TV REVIEW : ‘Summer’ Starts Slow, Has Staying Power

“Summer Stories: The Mall” is an “ABC Afterschool Special” first: a three-part miniseries. It kicks off today at 3 p.m. on Channels 7, 3 and 42 with Part I, “First Impressions.”

Inexplicably, the segments are scheduled to air two weeks apart, and that’s too bad. This saga about an ethnically mixed group of high school grads working summer jobs at a mall is a slow-starter that gets better and better. In parts two and three, the series shows “Degrassi High”-style staying power.

The stories revolve around wholesome Sarah (Mara Hobel); shy rock band leader Spinner (Sandy Gaberman); Marla (Samaria Graham), a tense, hard-worker; and Diane (Jorjan Fox), a recovering alcoholic.

“First Impressions” focuses on Sarah, an adopted daughter who is emotionally torn when her biological mother (Roxanne Holden) seeks contact with her. Kathie Lee Gifford appears as Sarah’s fantasy mom in a silly dream sequence.

As Sarah agonizes, Spinner moons over sweet airhead Teresa (Marisol Massey), and Marla is angry that rich kid Drew (Peter Shaw) got the promotion she expected. Diane is a prickly presence in the background.

The cast is likable; Fox and Hobel stand out. The shows, directed by John Rubinstein, are seductively shot, filled with bright colors, ideal weather and terrific clothes. And there’s the mall. Hardly any adults are in sight in this clean, upscale, merchandise-packed mecca; it seems to be staffed almost solely by teens with lots of break time.

Viewers who hang in for the subsequent installments, airing on April 2 and 16, will be rewarded with more substance as Marla works out her anger over her mother’s pending remarriage, Spinner and Sarah take their friendship in a new direction and Diane struggles with temptation.