Saturday, January 16, 2010

Life and Other Things Like It

Last year I watched the first season of Life and I absolutely loved it. It's a show about a cop, Charlie Crews, who goes to jail for 12 years for 3 murders he didn't commit. He's finally exonerated and given $50 million for his time in prison and he also goes back to being a cop, all the while secretly investigating the conspiracy behind his jail time. He's got a very zen like attitude for having spent over a decade in a no so nice prison, but he's also filled with a lot of demons he won't let people see very often. Every once in a while there's a glint/glare of what he's really hiding, which is quickly covered up by a smile. And he eats a lot of fruit.

His partner, Dani Reese, is the sassy recovering alcholic/drug addict, that's stuck with him. She is just as broken as he is. She really can't stand him at first, not because he was in jail, but because he annoys her with all his zen qualities and he never speaks like a normal person. "You don't have to understand here to be here." And he talks too much in her much prefered quiet universe .

I should also point out he does eventually grow on her, though Reese would never own up to that. She's given more than one opportunity to further her career and get a new partner. But she doesn't turn him in, rat him out, or trade him in for a new partner, even when asked straight up. Because I think she secretly likes him, just like Crews secretly likes her. And not just in the "hey, we're partners and I don't want to kill you in your sleep" kind of way. Maybe it's the romantic in me, but I wanted them to get together. I'm pretty sure that's where it was headed. I know what I saw in the finale.

The two main characters have such great chemistry, and it reminded me a lot of The X-Files without the sci-fi. Or maybe more like Bones. Either way Crews and Reese totally made the show for me. Crews and Reese are just so broken, they're the only ones who understand just how broken they are. No one else knows or tries to understand. Dani's own boyfriend can't figure out what's wrong with her when she's a mood. Charlie does and he won't pry until she's ready to spill. They miss each other when they're not working together, and they always have each other's backs, no matter what. They play off each other so well and it's never quite the same when one isn't there.


Don't they make an awesome set of partners?
So I finally bought the second season and sat down to watch it this weekend. I loved it even more the first season and I'm so sad that they did cancel it, even though I'm almost a full season late. It seems like any original show full of unique and quirky characters have no chance on television these days.

Case in point, Pushing Daisies. It is probably one of the most unique and refreshing shows I've seen in a very long time. It's also full of bright backdrops that remind me a good Dr. Suess book. It's a show that has death, but it's not anything I can't watch for a few minutes with my kiddo.

Dead Like Me, Firefly, Dollhouse, and Dark Angel are just a few of some of my favorites that barely made it past one season, let alone two. I blame networks for putting them in crappy slots to ensure they'll get no veiwers. If they want a show to do so horrible why even pick it up? But they do think everyone wants to watch reality shows. I'm one of those few people that barely watches reality TV. Frankly, they all bore me because they're the the same show with different people.

I'm just wondering who came up with Daycare Divas? And I personally never really cared about Jon and Kate plus however many kids can appear on TV at the same time. Both Jon and Kate piss me off just the same but for completely different reasons.

Maybe I should just start my own network and my own TV shows, maybe then I can the kind of quality programming I'd like to watch. Then I can make my own show with every character I've ever liked on TV. Ahhhh, to dream big.

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