'Beach Girls'

Whoever at Lifetime came up with the idea of serializing Luanne Rice's novel BEACH GIRLS during the month of August should get a big bonus. This six-hour series is the perfect show for a summer winding down, and when you add in a cast that includes Rob Lowe and Julia Osmond you have a hit on your hands.

Once the first two-hour segment of "Beach Girls" reaches the screen then the rest of the series should become appointment viewing. This show has it all - romance, sex, drama and mystery. There's even a touch of comedy thrown in for good measure.

Lowe plays Jack Kilvert, a lawyer whose wife has been killed in a car crash. He and his daughter Nell (Chelsea Hobbs) decide to spend their summer at Hubbard's Point, Massachusetts. This is where Jack first met Emma, his deceased wife.

Nell is very excited about spending the summer at the beach and wants to get to know her mother's friend, Stevie Moore (Ormond) who has a home there. She also wants to talk her father into reconciling with her Aunt Maddie (Katherine Ashby) who Jack resents for some unknown reason.

The fact that this is a limited series run means that all plot points will be resolved in a few weeks. And for summer viewing this is a plus factor.

So join Rob Lowe, Julia Ormond, Chelsea Hobbs and Cloris Leachman for a vacation to the world of "Beach Girls." The scenery is great, the characters interesting, and the storyline as good as possible since it came from the mind of Luanne Rice - one of the world's most popular writers.