18 August 2009 @ 9:54“Life”

Life My wife and I just finished watching Seasons 1 & 2 of “Life” starring Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi, Adam Arkin, Brent Sexton, and Donal Logue. I must admit that I was not watching this brilliant show when it first aired on NBC. The reasons for this can probably be attributed to poor advertising, and virtually no “word-of-mouth” from people close to me. In the end, I think I stumbled onto “Life” simply by cross-referencing other works that the actors have been in.

“Life” is different than any other cop drama I’ve seen. The premise is that Charlie Crews was wrongly accused of murder, and spent 12 years in prison. After being exonerated and receiving a large settlement, Charlie returns to duty as an L.A.P.D. detective. Each episode features a new case for Charlie Crews and his partner Dani Reese to solve, but interwoven into each episode is the backstory in which Charlie is trying to figure out who set him up to go to prison.

Almost every episode ends in a way that leaves you wanting to immediately watch the next one. Since my wife and I had the full series at our disposal, we didn’t have to wait that full week to find out what happened next. Instead, it felt like one very long movie.

Knowing that NBC had canceled the show, I was sad to have reached the end of the series last night. “Life” is an awesome series that I guess fell victim to a lack of marketing. Some fans have even started a petition to try to get “Life” moved to the USA Network in order to continue the series. That would be pretty cool if this were to happen, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Until then, you can get Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD and watch the entire series straight through. I bet you’ll find it difficult to not watch the next episode.

Buy “Life” Season 1:
Amazon | Amazon UK

Buy “Life” Season 2:
Amazon | Amazon UK