'Life Unexpected': Unexpectedly good
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The CW's new offering "Life Unexpected" is surprisingly charming.I have to confess -- original programming from the CW doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from me anymore.
"Vampire Diaries" aside (which is surprisingly good), I have not been that impressed with the shows on the WB-UPN hybrid network. "Gossip Girl" lost me after season one, "One Tree Hill" never had me and the "90210" and "Melrose Place" do-overs are disappointingly bad.
However.
"Life Unexpected" is here to save the day. Both the stars of the show and critics are calling it "old-school WB" and that is a spot-on assessment. It harkens back to the day of "Dawson's Creek," "Felicity," "Gilmore Girls" and "Popular" with sharp writing, raw emotions and compelling charcters.
"Life" begins with 15 year-old Lux, a product of the foster care system who must track down her birth parents in order to become emancipated. When the judge won't grant Lux's emancipation, her new-found parents step in.
All is not "happily ever after," though, and that's where the show gets its heart. Lux's parents are young (hence the giving her up for adoption as a baby) and don't know how to be parents to a teen. Watching Nate (Kristoffer Polaha) and Cate (Shiri Appleby) straddle the parent/older sibling line is both sweet and awkward and Britt Robertson as Lux is fantastic as she struggles with wanting independence yet finally having adults around who care about her. Also, Lux is in many ways more adult than her actual parents and Robertson manages to convey that without coming across as precocious.
The supporting cast is also great, with Nate's two goofball friends Math (Austin Basis) and Jamie (Reggie Austin) providing comic relief and Cate's significant other Ryan (Kerr Smith) providing good drama in the Ryan-Nate-Cate relationship plus another parental figure for Lux. I'm excited to watch the tension play out between Ryan and Nate, as current/past love interests of Cate plus current father-figures to Lux.
I have high hopes for "Life Unexpected" and so do stars Polaha and "Dawson's Creek" alum Kerr Smith, who goes so far as to say he's completely confident it will get picked up for a second season.
I certainly hope it does.
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Photo credit: CW
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You need new adjective combinations.
Title: Unexpectedly good
First paragraph: Surprisingly charming
Second paragraph: Surprisingly good
Notice the repetition?
@perry
time to get a job and appreciate that this person wrote an article at all.
I've seen several clips from this show, and I'm really excited about the premier. Crossing fingers that people tune in for it.
its called wordplay (from the title). and she nailed it. cant wait to see this show
I agree that The CW has had nothing good for a long while (though I will admit to watching GG now and then)
Old school WB is what they need to get back to, so hopefully this works out.
It's not bad eh? DVR set.
Possibly good show on a real bad network. It might have a chance but major changes need to be made at The CW and the first is to fire Dawn Ostroff and bring in someone with a vision that can bring the CW back to its pre-WB days without the crappy comedies.
Good start. This show has potential and the cast is good. I hope that there are good writers behind this show because this could be an outstanding show. For those that haven't seen it I highly recommend it.
It was refreshingly wonderful and I enjoyed all of the cast and characters. Can't wait until next week.
I decided to watch since it was on after One Tree Hill which is the only CW show I watch. I figured it would be really corny and lose me about 1/3 of the way in, but I enjoyed the whole ep and I'll definitely watch next week. I can't say I'm completely on board, but I like it so far. I hope they keep it on after OTH. I hate Gossip Girl and LU matches the tone of OTH better.