TV GUIDE is looking at the new fall schedule and when Fridays come, there’s a nice mention and highlight on our very own LIFE, of course. While I’m not really liking how they say the show “failed” to get lots of viewers - because while true, it did as well as NBC “hit” CHUCK and in the end better than its lead-in BIONIC WOMAN - and thus is getting a second chance, even though, sadly, that might be the case, this is a very nice article.
Here’s a great scan of said article, credits to ladybluelake, and the transcript below (Warning: the picture is right below, but the article contains spoilers so if you don’t want to know nothing, focus on Sarah, Damian or Adam, but don’t let your eyes on the text!) :
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LIFE, returns September 29, 10/9c, NBC
Guns drawn, a quartet of cops moves into position outside a warehouse in downtown L.A. It’s blisteringly hot in the sun, but the scene indoors is what makes Det. Charlie Crews sweat: an armored truck still sotted with flames; two lifeless, charred bodies; and the realization that an escaped con he once put away is responsible for the damage.
Now that’s how you get people’s attention. Last season, the NBC drama — revolving around Crews (Damian Lewis), a cop who returns to the job after 12 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit — earned critical props but didn’t arrest a lot of viewers. This fall, the show about second chances is getting one of its own — albeit nine months after it went off the air thanks to the writers’ strike.
Regardless, cocreator Ran Ravich isn’t about the squander the opportunity. “The people who’ve found us really appreciate the show,” he says. “But we’re gonna do everything we can to make sure more people appreciate it.” To that end, the premiere will essentially function as a new pilot. At the close of season 1, Crews had tracked down the man responsible for the murders he went to jail for. But the guy “was a junior player,” says the British Lewis, who speaks an American accent while at work. The focus of Season 2 shifts to who set Crews up and why — a tangled web the eccentric detective will unravel when he’s not solving cases under new boss Capt. Kevin Tidwell (Donal Logue), burning through the multi-millions he won in a civil suit against the city or indulging his fondness for fruit.
“He still has the happy coincidence of women falling into his lap, literally and figuratively,” Lewis says of his character. “But I think he’s mostly gotten that out of his system.” No doubt, because this season, he’ll become increasingly determined to patch things up with his ex-wife (Jennifer Siebel). What’s more, unlikely sparks will fly between Crews’ recovering-addict partner, Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi), and Tidwell. And Ted Early (Adam Arkin), Crews’ trusted adviser and former cell mate, will renew his flirtation with Olivia (MAD MEN’s Christina Hendricks). So what if she’s still engaged to Crews’ dad? Says Arkin with a laugh, “All’s fair in love and war.” Especially when a show is fighting for its LIFE. — Shawna Malcom
I’ll just add a little something. First, Reese & Tidwell ? Really ? I don’t see that, of course I haven’t actually seen Tidwell yet… Second, I do wonder what Ravich means by “we’re gonna do everything we can to make sure MORE people appreciate it“. Just that they (obviously) want/need more viewers, trying to please NBC, letting us know that without bigger numbers than last season the show might be in trouble, shall it be more NBC interferences with creative control or cancellation ??
I’m paranoid, I know, I see evil everywhere, but it worries me… (But it’s not like NBC already ruined the DVDs or anything, oh wait…) Especially because I don’t think LIFE will get bigger numbers than last season, I really doubt it, if only because the show’s on Fridays and there are less people watching TV on Fridays - it’s not called the death slot for nothing.