Danielle Hiser, 16, and Brittany Ballard, 17, both of San Francisco, and Pat Gonzales of 'Ewa Beach also took in "North Shore" at "Sunset on the Beach" in Waikiki last night. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

"That's it," declared Leimomi Souza, 29, of Ala Moana. "I'm hooked."

Souza, who has worked at various Hawai'i hotels for the past 10 years, said she found the goings-on at the fictional Grand Waimea hilariously true to life.

"People might think all those spoiled, whiny tourists on the show are exaggerated, but no way," she said. "They took that right out of my life."

Matt Leong, 24, of Kapahulu, said he wants to see more of "Frankie Seau," the bartender character played by Hawai'i-born Jason Momoa.

"He's different," Leong said. "You don't see a lot of Hawaiian guys on TV. And, he's not like a stereotype from Hawai'i, either. He's slick and smart. He's not a babooze."

Executive producer Bert Salke and the cast of the show — including Brooke Burns, who arrived from Los Angeles just in time — were on hand to greet the crowd.

"I hope people like it," said star Kristoffer Polaha before the screening. "I think it has the potential to be a big hit."

Polaha said he hopes local viewers will excuse the few liberties the show had to take in portraying O'ahu.

"It's TV so it isn't a true representation of what the North Shore is like," he said. "The hotel is fictional and we clipped the island together. So, people might recognize a place and say, 'Hey, that's on the west side, not the North Shore.'

"Hopefully, it's entertaining enough that people will keep watching," he said. "If you look at it, each episode is a love letter to the Islands. There are scenes where the background is so beautiful it actually supercedes the action."

Tyrone Hussey, 56, of Kaimuki, said he'll probably watch the show even though they made one casting mistake.

"I should have been in it," he said, laughing. "That's the only problem. Otherwise, yeah, it's an OK show."

Hussey wasn't the only one stumping for a role. Mayor Jeremy Harris said the show would be even better if it had one more character — "a mayor."

Harris greeted Salke and the cast before the screening, but stayed only until the first commercial break before hurrying off to another engagement.

Missy Adams, 43, a visitor from Dallas, stayed just a bit longer before deciding the show's content was too racy for her 7-year-old son, Tyler.

"It's pretty interesting, though," she said. "I'll have to watch it when I get back home."

Cobey Pinegar, 36, of Oakland, Calif., said watching a show about Hawai'i while sitting on a beach in Hawai'i was "kind of surreal."

"It's like, there's the palm trees and the surf on the screen and right behind it is, like, palms trees and surf," he said. "I had a hard time concentrating on the story."

Pinegar said he expects the show to do well not because of its Hawai'i backdrop, but because of the strong characters and story lines.

"After a few episodes, people aren't going to care about it being Hawai'i," he said. "But I think the drama with the two leads (Polaha and Burns) will keep them tuning in every week. That's the strength."

Darren Pamaylaon, 44, of Kapahulu said he has enjoyed all of the shows that have been shot in Hawai'i, from "Hawaii 5-0" to "Baywatch Hawaii," and "North Shore" fits right in.

"The shots of the scenery are really fantastic," he said. "I'd like to see more of the island, more of the natural beauty. But the show is really more about the characters, and that might be what it takes to succeed.

"I liked the show. But it doesn't really matter what we think, it's what the rest of the country thinks."