Life UneXpected, Shiri Appleby Shines
The CW premieres surprise family dramady Life UneXpected tonight – watch January 18th, 2010, at 9pm/8c *** 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
Shiri Appleby, second chance at being a mom in Life UneXpected
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 1/18/2010 - You really want to love this show. The actors are great. The story concept is great. Unfortunately, the writing has so many monologues that it slows down an otherwise fast-paced show. Fortunately, Shiri Appleby, who starred as Dr. Daria Wade in the series ER, is fabulous in Life UneXpected as the marriage-averse radio personality Cate Cassidy.
Polar opposites, valedictorian brainy girl (Shiri Appleby) and the football jock (Kristoffer Polaha), who dated briefly in high school, are reunited sixteen years later by their daughter (Britt Robertson). She’s the product of a one-night stand during her parent’s winter formal and has lived in the foster care system all her life. Confronted by an almost grown up daughter, each of her parents face the decision of whether to give up their daughter, the same decision they faced as teenagers.
“I grew up thinking my mom was Nancy Reagan, because I never knew,” says executive producer Liz Tigelaar who created Life UneXpected based on her own feelings about having been adopted. “It’s an initial rejection that your mom has given you up. When you don’t know who your birth mother is, you create this story. In the course of doing the show I found both my birth parents. I met my mom for the first time in November.”
“On The CW there’s an aspect of wish fulfillment to every show,” says Tigelaar. “I don’t want a baby, but I could have a teenager arrive on my doorstep.” Tigelaar wants to explore how 30-somethings feel about life today, how they’re different from the previous generation. It could be that it’s someone who prioritized work over personal life or a frat boy who never grew up. A teenage child could complete their lives in a way they’d never anticipated.
Tigelaar says that she’d been working on the story for two years when Boston Legal executive producer Janet Leahy joined the team. That really kicked things forward to getting the show For Leahy this is the first time she’s shepherded a show and not done the writing. Before Boston Legal, Leahy was a writer-producer for Gilmore Girls. In an alternative universe, Life UneXpected explores what would have happened had Loreli Gilmore given up Rory for adoption rather than keeping her.
What’s missing from Life UneXpected is the rapid-fire banter from Gilmore Girls. There is a lot there to grab you emotionally in Life UneXpected, but there’s so much back story and unnecessary exposition. In Gilmore Girls you don’t know all the reasons there’s a rift in the family. You kept learning more as the series went on. Life UneXpected makes it hard to form attachment to such preachy characters.
Life UneXpected premieres on January 18th, 2010, at 9pm/8c on The CW.