TVSquad

After a few months of being in limbo, The CW's mid-season show Hidden Palms finally gets a premiere date and a timeslot. In a press release sent earlier today, the network announced that the mysterious one-hour drama would debut on Wednesday, May 30 at 8 p.m. The CW is giving this new series a big timeslot as it currently is the home of America's Next Top Model.

The network describes the series as being a multi-generational show that focuses on Johnny Miller, a teen who is struggling to come to terms with two tragedies in the strange and artificial atmosphere of Palm Springs.This new series stars a few familiar faces such as Taylor Handley (who people will remember as the much despised Oliver on The O.C.), Michael Cassidy (The O.C.), Tessa Thompson (who played Jackie Cook on Veronica Mars) as well as NYPD Blue's Gail O'Grady and Sharon Lawrence.

The network ordered eight episodes of Hidden Palms. Question is, will all of them see the light of a TV screen? I personally think it won't. Although it's just 8 episodes, so maybe The CW will air them anyway.

Unlike Kevin's opinion of the pilot in his "early look" of the series, I didn't like care about it that much. Actually, unless some major changes were made since I watched the pilot last summer, I won't watch. And looking at the cast list, it seems my first wish didn't come true: have someone else play Handley's character. Maybe it's because I never liked him (I personally think he lacks some acting skills and comes off way too cocky) or maybe because I can't get away from the scary memories of him playing Oliver Trask on The O.C. (my eyes still hurt).

Unless they tweaked the pilot, the Hidden Palms premiere doesn't bring anything new to the table. The opener is reminiscent of the Desperate Housewives first scenes (a suicide) and both shows tackle the "how well do you really know your neighbors" issue. Add to that the fact that the series is very much like The O.C. with a troubled teen moving in a "plastic" town, and voilà, you have a reheated dish. Also, it almost seems that the series wants us to think of Desperate Housewives and The O.C. as some of their cast guest starred in both series.

The series seems to have a fair cast. However, they lacked cohesion and momentum in the pilot. At times, their acting was even reminding me of soap operas and I don't think this was their intent as the show seems to want to be taken seriously. However, since the actors didn't know their characters yet nor the series, I can forgive them for their not that great performance.

The storylines in the pilot are not fresh either: the good kid who goes wild when his dad commits suicide, the troubled kid who wants to date the hot girl, someone who sees a crime being committed when looking out the window, the mysterious death of someone who lived in the house before, etc.

Personally, I think Hidden Palms tries too much to be like other series, bringing nothing new for the fans to chew on. It may be saved by the fact most series will be over for the season when Hidden Palms will premiere, so people will be looking for new series to watch instead of reruns. Let's hope that the seven other episodes are better written and acted as well as have more compelling and fresh situations.

Hidden Palms will air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW starting May 30.