Life (TV series)

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Life

Life title screen
Starring Damian Lewis
Sarah Shahi
Adam Arkin
Brooke Langton
Robin Weigert
Brent Sexton
Country of origin United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 11 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Rand Ravich
Far Shariat
David Semel
Daniel Sackheim
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Picture format 480i (SDTV),
1080i (HDTV)
Original run September 26, 2007 – present

Life is an American television drama created by Rand Ravich, who also serves as executive producer alongside Far Shariat, David Semel, and Daniel Sackheim for Universal Media Studios. Semel also directed the pilot.

It premiered on September 26, 2007 on NBC, and airs on Wednesday nights at 10/9c. The series stars Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews, a detective who was recently released from prison after serving twelve years for a crime he did not commit. NBC issued an order for a minimum of three additional episodes, on top of the original order for seven, the day "Let Her Go" aired, October 10, 2007.[1] On November 26 NBC announced that Life has received a full season.[2] However, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike only 11 of the 22 episodes were completed.

After the strike ended on February 13, 2008 NBC announced that Life had been picked up for a second season and will return for the Fall 2008/09 season.[3] NBC decided not to film any more episodes for the 2007-08 season.

The show is also broadcast on TV3+ in Denmark, RTL 5 in The Netherlands, Network Ten in Australia, Global, Showcase in Canada, Joi in Italy, TV3 in New Zealand, TV3 in Norway , M-Net in South Africa and AXN in Portugal.[4][5]

Contents

[edit] Plot

See also: List of Life episodes

[edit] Season 1

Life is the story of Detective Charlie Crews, who in 2007 was released from Pelican Bay State Prison after he served twelve years of a life sentence. In 1995 he was wrongfully convicted of the triple murder of his business partner and his family. Thanks to the efforts of his lawyer Constance Griffiths, DNA evidence exonerated him of the murders. Having lost his job, his wife, his friends, nearly all contact with the outside world and even his grip on reality for a time while in jail, he has emerged with a head full of Zen (having found a copy of The Path to Zen in the prison yard one day, he read it endlessly), a fixation with fresh fruit (obviously not easy to come by while in prison), and an obsession with solving the murder that nearly cost him his life and exposing the conspiracy that framed him for it. After successfully suing the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD, he has been reinstated to the police force and received an undisclosed but substantial money settlement.

While in jail, technology, culture, and life passed him by, as evidenced by his unfamiliarity with the now-everyday things like cell phones and instant messaging.

He's been partnered with Dani Reese, who is not in the best of graces with her superiors either, having temporarily lost her way as an undercover narcotics agent. Their Lieutenant is looking for a reason to get rid of Crews, and as she has a reason to get rid of Reese, is subtly blackmailing her with expulsion to find such a reason.

[edit] Season 2

  • Fridays 10/9c

[edit] Production

[edit] Cast

[edit] Principal characters

[edit] Recurring or guest-starring characters

[edit] Crew

The series was created by Rand Ravich, who also serves as executive producer alongside Far Shariat, David Semel, and Daniel Sackheim for Universal Media Studios. Semel also directed the pilot.[10]

Rafael Alvarez (The Wire) is a writer and producer for the show.[11] Alvarez also wrote a pilot called Panic in Detroit for NBC.[11] Based on this piece they hired him to work on Life as a writer and producer.[11]

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Life episodes

Life premiered on September 26, 2007 on NBC, and will air on Friday nights at 10/9c. NBC initially ordered thirteen episodes of the show, an original order of seven episodes, and later an order for at least three additional episodes (later expanded to six) on the day the episode "Let Her Go" aired, October 10, 2007.[1] Most recently NBC placed an order for the balance of a full season, nine additional episodes. This brings the show's first season to a standard 22 episodes, with NBC stating it was hitting its creative stride.[12] However, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, only 11 of the 22 episodes were completed.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical response

Life has a 64% Favorable rating on Metacritic.com

[edit] Viewer response

Life has a 9.4 rating out of 10 on Metacritic.com

[edit] U.S. television ratings

Episode # Title Air date Rating Share 18–49 Viewers
1 "Pilot: Merit Badge" September 26, 2007 6.5 11 4.1 10.15
2 "Tear Asunder" October 3, 2007 5.7 10 3.0 8.80
3 "Let Her Go" October 10, 2007 5.3 9 2.8 8.14
4 "What They Saw" October 17, 2007 5.0 8 2.8 7.66
5 "The Fallen Woman" October 24, 2007 4.7 9 2.5 6.85
6 "Powerless" October 31, 2007 3.7 6 2.0 5.72
7 "A Civil War" November 7, 2007 4.1 7 2.6 6.41
8 "Farthingale" November 14, 2007 4.5 8 2.5 6.94
9 "Serious Control Issues" November 28, 2007 4.1 7 2.2 6.27
10 "Dig a Hole: Part 1" December 3, 2007 4.3 7 2.5 6.61
11 "Fill it Up" December 5, 2007 5.0 8 2.5 7.64


Season Timeslot Season Premiere Season Finale Episodes TV Season Ranking Viewers
(in millions)
1st[13] Wednesday 10:00PM September 26, 2007 December 5, 2007 11 2007-2008 #69 8.1
2nd[14] Friday 10:00PM October 3, 2008 Unknown, 2009 N/A 2008-2009 N/A N/A

[edit] Ratings

The Australian TV ratings for the 1st episode of Life was 1.085 million viewers making it one of the top programs viewed for that day and timeslot.[15][16] The season finale shown in Australia (episode 8) on 21 November had the ratings of 908,000 viewers.[17]

[edit] DVD release

DVD name Release date Ep # Additional information
The Complete First Season September 2, 2008 11

The series' first season will be released on DVD on September 2, 2008.[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b TFC Staff. "NBC, CBS stand by their newcomers", 2007-10-10. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
  2. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071127/tv_nm/nbc_dc;_ylt=AmodmDuvWsLJKzfH.Li7NTJxFb8C
  3. ^ NBC. "NBC renews drama series 'Chuck, 'Life' AND 'Heroes' for 2008-09 season", 2008-02-13. Retrieved on 2008-02-13. 
  4. ^ Welsh, James. "Ten picks up Fox, NBCU programming", Digital Spy, 2007-07-02. Retrieved on 2007-07-02. 
  5. ^ Bawden, Jim. "TV lineup launch disrupted", Toronto Star, 2007-06-06. Retrieved on 2007-06-15. 
  6. ^ Andreeva, Nellie. "Langton lights up "Life" for NBC", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-07-23. Retrieved on 2007-07-23. 
  7. ^ Andreeva, Nellie. "Deadwood's Sexton gets "Life" sentence", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-07-04. Retrieved on 2007-07-05. 
  8. ^ Sullivan, Brian Ford. "The Futon's first look: NBC's "Life" (plus "Business Class")", The Futon Critic, 2007-07-06. Retrieved on 2007-07-14. 
  9. ^ N/A, N/A (TV Guide). "Christina Hendricks - "Mad Men" & "Life" Tv Series - Tvguide.com Interview", Whedon, 2007-10-11. Retrieved on 2008-01-01. 
  10. ^ Life: About. NBC (2007). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  11. ^ a b c David Zurawik (2007). Alvarez gets Life -- a new NBC fall series. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
  12. ^ Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times. "NBC wants full seasons of 'Chuck' and 'Life'", 2007-11-28. 
  13. ^ You must specify title = and url = when using {{cite web}}..
  14. ^ You must specify title = and url = when using {{cite web}}..
  15. ^ Seven - Daily Ratings Report - ebroadcast.com.au, 4 October 2007
  16. ^ TEN - Daily Ratings Report - ebroadcast.com.au, 4 October 2007
  17. ^ Seven - Daily Ratings Report - ebroadcast.com.au, 22 November 2007
  18. ^ Life DVD news: Announcement for Life - Season 1 | TVShowsOnDVD.com

[edit] External links