Life As We Know It
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Life As We Know It | |
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| Genre | Drama |
| Running time | approx. 43 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah |
| Starring | Sean Faris Jon Foster Chris Lowell Missy Peregrym Jessica Lucas Kelly Osbourne Lisa Darr D. B. Sweeney Marguerite Moreau |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | October 7, 2004–January 20, 2005 |
| No. of episodes | 13 filmed, 11 aired |
| IMDb profile | |
Life As We Know It was an American television teen drama on the ABC network during the 2004-2005 season. It was created by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. The series was based on the novel Doing It by British writer Melvin Burgess.
Set at Woodrow Wilson High School in Seattle, Washington, Life As We Know It's lead was Dino Whitman (Sean Faris), a star ice hockey player. He had an uneasy relationship with his girlfriend, Jackie Bradford (Missy Peregrym), a soccer player. Jackie's best friend was Sue Miller (Jessica Lucas), a very competitive academic star. His best friends were Ben Connor (Jon Foster), who was carrying on an affair with a teacher, Monica Young (Marguerite Moreau); and Jonathan Fields (Chris Lowell), a nervous soul, especially about his girlfriend, Deborah Tynan (Kelly Osbourne). Jonathan was made even more nervous by Deborah's mother, a nurse, sitting him down for a frank and graphic discussion about sex and its consequences.
Dino's parents' marriage fell apart after his mother had an affair with his hockey coach. His father, Michael, was played by D. B. Sweeney and his mother, Annie, was played by Lisa Darr. Coach Dave Scott was played by Martin Cummins.
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[edit] Character asiding
The show broke the fourth wall by having characters step out of the scene--which proceeded behind them in slow motion--and directly address the camera. The device was referred to as "freeze-talking" in recaps of the pilot and second episodes by the website Television Without Pity.
[edit] Critical acclaims
Variety called it "a sly, sweet look at high school . . . so good that you immediately make room on your shelf for the cult-fave DVD because you know this is the kind of show that gets cancelled after five episodes."
[edit] Filming locations
The show was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Sachs-Judah Productions and (ca)bloom!, in association with Touchstone Television, a corporate sibling of ABC, both owned by The Walt Disney Company.
[edit] Cancellation
It originally aired on Thursdays from 9 to 10 P.M., premiering on October 7, 2004. Pulled during November sweeps, the show was rerun on MTV to good ratings in November and December 2004 but ultimately was cancelled by ABC. The series, including two previously unaired episodes, was released on DVD in the United States in 2005.
Life aired abroad after its American cancellation. In New Zealand, the show premiered in December 2005 on TV2, scheduled against America's Next Top Model. It replaced Veronica Mars, another American import, but was rescheduled after four episodes because of poor ratings. The remaining episodes were rescheduled from their prime-time slot (7:30pm Friday) to midnight Saturday morning then pushed back to 12:20am/12:25am Saturday morning as the episodes played out. As a final insult, the last two episodes were played in reverse order. TV2 repeated the series from the beginning during the third-quarter of 2006, just after midnight Thursday mornings, but again played the final two episodes in reverse order.
Life was also shown in the Philippines in the free cable channel Studio 23. While there were reruns after the initial showing, the last 2 DVD episodes weren't released. In Portugal it is shown on SIC Radical cable channel and is popular among teenagers and young adults. In Hong Kong, it is shown on TVB Pearl and in Asia, it is shown on STAR World.
Life was also shown in South Africa on M-Net (DStv Channel 3), a subscription funded channel. The show was broadcast in Prime Time and was incredibly popular. When the series 'ran out', M-Net received a large number of complaints from subscribers on their internet forums. Subsequently, the show was replayed in an 11:00 morning slot in early 2006. Life was also broadcast in 2005 on the M-Net Series channel (DStv Channel 36), a channel which is part of the DStv offering. This channel is broadcast via satellite to sub-Saharan Africa.
In Norway the show started airing in August 2006, but got cancelled after eight episodes.
[edit] Trivia
- The theme song was "Sooner or Later", performed by Michael Tolcher.
- As the show was cancelled, the official site is gone as well.
- Characters Greta and Zoe are named after the executive producers' dogs, Greta and Zoe.
- Sean Faris and Martin Cummins also appeared together again on show Reunion.
- Most of all scenes of the carnival are shot inside a Vancouver church.
- Missy Peregrym got the role as Jackie by commenting on Sean Faris who was wearing slippers during the audition read through.
- Before the end of the television season, Marguerite Moreau had a recurring role on FOX's The O.C., which had competed for viewers with Life As We Know It in the same timeslot in January.
- Some of the inside school scenes were shot at two o' clock in the morning.
- Dylan Baker had a freeze frame (pausing while a character is asiding) in one of the episodes. Most of the freeze frames are mostly done digitally, but Dylan actually did it by himself.
[edit] Characters
- Sean Faris as Dino Whitman
- Jon Foster as Ben Connor
- Chris Lowell as Jonathan Fields
- Missy Peregrym as Jackie Bradford
- Jessica Lucas as Sue Miller
- Kelly Osbourne as Deborah Tynan
- Lisa Darr as Annie Whitman
- D. B. Sweeney as Michael Whitman
- Marguerite Moreau as Monica Young
- Sarah Strange as Mia Tynan
- Martin Cummins as Coach Dave Scott
- Evan Smith as Max Whitman
- Jessica Harmon as Zoe
[edit] References
- Josef Adalian. "'Geeks' duo bonds with Touchstone". Daily Variety. June 10, 2004.
- Josef Adalian. "ABC's new lease on 'Life'". Daily Variety. December 8, 2004.
- Ann Donahue. Review of Life As We Know It. Daily Variety. October 6, 2004.
- Virginia Heffernan. "What (Sex) Boys (Sex) Think (Sex) About." The New York Times. October 7, 2004.
- Matt Roush. "Down, Boys!". TV Guide. October 10, 2004.
[edit] External links
- Life As We Know It at the Internet Movie Database
- Life As We Know It recaps from Television Without Pity
