a series again- but this wasn’t the time to continue to the story of South Beach. Rather, it was a time to tell a new story about the residents of Pacifica Heights. I decided to leave South Beach on the shelf for a period of time until I felt comfortable producing two serials once again. I was terrified of getting burnt out again, and I’m certainly glad I made the decision to focus on the one series when I did- I still had a lot to learn.

2006-2008

During this time I would work on outlines for South Beach and was still very dedicated to the series behind-the-scenes. After all, this was my ‘baby’ and these characters were always like family to me. As an only child, these were my brothers and sisters and I would never forget them. I still have my old notebooks from this time period where I would outline South Beach episodes and prepare for a future return.

Summer 2008

This is when I officially got series about returning the series and started working on a site for the relaunch. There were many different designs (all have since been scrapped), and I worked hard on producing the character bios and a detailed history of the series with yearly summaries. I was so close to launching the new site, but it simply didn’t feel right. I simply wasn’t ready and didn’t feel it was a good time to return the series online. I then would focus on finishing the first season of Pacifica Heights and worked on launching the second season by the end of the year.

Late Spring 2009

South Beach is referenced in the series, Pacifica Heights. Ashley Davison, on a quest to learn more about her father, receives news that her father is alive and well in South Beach. She learns his name is Sam Crawford, a starring character on the original SB series. She then makes plans to fly out and confront her father, but decides it’s best to wait until after the baby is born as she doesn’t want to upset herself or the baby. South Beach and Sam Crawford would be mentioned once more that summer.

Summer 2009

The official announcement is made that South Beach will be returning in the fall. Set for a September premiere, a new logo is placed on my signature here at the forum to promote the show’s return and gain interest. A crossover is also announced between South Beach and Pacifica Heights that will take place in early 2010. The crossover will have Ashley flying to South Beach and finally confronting the father she never knew. This will most likely occur in January of 2010.

Due to Pac Heights being behind schedule for the season finale, the return of South Beach is postponed. PH’s season finale is now scheduled for the third week of October, thus making the return of South Beach occur in late October.

October 21, 2009

South Beach will officially return to the web next week with a brand-new episode. I am honored to have a forum hosted here and look forward to interacting with readers regularly. I am working very hard behind-the-scenes to work out all the kinks on the new site so I present the best product I can. In addition, South Beach will be introduced in the next issue of our magazine here. Make sure and check the feature out to learn more about the series!


Thank you so much for taking an interest in this timeline and stay tuned in this forum for updates on the official launch of the site and the release date of the new episode!

Jay Edwards

[Pat]

is there a web-site that I can go back and catch up with all the episodes that I've missed, so I'm not totally out of the loop when you re-premiere the series

[J_Michael]

Thanks for your interest, Pat! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the series when it returns. I am just putting the finishing touches on the web site and it will be released in just a few short days. I will have yearly in-depth summaries available on the site when it premieres, so you certainly won't feel lost when you jump in!

J.

[TyJunior]

Has there been an official relaunch date decided? I know you were aiming for the 26th, which has come and gone.

[J_Michael]

You are correct, Ty- I was aiming for the 26th, but I decided that I wanted to take a few extra days to work on the site and therefore present the best product I can when it returns. I learned my lesson when I premiered PH back in 2006 that rushing the launch of a site can be a disaster. I certainly don't want to go through the same experience again. The site should definitely be up this Saturday:)

[J_Michael]

The time has come and I am pleased to announced that South Beach has officially returned to the web! I have put my whole heart into this project and am glad I can share the series once again with all of you!

The official page is located here!

The site will be located at pacificaheights.net/sbeach until I move the series to its own domain early next year.

Feel free to peruse the site- there is a 'tourism' section that will introduce you to the series and yearly summaries are available on the site to catch you up on the series. Expect the first episode, "Reflections", to be posted next Sunday, November 8th. I wanted to give new readers the chance to familiarize themselves with the series before jumping into the current episode!

Thanks again for your time!

-J.

[capekeintrich]

J-

The site looks fantastic! Really well done and a great job, it was easy to navigate and really I think set the tone for the series. I love the light blue/beachy theme you have going on. I was also really glad to see the recaps for the series in place and was able to jump back in and catch up this weekend on everything. My one and only complaint would be on the bio pop up window the grey color in the box for the characters age/occupation and such was a bit difficult to read other than that it looks great. I cannot wait for the new episode!

Kelly

[J_Michael]

Thanks, Kelly! I really appreciate your input and will definitely do something with the cast bios- changing the colors will be a snap! I'm glad you like the general feel of the site and I agree that it sets the right tone for the series. I cannot begin to tell you how ecstatic I am to bring SB to a new audience. I have some great things planned for the series and I look forward to your comments/feedback in the future.

Thanks again to everyone who has stopped by! Episode #111 is still on schedule to be released this Sunday!

J.

[Dallas_W_ODAAT]

Hey ... nicely done on the website. I just caught a quick glimpse ... I'll give a more detailed response to my thoughts after ... but it looks great at the first sight.

[Pat]

the site looks fantastic. I have read the summeries, I wish they had gone a little more in depth, but still I know what has happened.

Can't wait for the re-premiere episode

[Dallas_W_ODAAT]

Hey Jay: Do you have a small button for us to link to South Beach? I'm updating my site for my season 5 return and I would love to have a link to South Beach and the entire APN.

[J_Michael]

Thanks for the continued interest, guys! I'm just putting the finishing touches on the new episode- it will be released later tonight.

Dallas and others- you can find a mini-logo of SB here!

[Darklighter]

WOW. This series goes way back 10 years ago and I'm really interesting in reading the new series. Shame I missed the first years. ='(

It looks amazing. Well done, as well. I cannot wait for it!

[J_Michael]

Thank you! I appreciate you checking out the timeline and I'm glad your excited for the serial's return! The new episode has now been posted, so you're more than welcome to check out the newest installment and I'd love to hear any thoughts you have!

-J.