Ventura’s Star Is Rising

Southern California spins out TV beach-side adventures to feed the fantasies of viewers in sun-deprived, bikini-barren regions of the globe.

Santa Monica churns out “Baywatch,” Seal Beach beams out “Sunset Beach” and Santa Barbara begot “Santa Barbara,” whose 2,137 episodes are still aired in more than 43 countries.

Now, at long last, Ventura is getting in on the action. Last fall, film cameras, trailers and an army of actors, actresses and directors from “High Tide,” a syndicated TV series about two surfer detective brothers, descended upon Ventura.

The show has been set in San Diego, but in a recent story development, the character of bail bondsman-real estate salesman Jay Cassidy persuades the two brothers--played by Rick Springfield and Yannick Bisson--to sell their dive shop down south and move up the coast to the Ventura-Santa Barbara area.

“Santa Barbara-Ventura--it’s beautiful up here!” says Cassidy on the show, in an effort to persuade the brothers to relocate to Ventura. “This is the Riviera of Southern California.” Fans call the show a unique hybrid--a sort of “Baywatch” meets “Magnum P.I.” Detractors slam it as a low-grade “Baywatch” knock-off.

But love it or hate it, the show sends out hours of free advertising for Ventura from Mexico to Germany. Between catching the waves at Surfers Point, Springfield and Bisson--or Mick and Joey as they are known on the show--are ogling bodacious babes down at the state beach, wrestling with thugs down at Longboard’s Grill, or unraveling local intrigue at City Hall.

The show is the first TV series to be shot in Ventura in recent memory. It’s not “ER,” or “NYPD Blue,” but city officials and those working in the local tourism industry say they hope the show will put Ventura on the map--in the minds of viewers and producers--to generate business and lure out-of-town visitors.

The show has legions of fans around the world. It airs in Hong Kong, the Middle East, Iceland, Latin America and most of Europe, according to Alexandra Uliantzeff, publicist for “High Tide” at the Lippen Group, a public relations firm.

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Locally, “High Tide” is hard to catch. It shows at 5 p.m. Saturday on KADY and 2 a.m. Sunday on KCAL. However, it airs in prime-time--9 p.m. on Sundays--in Bakersfield, on KUZZ TV-45.

“It’s big in all the California wannabe areas,” says Daniel Yarussi, director of photography for the show, readying his camera and trying to maintain order among the lithe lycra-clad bodies swarming around him on the set one recent day. “Europe, the Midwest . . . cold places.”

Richard Newsham, in charge of public relations for the city, calls the California beach genre--”High Tide” inclusive--the “Baywatch phenomenon.”

“They buy into the myth that we are all running around in Speedos and swimsuits all year long,” he said.

“High Tide” was filmed in New Zealand for its first season, San Diego for its second, and Ventura and Santa Barbara for its third.

The show is poised to head into a second season here, and now Ventura is trying to leverage its TV image as an exciting place where the beautiful brothers find dead bodies lurking behind every building, and buxom women standing behind every store counter.

Through Feb. 28, the Ventura Visitors & Convention Bureau is holding a “High Tide” Contest in Bakersfield to capitalize on the city’s new-found fame. Fans will win one of four vacation packages in the new hometown of “High Tide.”

The contest will culminate with a grand prize that includes lodging, meals and a walk-on or background role in the show.

“We want to use the fact that the show is filmed here to portray Ventura as an attractive visitor destination, and this kind of show accomplishes that,” said Bill Clawson of the visitors bureau.

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Dozens of films have been shot in Ventura, making use of the city’s lush green hills, perfect waves and idyllic California landscape. But until now, Ventura has had little luck capturing a TV series. Newsham says Ventura has had a steady diet of pilot shows--including “Triangle” in 1991, and a few episodes of “Lady Law.” But few, if any, ever made it on the air. Until “High Tide.”

When the big-time Los Angeles producers from Franklin/Waterman Entertainment first waltzed into town last June, they wanted to film in Ventura, but refer to it as Santa Barbara on the show. But Ventura bargained for its name.

Clawson said the city had two goals: to get the show to film in Ventura, and to get them to call it Ventura on the show. By reducing some of the fees and streamlining the application process, Ventura achieved both.

The show proclaims itself set in Santa Barbara-Ventura. Santa Barbara provides the ritzy SoCal cachet; Ventura is tacked on like an afterthought. But supervising producer Cary Glieberman says the crew and cast like Ventura so much that now most of the shows are filmed here, and a lot of the crew now lives in Ventura.

“Much as I love Santa Barbara, Ventura is a better place to shoot,” says Glieberman. “It has everything Santa Barbara has--short a few mansions--and it’s a better spot logistically.”

In Ventura’s parallel “High Tide” universe, Mafia murderers, ex-models and spoiled rich kids roam the streets--guns in hand, always ready for adventure. Glieberman explains the basic plot.

“These are two guys you’re gonna like,” says Glieberman, leaning forward intimately in the corner of a trailer, pitching the show like it’s the first time. “They’re sportsmen, they’re single and they’re romantics. They always have an eye for the ladies. But they’re not womanizers by any means. They don’t have to be.”

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Indeed, Mick and Joey just head out for their daily surf, and adventure comes their way. As they get out of the water one morning, a beautiful ex-model walks across the parking lot toward them. Suddenly, she is attacked by a burly guy, and the two brothers are forced to get involved.

In this, the latest episode, filmed at Camarillo State Hospital, Mick and Joey have gone undercover into an expensive plastic surgery clinic in search of a killer who is about to have his face reworked. They must reach him before he is changed forever.

The show has evolved from a surfing theme to more of a detective orientation. Springfield, for one, is relieved about the change.

“Our first season we spent half our lives in the water,” says Springfield, who knows how to surf but rarely does because he is afraid of sharks. “But there are only so many surfing accidents that are murder. Now we live the same lifestyle . . . we’re always talking about surfing. But we aren’t doing it as much.”

Publicist Uliantzeff says the show is most popular among women, ages 25 to 54. Chalk it up to the Rick Springfield factor, because a lot of women still yearn for the man who took “Jessie’s Girl” to the top of the music charts in the ‘80s, and who played the role of Dr. Noah Drake in the soap opera, “General Hospital.”

Christina Melton, promotions director for KUZZ-TV in Bakersfield, watches the show.

“The plot is not really deep. It’s a no-brainer--a sit-and-relax-type show,” she says. She confesses the real reason she watches: “I’m a child of the ‘80s. I used to have a crush on Rick Springfield.”

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As the show nears the end of its first season, many await signs of the benefits of TV exposure.

Glieberman says the production team buys all its supplies in Ventura, from wood and welding services to electric cords. David Kleitsch, the city’s economic development manager, says the filming is considered an economic benefit, but the gains are hard to quantify. The second ancillary benefit, of course, is publicity.

From an economic development standpoint, the goal is to move beyond filming and get production and post-production facilities into the area, says Kleitsch. And “High Tide” is a start.

Glieberman says Franklin Waterman Entertainment is looking at several properties in Ventura for a local studio, and the company plans to film up to nine more TV series in the area by the end of this year.

In the meantime, few locals have seen the show. Those who have say the racy world of “High Tide” is a far cry from the real Ventura--which is just a relatively quiet beach town.

Jim Luttjohann, owner of the Daily Grind coffee shop, likes the show but says it could warp people’s view of Ventura.

“People will expect to see bodies behind every building,” he said.

But producer Glieberman hints that truth can be stranger than fiction, even in Ventura. And viewers should not be surprised if local events begin to weave themselves into future episodes of “High Tide.”

He mentions the Michael Dally-Diana Haun murder case as one that the story’s young detectives might want to take on.

“You’d be surprised what goes on down here,” he says, a twinkle in his eye. “Ventura’s a hotbed.”