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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Waterfront' Review: Topher Grace Gives Kevin Williamson's Unconvincing Netflix Crime Soap a Much-Needed Boost
Watching Netflix's The Waterfront. A journey. Me, after the pilot for The Waterfront: This isn't necessarily a good show, but it's a serviceable attempt to reproduce the sort of accessible, young-skewing soap opera The CW and The WB used to make, with a solidly above-average cast. More from The Hollywood Reporter Jennifer Love Hewitt Calls Out Killer With Iconic Line in New 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Sequel Trailer Topher Grace (Yes, Topher Grace) Is an Opium Kingpin in Netflix's 'The Waterfront' Trailer 'Flight Risk' Review: Mark Wahlberg in a Mel Gibson-Directed Actioner That's Almost Fast Enough to Make You Forgive Its Flaws Me, after episodes two and three of The Waterfront: Having a solidly above-average cast and occasional bursts of cartoonish violence isn't enough if the characters are thin and the drama and settings are wholly artificial. Me, during the fourth episode of The Waterfront: Yeah, there are no real 'ideas' at play here, nothing fresh to transcend the banal bits, and it may be just about time to quit … HOLY COW, TOPHER GRACE AS A SOCIOPATHIC DRUG KINGPIN. The arrival of Topher Grace as he's never quite been utilized before doesn't quite save Kevin Williamson's latest attempt to launder semi-autobiographical details through slick genre contrivance. But the That '70s Show veteran periodically makes The Waterfront feel like a completely different show — one that's wilder, sillier and generally less predictable. I'm guessing there will be some viewers who are fully engaged in this somewhat grown-up version of Outer Banks — Older Banks — and find Grace's arrival to be a needless distraction. For me, he was a welcome and insufficient distraction, exactly enough to keep me engaged in the season's second half — usually only for three to five minutes at a time — but not nearly enough to make me enjoy it. The Waterfront begins with an attack at sea, as two sailors — Kevin Williamson completists will be very amused by the cameos — have their vessel and their mid-sized drug shipment stolen (and their lives taken, though they're barely characters and nobody cares). The boat, it turns out, is owned by Cane Buckley (Jake Weary, auditioning for the coveted role of Alt-Joshua Jackson), operator of a struggling local fishery and scion to one of the key families in Havenport, North Carolina, a waterfront community that doesn't exist in the real world and barely exists in this fictional one. The Buckley family used to straddle the line between legitimate and criminal, then they went straight. But now, as they're on the verge of losing everything, it may be time to return to criminality. Harlan (Holt McCallany, reliably gruff), Cane's father, has had recent heart issues and he's drinking and philandering his life away. Belle (Maria Bello, reliably steely), Cane's mother, is running the family restaurant and doing her best to ignore Harlan's drinking and philandering. Bree (Melissa Benoist, sincere but unconvincing) is a recovering addict whose rock bottom involved an act of arson that makes it illegal for her to see her teenage son (Brady Hepner's Diller) without supervision. Cane has a former beauty queen wife (Danielle Campbell, feisty but underused) and a young daughter who's mostly off-screen — a good thing since the season-opening tragedy is just the first step in an escalating drug war that comes to involve the local sheriff (Michael Gaston's Clyde), a hunky DEA agent (Gerardo Celasco's Marcus) and, eventually, Topher Grace's Grady. Especially in the early episodes directed by frequent Williamson collaborator Marcos Siega, everything in The Waterfront looks polished and pretty, to the point that nothing looks real. It's a commercial for filming in North Carolina — from Cane and Peyton's absurdly nice coastal home (which is only actually opulent in the pilot and then becomes generic and barely utilized) to the fishery (which has been production-designed to suggest that, despite allegedly serving as the town's economic backbone, nobody works there and certainly nobody guts fish there). There's a Main Street that looks like it was designed by the Chamber of Commerce to resemble a small-town Main Street in a Netflix TV show. Mostly, though, it's so wholly a product of Kevin Williamson's imagination and so wholly divorced from actual, real-world grounding that I'm surprised he didn't name the town after himself. In general, despite drawing specific details from Williamson's past, The Waterfront doesn't come across as a personal story. The creator has talked about his fisherman father and his North Carolina upbringing, but what's actually been produced here resembles only a standard-issue combination of boring familial crime saga and unconvincing affluence porn, made suitable for streaming — and therefore distinct from Williamson's broadcast approach — by slightly bloated episodic running times, a squishy fascination with momentary gore, and one shot featuring what might be visible pubic hair (not a sex scene, mind you, because the chemistry-free sex in The Waterfront is wholly CW-friendly). The characters in The Waterfront might be older than the characters in Outer Banks, but the show is comparably nuanced and less fun. One of my favorite tests for any ensemble show is, 'Do the characters give the impression that they have lives that continue even when the cameras aren't running, or are they robots that get powered down whenever we go to a different storyline?' I've rarely watched a show in which so many of the main characters absolutely don't exist when they aren't part of the story. There's dreamy bartender Shawn (Rafael L. Silva), who briefly seems like he might become the show's actual hero, except that he has no personality and his motivation is grounded only in plot and not emotion. There's Cane's ex-girlfriend Jenna (Humberly Gonzalez), who arrives in town as a caretaker for her predominantly off-screen ailing father, and makes several references to a journalism career that are amusing in their pointlessness. There's Dave Annable as a land developer periodically working on a deal with Belle, and Bree's son Diller who mentions in one line of dialogue that school isn't in session. Even actors as sturdy as McCallany and Bello fall victim to this infection, so thoroughly that I kept finding myself haunted by two early scenes in which Harlan goes from scruffy to clean-shaven — a fairly normal occurrence in the real world, but anomalous evidence of off-camera behavior here. This is why Topher Grace's arrival in the series is such a bizarre pleasure. It isn't that Grady is some wild deviation from the sunny-but-sarcastic archetype that Grace reliably plays (even when cast as David Duke), but the context in which his trademark persona is utilized here is something entirely new. Grady is a weirdo with daddy issues and no impulse control, and it doesn't make complete sense how he earned the loyalty of his lieutenants or what his business plan is. And because it doesn't completely make sense, I kept wanting to spend more and more time watching him (both Grady and Grace, whose mixture of cheery and maniacal is perfect) and his operation, since there's nothing happening with the Buckleys that I haven't seen in episodes of Yellowstone, Ozark or even One Tree Hill. Grady has a scene in the sixth episode in which he uses an unexpected torture device in a sadistic and hilariously photographed manner. I watch entirely too many scenes of televisual torture and I can say, without hesitation, that this is one of my favorite televisual torture scenes, bordering on unique. But if nothing else in The Waterfront even comes close to original and my reasons for recommending the show would be limited to one supporting performance and one two-minute torture scene, that isn't much of a recommendation, is it? Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Cosmopolitan
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Where Was 'The Waterfront' on Netflix Filmed?
Netflix's addictive new show The Waterfront takes place in the fictional town of Havenport, which is best known for 1) a new murder every day, 2) an abundance of drugs/fish, and 3) being extremely gorgeous. While some of The Waterfront was filmed on a sound stage, plenty of it was filmed on location in Wilmington, North Carolina—which should look verrrrry familiar due to being used in dozens of TV shows and movies. Specifically, Outer Banks, Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and even I Know What You Did Last Summer. Creator Kevin Williamson grew up in the area and told Netflix "I would shoot everything here if I could." Meanwhile, Humberly González (who plays Jenna in The Waterfront) said "It's just such a full-circle moment for him. He would be like, 'Do you know where you're sitting? This is where that I Know What You Did Last Summer scene happened. It was such a fan moment for me. I was like 'I'm literally talking to the Kevin Williamson, where the movie was shot. Now I'm filming a show here!'" Aside from Wilmington, The Waterfront also spent some time filming in the picturesque town of Southport, as well as Wrightsville Beach. Let's get into the specifics! According to Star News Online, the Buckley's family restaurant—at least the outside of it—is actually a place called Fishy Fishy Cafe, which looks delightful. Meanwhile, some scenes around town take place at Potter's Seafood, Yacht Basin Drive, Morningstar Marina, and the Southport City Pier. Oh, and the sheriff's office is actually International Longshoremen's Local 1838. The more you know! Wilmington was used for a ton of locations in The Waterfront—specifically (per Star News Online) the Chamber of Commerce, which was a stand-in for Havenport hospital, as well William E. Poole Designs, which was used for Jenna's family hardware store. You can also see local businesses Caprice Bistro and the Black Cat Shoppe in several scenes. This gorgeous beachfront was used throughout filming, and if it looks familiar, might be because it's a go-to filming spot for The Summer I Turned Pretty. Brady Hepner, who plays Diller in The Waterfront, actually spoke about filming at the beach, telling The News & Observer that "Wrightsville Beach is always good. That was the thing I enjoyed about filming. After a long 12 hour day, you can just go sit on the beach and chill out, and that was really special to a lot of people." Kay, gotta go plan my trip.
Cosmopolitan
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Is 'The Waterfront' Happening? Here's What We Know
POV: you spent all weekend dissociating and watching The Waterfront on Netflix, and now there's nothing left to do but obsesses over a (potential) second season. Here's what we know about the future of this show, which is best described as one part Outer Banks hijinks, two parts Yellowstone family drama, and one million parts Topher Grace delivering the most deranged (compliment) performance of his career. But creator Kevin Williamson (who blessed us with Dawson's Creek and The Vampire Diaries) tells ScreenRant that he has plans for multiple seasons drawn up. "I've just sort of figured out who these actors are in these roles, and I would love a chance to write for them, and lean into them, and I think the show can just go up," he said. "There's a whole second season that I have planned out, and a third season, quite frankly. So I'm hoping I get the chance to tell those stories. I do think it's a fun show, and it's unlike anything I've ever done, and I just hope people enjoy it." Season 1 was filmed from August to December 2024, so if Netflix follows the same schedule, it seems fair to assume we could get season 2 this time next year. Stream Now! Cane kicked off the season being a pretty reluctant participant in his "life of crime" (the man just wants to run his fishery and flirt with his ex), but he'd literally shot Grady through the face by the season finale. In other words, Cane has officially embraced being a drug dealer. However, season 2 will find him more confused than ever. "He doesn't really wear crime well," Williamson tells Variety. "His father does. His father's really good at it. By returning to a life of crime, Harlan finds himself again. He finds his purpose, and he actually becomes a better person. I don't think that's necessarily true for Cane. Cane's going to have to stumble a bit. I don't think he's ever going to wear it well, and everything's going to be a compromise for him, and everything's going to be a moral dilemma." The Buckleys are getting a new boss. No offense to Harlan, but he and Cane don't exactly excel at being criminals (see: literally everything that happened this season), while Belle seems made for it. The season ended with her making a deal with Emmett (Harlen's business parter / biggest rival), and Williamson tells Variety that "She's just going to push him aside and do what she needs to do. The one thing that she states very clearly is she has earned the Buckley name, and she's right." He also went ahead and confirmed that the major "conflict" of season 2 will be Harlen vs Belle fighting for control over the family dynasty. Williamson tells IndieWire that "Of course, we have the Parkers who they're now beholden to, and I think there's a whole family there of interesting people. We had one, Topher Grace, this year. I think we're going to have a few more next year." Shawn mentioned that he has a boyfriend, but sadly we didn't get meet him in season 1. Expect that to change in season 2. As Williamson put it to Variety, "It'll be really interesting for that character to show up and what is his response to this Buckley family when he figures out who they are. It's gonna be fun to watch him navigate all the different characters in this new family dynamic." Peyton found out her husband cheated on her and reacted out with him and ominously saying "Everything's fine. You and me. We're fine. I'm gonna see to it." the stage for some weird vibes next season, to say the least. Williamson tells Variety "She had that moment where she could run, she could leave, and she almost does. But I think she has a better plan. She loves this man, and they say you can't change someone. Well, we're gonna watch her do it." Meanwhile, Danielle Campbell (who plays Peyton) tells Us Weekly, "She sets herself up as being aware of the family business and all of its flaws. I would like to see her be a powerhouse and take on a role inside of it where she would be very well-utilized as somebody who no one would initially perceive as being someone who's taking part in it. Just like you really wouldn't initially see Belle being involved. Women are so powerful and they have a completely different way of going about working than men. I think there's something really exciting about watching that on screen." All the major players in the Buckley family ended this season alive and well, so chances are we'll see them return for season two. And clearly there will be some new faces—including members of the Parker family, not to mention Shawn's boyfriend. We'll be updating this with more info as it drops, so stay tuned.
Forbes
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Some Bad News About Outer Banks' Season 5 Release Date
Outer Banks Netflix has proudly declared that the fifth and final season of Outer Banks has begun production, with a new set photo of the group in costume minus (spoilers) JJ, who was killed off in season 4, barring some sort of miraculous resurrection. So, good news, right? Well, not if you were hoping this meant that Outer Banks season 5 would arrive any time soon. While it's great that production is starting now, this is a wild nine months after airing of season 4, and with how long it takes to actually film and produce a show like this, that's bad news for its overall release date timeline. Outer Banks season 4 started production in June 2023 and was released in October 2024. That's a gap of 15 months for filming and post-production, lengthy even in this current streaming era. So, if we're talking 15 months from July 2025, if we're rounding up, that's a season 5 debut in October 2026, a full two years after season 4. This would be longer than any gap between seasons the show has had so far. It's not clear whether or not the final season will be broken up into two halves of five episodes as we saw with season 4. But it's likely, given Netflix's addiction to doing this. It's just yet another example of how exhausting these gaps between seasons are in the modern streaming era. There's a new piece from whats-on-netflix that articulates this well in terms of data, showing that the average time between Netflix seasons is 20 months. And that very much hurts these shows: The reasons? More elaborate, expensive shows, but also lengthy post-production, which involves dubbing the show in dozens of different languages given its global reach (this is true for most streaming services, but Netflix especially). It also has to do with actor availability, and in the case of Outer Banks, really all these main actors have been hopping around different projects during these gaps because production takes this long. But doing so can make production take even longer in some cases. Could this change? Now that COVID and strikes are over, it's possible, but we've only seen year-long breaks between a handful of major streaming shows, with only a few points of good news like yearly installments of 15-episode The Pitt, a unicorn. Outer Banks? Not a unicorn. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
USA Today
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Will Madelyn Cline root on Coastal Carolina in the College World Series?
In the 2025 College World Series final, we know this much: Livvy Dunne and Paul Skenes will be rooting on their alma mater, LSU. But who could be backing the Tigers' opponent, Coastal Carolina? For that answer, we might have to look at the other Carolina, specifically North Carolina's Outer Banks. That's because Outer Banks star Madelyn Cline (who plays Sarah Cameron) might be a fan of the Chanticleers. Per an interview with Arts Intel in 2023, Cline was home-schooled in Goose Creek, South Carolina before she attended Costal Carolina for just her freshman year in 2017. She dropped out and drove to L.A. I haven't unearthed any posts on social media or discussions in articles about whether she roots for the university's sports teams or not, sadly. So maybe we'll see her fandom come out as the Chanticleers -- that's a type of rooster, in case you're wondering -- fight to win their first men's College World Series title since 2016.
