Eric is a 31-yo Philadelphian who has spent the past several years writing fan fiction for various television programs under a psuedonym. He likes any show that maintains solid, clever writing, and walks away when the writing becomes sloppy, lazy, and cliched. Like "Desperate Housewives". After months of inactivity, talk of the police drama "Life" is revitalized by multiple new developments.
We've reached an approximate halfway point between the Season One finale of "Life", where new battle lines were drawn between Det. Crews and the men responsible for his years in prison, and the approaching new Fall 2008 season on NBC. And, as if to mark the occasion, a horde of news, gossip, and rumors involving "Life" have flooded the Net in the past few weeks. Here's a review:
1. In March, Kristin Dos Santos from E! reported that "Life" was adding a new cast member, police captain Brian Tidwell. "I'm hearing he's a rough-around-the-edges hottie. Apparently he's got a thing for sports betting, whiskey and women," Dos Santos said. She also confirmed that Christina Hendricks, best-known as "Saffron" on FOX's "Firefly" and Joan on AMC's "Mad Men", would be returning in Season Two as Charlie's future stepmother, Olivia. When we ever meet Charlie's father is one thing. Clearly, though, Adam Arkin's Ted has a thing for her. Rand Ravich was quoted as saying that, "We love Christina in so many different ways. She's great in the show. Yes, she'll absolutely be back. I'm looking at her character's name on my board right now."
Subsequently, in a press release on April 2, NBC confirmed that Brian Tidwell would be Charlie and Danni's new supervisor, and that he would be played by Donal Logue. Logue is most famous for his sitcoms FOX's "Grounded For Life" and ABC's "Knights of Prosperity", and for his appearances on VH-1's "I Love the 80s" specials. He also has experience in dramatic roles, however, in movies such as "Zodiac" and "The Patriot" and TV series like "ER" and "The Practice". Brian Tidwell is, like Charlie, a bit of an outsider, having transferred to Los Angeles from New York City.
The question is what this news means for Robin Weigert's Lt. Karen Davis, Charlie's supervisor in Season One. There has been no word yet as to her future on the series. Possibly Davis is being punished for taking the side of Crews over that of Jack Reese and his fellow conspirators. Considering Weigert does not appear to have any other roles in TV or film on the horizon, my sense is that she is not leaving the show.
2. In the current issue of TV Guide, executive producer Ravich states that "Charlie Crews will realize that his journey has only just begun . . . the conspiracy is bigger and closer to home than he could have ever imagined." This would seem to lend further weight to my suspicion that Jack Reese has allies within the District Attorney's office. It also casts suspicion on characters like Crews' still-unseen father, and his seemingly cleared former partner Officer Stark.
3. In its April 2 press release, NBC will be giving "Life" an aggressive relaunch in the Fall, including an expansion of the "Life" website at NBC.com to include an "interactive prison timeline giving the fans a chance to see what happened while Charlie Crews was incarcerated", a new conspiracy wall, and a "Life" Wiki. Nothing spells "inaccuracies", "misleading", and "potential source of disputes" like W-I-K-I.
"Life" will need to be promoted aggressively as it is being moved to a potentially deadly time slot, Fridays at 10 P.M. Fridays and Saturdays are historically low-rated nights. However, that also means weaker competition and, one hopes, lower expectations for a series which could have easily not survived its first season.
4. Another new online resource for fans is at Livejournal.com where you can find the community "pers_pineapple". Recently this community wrapped up a series of weekly "re-watchings" of the first eleven episodes, in conjunction with episode discussions. Its first bi-monthly "Life" fandom "round-up newsletter" was also recently posted there. It's a great resource for information on individual episodes like recaps and guest-star information. (Of course, you do have my recaps. Why would you need someone else's")
There's plenty of new information there to worry about, and plenty more to be happy about. Which is exactly what keeps discussion and viewer interest alive. The "Life" online community should remain vibrant as the days tick towards the eventual Season Two premiere this fall.