Swans Crossing

I don't even know what made me think of Swan's Crossing recently, but I just had to go on here and see if other people remembered it. I used to LOVE this show. I thought Shane McDermott was the cat's PJs back then. I used to watch it in the mornings before school when I was in jr high. I'm pretty sure I still have the poster I got from one of those geeky teen pin-up magazines packed in a box somewhere. I just couldn't part with it for some reason. I can still remember the party that Mila's mom threw for her where everything was pink and there were pink drinks called "Mila Floats." I remember the bird, Tutu, was singing on a video. I thought Sarah Michelle Gellar was just the coolest and wanted to look exactly like her. I didn't realize that Mira Sorvino was on the show. How funny! I would love to find Swan's Crossing on DVD just for a laugh.

This was by far one of the best-written and best acted shows for teenagers in memory. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Brittany Daniel, and Mira Sorvino all went on to have fabulous careers, and they all did a fine job on this show. SMG blew me away in her scenes where her character Sydney nearly drowned and was in shock. "Nobody helps me! Never!" What a powerful performance (I still believe it was the best scene I have ever seen her do)! It only lasted 13 weeks, not nearly given enough time to build a solid audience plus the timeslots were a little ridiculous. Most of all, the show was somewhat a fantasy, but it was real enough because the characters were going through what normal teenagers go through. The storylines were clever and there was always a surprise on Friday's episode (not many soaps can say that). Too bad the devoted fans will never get to find out how these stories played out. Had this show been given a chance, it might have lasted for years.

I used to watch this show when I was in high school; it was conveniently on 330 after school was out. I really can't believe the countless hours I wasted watching this soap opera for the teen set, or the countless conversations I had about it with my friends. High school really was a strange time. Anyway...

This show was pretty much your typical soap opera fare, except that it featured no one over the age of 18. It had all your classic soap opera standards: melodramitic plots, terrible dialogue, mediocre acting, poor production values, and way too many closeups. It's really only noteworthy as the first regular TV appearance of Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the school bitch. In fact, the first time in saw Buffy, I said, "Hey, that's the girl from Swans Crossing". The show wasn't as terrible as the tripe that passes for soap operas nowadays, but it wasn't exactly Gone With the Wind, either. I did derive some degree of enjoyment watching it long ago. In fact, if nothing else were on, I'd probably sit down and watch it.

Yes, this was a soap opera... a teen soap opera. And not just a regular soap opera, but one of those fantasy soaps, such as Passions and Days of Our Lives. So why do I remember it 9 years after it was canceled? Because it was great. It was shamelessly melodramatic and superficial, filled with conniving and selfish "poor, little rich kids". Imagine having Cruel Intentions piped into your living room 5 days a week. Trust me, you'd get addicted to it just as my friends and I did. There was even a campaign to get the show back on the air. My school had a petition. Why am I telling you this embarrassing bit of unsolicited information? Because you need to know the truth. Sarah Michelle Gellar was a remarkable actor then, just as she is now. And her presence alone made this show respectable and worthy of our affections. I still to this day remember a specific episode in which Sydney (SMG's character) was supposed to publicly announce her secret relationship with the son of her mother's rival. Well, you can pretty much figure out this storyline. Sydney chickened out and her boyfriend gave up on her. And she ran after him, taking a shortcut through a cemetery, where she fell on her father's grave. She finally arrived with dirt and leaves in her hair, her make-up smeared, only to see her beloved with his arms around the dim-witted and naïve third member of this love triangle. If Sydney had been played by someone else, this episode would have seemed to come right out of a Mexican soap, displaying an absurdly awful case of over-acting. It would've been nothing more than a bad joke. But fortunately, SMG brought real emotion to a severely lacking script, and she made me cry with her. So on this day of Buffy's season finale (series finale?), as SMG's career takes another spectacular turn, I thought I'd tell you that Swans Crossing wasn't what you think it was. It was a lot more.

Swans Crossing was like a teen soap opera. I enjoyed, and still enjoy watching it. I am lucky enough to have some of the episodes on tape. The best thing about Swans Crossing was that it was not about sex or drugs, it was a show you could sit and watch with your whole family. I also am a huge Sarah michelle Gellar Fan. All and All 10 years after it was canceled Swans Crossing is still a very much remembered TV show. I actually watched my episodes today. I really enjoy watching it. The best scene to me, it is also to me the best Sarah Michelle Gellar scene ever, was when Sydney(Sarah Michelle gellar) was supposed to walk off the baseball field with Garret(Shane Mcdermont)and announce their love together, but Sydney did not go. So later she had to run through the woods to catch Garret, but when she arrived at the Soda Shop Garret was with Mila(Brittany Daniel). Sydney cried and walked outside and fell near a bench. I love that scene. This is already too long so I will stop writing now.