Since day one, Meg Cummings has been searching for her man in shinning armor. She flew hundreds of miles across country in search of him, only to find out that he was not interested in having a relationship with another woman after his wife died 4 years ago. But good old Meg kept at it and after finally winning the love of the man of her dreams, her world came crashing down on her when the presumed dead wife Maria, turned up very much alive. But before we get into that whole fiasco, there are a few things we need to bring up.

First of all, when Meg found the diary from Maria and all of the stories she wrote, why on earth did she confide in Tim, her ex-fiancée? Here is the guy who cheated on her throughout their entire relationship, which culminated on the day of her wedding to him. The same man who tried everything humanly possible to win her back, including stooping to depths we haven't seen before now. She decides to tell him all about her relationship with Ben, who in turn goes running off to Annie, the one person in town who hates her simply because you got the man she always wanted.

Next came the post-hypnotic suggestion where Ben would call Meg "Maria" everytime she called him Ben. Oh, and let's not forget that when the two of them mad love for the first time, he had amnesia and said to her "I love you Maria". Sorry, but its time she played a game of Wheel of Fortune. (Buy a vowel and get a clue already).

Then Derek, Ben's twin brother, who he thought was dead but never bothered to tell Meg about, shows up. He kidnaps Ben and takes over his life so he can have all of Ben's money. He fools Meg (who wouldn't) and most everyone in town, except for Casey (somewhat). Here is a woman who was always talking about the "connection" she has with Ben, but yet she never picked up on his behavioral changes or differences for several months. This is where we, and probably all of the viewing audience got very frustrated with this couple, because this just sealed Meg's brainless demeanor in our minds. Never before had we seen someone who is so likeable and loving and wonderful, that was just so damn DUMB! (Or maybe naïve would be better). Enough already...if we wanted to watch something stupid, we would tune into DOOL.

So finally the Tim's, and Annie's, and Derek's of the world are finally out of the picture and it is clear sailing for Ben and Meg to get to that altar when WHAM! POW! BOOM! The dead wife ain't so dead. She doesn't remember her life prior to her being found in a car accident and when she is told that her and Ben are still married she promises on everything holy that she will sign divorce papers once she remembers her past. Guess again, she sure as hell doesn't. Once she does get her real memories back, she starts to fight and connive to regain Ben's love, and of course, with the help of Annie. But alas, fair maiden, it didn't work. Ben went (or crashed) into Meg and there love was solidified once and for all.

So our question is what does Maria have up her sleep by arranging this 24 hour quickie divorce in the Dominican Republic, and arranging for a Venice honeymoon for her ex and his new love? Cmon now, how often does this happen in real life?

What pisses us off about this entire thing is that the writers keep throwing stuff into the mix to keep Ben and Meg from finally tying the knot. STOP THE INSANITY! If you really want Ben and Meg to be a SuperCouple (and win some awards for the same), then please let them find some happiness together before throwing another wrench into this machine (i.e., the little boy Bengy who is coming to town in the next week or so). At least they have finally given Meg a stronger backbone lately. Yes, she is still nice to everyone no matter how rotten or mean they are to her, but now she is more then likely to defend herself and stand up for what she believes in rather then letting people walk all over her. It is refreshing and long over due to see Meg becoming the strong and confident woman that we had all hoped she would be.

Now, if Ben and Meg do get married --- when the hell is Meg going to put her foot down and get the hell out of that house??? That was Maria's house, it will always will be Maria's house, Ben built it for her as their wedding present. We say have Maria move in and take over the house, that way she can hang some of those awful beads in the doorway just like her mama, and let Ben and Meg have a new house built for them further down on the beach.

With all of this hoop-la going on about whether Sunset Beach or Another World may be cancelled to make room for the new NBC soap Passions, we thought we might air our opinions on what the show needs to do in order to secure it's future with NBC.

Advertise, Advertise, and Advertise! Last summer when Sunset Beach prepared to start airing its Terror Island and Shockwave storylines (respectively), we saw quite a bit of commercials and print ads about these shows. We even saw the Men of SB commercials in primetime for about a month (which by the way was ooh sssoooo fantastic). Since then ... nothing! What about more airtime on the other great stories going on. Get people hooked on the Meg/Ben/Maria triangle by advertising how good it really is! Get people involved in Francesca's shooting by telling people how much they will miss by not watching! Why is it that when we sit down to watch some of our favorite NBC shows in prime time, all we see are commercials for Days of Our Lives, and not Sunset Beach? We can understand that DOOL has been around almost as long as sliced bread, but what about making room for the newer, younger generation to get their foot in the door. We feel that NBC has not been all that helpful in promoting SB and we really would like to know why. How else is a new show going to succeed unless you publicize the heck out of it so the viewing audience will be tempted to tune in and watch. Besides, this is a Spelling Productions show, why on earth would they want to do that to dear old Aaron? Another way for Sunset Beach to advertise is in magazines. It's the largest market for Soap Opera promotion and they need to get on it. We don't care if they have to pay their way to do it. Sunset Beach needs more magazine coverage, especially with Soap Opera Digest (the largest soap magazine in the United States). Soap Opera Weekly is the only magazine that really supports the show! Aside from magazines, there is always the internet. And of course, we are probably biased here, but they really should get more involved in the internet. They have a huge fan base on the internet and they should acknowledge that! The NBC Sunset Beach web page doesn't do the show any justice! Hey, we have an idea ... make Sunset Central the official page! (grin!)

Stop the Flashbacks. That's right - you heard us. Stop with all those annoying flashback scenes. We don't know what is more annoying, dragging out the baby Trey saga, or making us sit through all those black and white flashback scenes that we have already witnessed a million times already. If you want to be sure that a possible new viewer is caught up with what has been going on in a particular storyline, maybe you should update your website more so that viewers can log onto it and READ what they have missed, instead of torturing your loyal viewers with a barrage of flashbacks. Hey, this is not the NFL - we don't need the instant replay!

Stop the Nonsense. Ok, when Annie first began her constant fantasies it was cute, but it has gotten way out of hand. Can we say, 'to much of a good thing'? Now we have Sara in on the fantasy game. Sunset Beach has always been a little campy, but come on, there are grown-ups watching. It's quite hard to preach to all your friends how great Sunset Beach is and then turn on the TV to Annie in a superhero costume, or spinning on a big wheel with knives being thrown at her. Then there is the 'Look Who's Talking" bit. Spike and Trey holding a conversation is so ridiculous (thank God it only happened once). Again, what kind of image does that send out to the audience? Enough is enough.. get back to reality.

Pick Up The Pace. The storylines on the show right now have been in effect for almost 2 years. Baby Trey/Caitlin's pregnancy, Vanessa/Michael/Virginia and Martins' Syndrome, Meg/Ben and will they ever get married? The only stories that came and went were Shockwave, Terror Island and The Rosario Jewels. Why keep dragging these plots out when all the viewers want is a conclusion to them and to move on to newer stories. It's obvious that part of the reason that your ratings are in the dumper is that you can't seem to move fast enough. You were able to do that in the beginning, but now it's as if you don't know where 2nd gear is. Take a lesson from the past two weeks. Sunset Beach has been nothing but exciting. The revelation of Trey, the end to the Turkey Baster storyline, and the beginning of Francesca's demise have ratings written all over them. Give the viewers a reason to watch everyday and you may just see the ratings climb. People are not going to tune in if there is no reason to. Until Sunset Beach is secure at the top of the ratings scale, they need to make each episode an eye catcher!

Talented Cast of Actors/Actresses. This category is probably going to be up for debate by a lot of people, but there are a few cast members on the show who we feel should not be there. They are not strong enough or talented enough to carry the role they have been asked to portray. Now, we will not mention names, however, we're sure you probably can guess who we may be talking about. And why on earth would you want to get rid of very talented people (i.e., Dominique Jennings and Lisa Guerrero Coles). Granted, we may not have liked them as characters, but that is no reason to terminate their storylines. When it comes to Virginia going to a nuthouse, YOU, the writers put her in that predicament. All because of the backlash of the Turkey Baster nonsense. Granted, the viewing public, as a majority, was offended by that, but this is daytime television ... anything can be changed or fixed with just the stroke of a pen. Now, the only villaness we have on our beloved show is Annie - who never gets busted for her wrongdoings (why is that?). Look what happened with Tiffany, the run-away (Adrienne Frantz) who befriended Mark and Sean? You kicked her off the show, but The Bold & The Beautiful was fortunate enough to pick her up and now she is in a front-burner storyline, and has been for well over a year now, and gets great reviews and write-ups from critics. It's a shame when you look back only 2 short years ago at the original cast photo, and see less than half of the originals still there today (Olivia, Gregory, Annie, Ben, Meg, Ricardo, Bette, Sean, Casey, Michael, Vanessa).

Innovative Storylines Needed (i.e., Shockwave and Terror Island). You hit a home run with these two storylines last year, but you followed it up with the Rosario Jewels plot. Yes, it was different, but it soon lost its mystique with the audience and we couldn't wait for it to end. Rather than have all of these stories involving a guy and a girl in love and a third person trying to break them up (Ben/Meg/Tim or Maria, Sean/Emily/Amy, Cole/Caitlin/Francesca or Gregory, Vanessa/Michael/Virginia), why not involve one or two of these characters in a storyline that is not so squeaky clean (Eddie Connor's revisited). When AJ Dechanel joined the cast we were all anticipating that he and Gregory would be going at it tooth and nail, but we are still waiting for that to happen. They are both handsome, successful businessmen who can't stand each other, why not explore that. What was it that happened all those years ago to make them hate each other?

Relationships A Miss! One of the reasons (we think) General Hospital is so popular, is because of the relationships it builds. There are scenes on General Hospital that aren't even close to being edge of your seat, yet you don't want to miss them. For example: A tender moment between Carly and Bobbie - A silent moment between Liz and Lucky. These people don't have to say anything to each other yet, you know what they are feeling. Sunset Beach is sorely lacking in that department. You hardly ever see anyone on the show genuinely care about the other. The closest Sunset Beach has come are the moments between Meg and Maria (which make that triangle work). Put two people together who would normally hate each other and make them really care about each other. There use to be those buddy moments between Casey and Michael and now they are hardly ever on-screen together. Then there is Gabi and Antonio. They lusted after each other for months. Then finally they give in to their desires and now seem to not care about each other at all. The tender moments - the secrets glances are all gone! Now, all Gabi cares about is hiding her secret. It's like she never loved Antonio. Does anyone care about anyone (other than themselves) on this show anymore? A show doesn't always have to be about showdowns or plotting. But rather, there can be those tender moments that make you care about each character and their relationships.

Well, we're gonna tell you, and put our .03 cents worth in. The last A View From The Pier column was based primarily on the things Sunset Beach is doing wrong during this stressful time of cancellation looming. Now we would like to take a look at the things Sunset Beach is doing right, and why NBC should NEVER take this show off of the air.

Ambition! Sunset Beach is the most ambitious show we have ever watched. It's not afraid to do anything or say anything to get noticed, and it works! It is a show struggling to stay on the air, yet the looming cancellation doesn't ruin the shows morale. Taking Terror Island and ShockWave for examples, the show was smart enough and daring enough to put these types of storylines on the air, and not being ashamed to admit that they were doing a send-up of the Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Poseidon Adventure hit movies. And you know what, it worked! During those time periods, the shows ratings spiked to a 2.2 and higher Nielson rating, when they had always managed to stay between 1.6 and 1.8 in the nielsons. It's going strong...until the end! You gotta love that!

Outdoor Shoots: Yes, SB is the only show that regularly features scenes that are filmed outside, on a real beach and on the real streets of California (for those of you who don't know, the outdoor shots are filmed at Seal Beach, about 1 hour south of Santa Monica, CA, which happens to be right next to the real town of Sunset Beach). Practically all of these other shows have their fake outdoor sets like the park bench, or the corner cafe, and only film outdoors when they plan a special storyline-indicated trip to Italy or New York or some other nice location. Sunset Beach averages at least 3 or more outdoor scenes per week (depending on the weather) and even uses various locations for these scenes, not just the sand and beach. This tactic definitely makes the show different and unique from all the others, and is a well deserved change of pace.

Love Stories: One of Sunset Beach's strongest areas is love stories. They are able to build compelling stories of two souls finding each other and falling in love. Take the Meg and Ben storyline. It's a fan favorite and it's always front-burner. Why? Because they built a romance, and characters that we care about and that we want to see overcome all obstacles to be together. Meg and Ben are not the only couple that fans route for. Many fans love Gregory and Olivia.... the doomed marriage that fans hope in time will find it's way back together. Then there is Cole and Caitlin, who have the most broken up marriage on the show, built on lies and deceit, yet you can't help but wish them to find what brought them together in the first place. We watched all kinds of couples build romance on intrigue in Sunset Beach, and it's the real reason we even watch the show.

Romance: Sliding from love stories into romance should almost be one and the same topic. Never before have we seen so many romantic things being done on one show, as well as new and inventive ways for couples to be romantic. Let's face it - a good ole' fashion love scene can still get us going, but have we ever seen anyone as romantic as Ben Evans? We think not. He just doesn't buy Meg a dozen white long stemmed roses, but completely fills her bedroom with them. He just doesn't buy her a pearl necklace for their wedding day, he gives her one individual pearl each day leading up to their wedding (then has them made into a necklace on the Wedding Day itself) Oh, and let us not forget the gondola ride he gave her, pretending to be on the Venetian waterway. And it really doesn't have to do with him being rich, it is imagination that we are talking about. Granted not every man can afford to buy an entire house (Terror Island), but it is truly the thought and expression behind these gifts that we are swooning over. We're sorry, but after witnessing these acts of love and affection, who wants to go back to plain-old champagne and caviar?

Triangles: Out of all the soaps we have watched, we have never been more into love triangles then we are now. The Meg/Ben/Maria triangle has us completely riveted. Three characters that we completely adore, in a no-win situation, is as compelling as any triangle can get. You care about all characters (yes, even Meg fans have to admit they like Maria from time to time) and you don't want to see any of them hurt, yet you secretly route for one side, and then somedays you're switching to the other side. It's a rollercoaster all the way, but so much fun to watch, because deep down, these characters really care about each other. Then there is the forbidden love between Father Antonio and Gabi Martinez (who, by the way, is also in love and dating Antonio's brother, Ricardo). It's bad enough that Antonio broke his vows to sleep with Gabi, but he also betrayed his own brother. Here is another classic send-up to a fabulous movie, The Thorn Birds. No matter how many times Farther Rolf declared his love for Meggie, he always declared that "he loved God more". If that isn't a storyline to be glued to, then we don't know what is.

Blockbuster Storylines: From Terror Island to Shockwave to Who Killed Francesca - Sunset Beach just doesn't stop. It keeps you on the ride of a lifetime taking new twists and turns at each sweeps period. You never know what kind of storyline to expect, but you do know that, usually (with Turkey Baster as the exception), it's worth the ride. Bringing on Derek (Ben's evil twin) to be named as the Terror Island killer, was brilliant. Killing Francesca Vargas (although Lisa Guerrero Cole's departure was a bummer) brought on all kinds of new and juicy storylines to the canvas. Sunset Beach never ceases to amaze us with it's exciting non-stop adventures, as well as pulling them off brilliantly.

Casting: I know in the last column we said that there were some actors on the show who shouldn't be there. Well, we also must admit that there are some, that Sunset Beach scored on, when they hired them. From the beginning, there have been powerhouses such as Sam Behrens (Gregory), Lesley-Anne Down (Olivia), Kathleen Noone (Better), Susan Ward (Meg) and Clive Robertson (Ben). But in the recent year, Sunset Beach has weeded out the useless ones (well, most of them anyway) and brought on some bright, fresh new talent. Take Christina Chambers. No one thought that anyone could divide Meg and Ben fans, yet, as Maria, Christina Chambers has done just that. Then there is the hunky priest played by Nick Kiriazis. If he doesn't get you all hot and bothered under the collar then something is definitely wrong. One other that we should mention is Krissy Carlson. At first, we thought they were crazy for giving her a contract. Amy was useless to say the least! She drove us nuts on Terror Island and we secretly wished Derek would ax her instead of Mark. But she has recently surprised us. We find that she is a remarkable actress who we find ourselves routing for from time to time. She's quick, clever and very fun to watch!

Guest Starring Roles: Yes, every show lately has jumped on that band wagon, and SB is no exception. However, what makes this show different from the others is that it is not afraid to bring on (shall we dare say controversial) celebrities to do a one or two episode gig. It started last year with Jack Wagner and Finola Hughes (who happen to be actors on other Aaron Spelling shows) to be a part of Cole's jewel-thieving past, now they are using Marla Maples, Christopher Darden, Jerry Springer and Susan Seaford Hayes just to name a few. Granted, we may not like the acting ability that some of these people will bring to the table, but let's us all admit, we are definitely going to watch and continue to watch the show because of them. The behind-the-scenes people at SB really do know when to take advantage of "sweeps" time at the network. Every week we find out that more and more famous people will be joining the show, in small roles, just to give things a little spice. And like someone once said, Varity is the Spice of Life!

Funny Dialogue: We have all got to admit, that this show does keep us laughing, and we think that it has to do with the dialogue between characters rather than their actions (Annie covered in whipped cream). Aunt Bette holds the crown for this category, thanks to the writers of the show. She comes out with some one-liners practically every day that keep us cracking up, not to mention her little nicknames for the various actors on the show (Dimples, Muscles, Beauty, Molto Suave, Prince of Darkness). Sunset Beach also is not ashamed to poke a little fun at themselves, or other daytime shows. During Terror Island, Virginia mentions that the haunted house is something like a bad episode of Days of our Lives, and even yesterdays show had Caitlin and Annie playing verbal tennis. Caitlin tells Annie "This is not Melrose Place" and Annie volleys back with "No, it's Sunset Beach!" It's these little quips that make us realize, yes it is a "make believe show", but it is a show that tries to bring a touch of real life to it as well. Thank you SB!

Well, between the Good and the Bad of Sunset Beach, we think that we have covered everything. We hope that you have agreed with us on some of these topics and hope that the future of SB is a long and prosperous one.