Lists
I had a feeling going into this show that I would like it, and like it I did. Everywhere you look it's been heralded as "Juno meets Gilmore Girls" and while I see the GG comparisons, I'd say it's closer to another much beloved and missed WB show, Everwood, than Juno. It's got that old school WB feel that has been very sadly missing from much of The CW's lineup of late. That earnest family-teen-drama-comedy of yore is back, thank god. I cannot take any more of the stuck up rich kids.
Anyhow, on to the actual plot. Things were pretty basic here, as it generally needs to be in a pilot to get the story going. We get glimpses into the lives of our main characters before things get uprooted. Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby) is a radio personality for station K100 in Portland, Oregon. And, as a side note, I'm from Portland, and I really loved seeing all of the shots of the city, though I know the show itself is shot in Vancouver, BC. I'm not sure if the pilot was actually shot in Portland or not, but in any case, it looks good. Incidentally, there is no K100 in real life, as is to be expected. There is a Z100 and a K103 and 105.1 The Buzz. Okay, I'll spare you from more Portland talk. Anyway, Cate cohosts her talk show with her paramour Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith), though it seems they keep their relationship strictly off air, though Ryan does want to make Cate his wife.
Nate "Baze" Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha) lives above the bar that he owns, and is a general man-child, as we would expect. He has a couple guy friends who seem to hang around or work at the bar as well, and as I'm not sure what their names are, that will have to wait until some other episode.
Finally, there is Lux (Britt Robertson), the 15, almost 16-year-old, foster child who has had enough of the foster system, and decides to track down her birth parents: Cate and Baze. They are both baffled to see Lux. Baze because he had assumed that Cate had "taken care of it" back in the day, Cate because she thought Lux would've been adopted right away. But, it turns out, little Lux never was adopted because the poor thing was born with a hole in her heart (how metaphorical!) and had to have multiple operations to fix it, thereby passing her easily-adopted window.
Although Lux manages to get Cate and Baze to sign the paper for her emancipation, things don't go as planned at the hearing, with the judge deciding to give custody of Lux over to Cate and Baze, who both showed up for the hearing. Outside the court, though, things turn sour when Cate and Baze start arguing, resulting in Lux deciding she's better off in the foster system than with them, particularly after Cate confesses she never even thought of keeping her when she was born.
That night Cate and Baze catch up on old times, and I have to say I think this was my favorite scene of the episode, particularly when they mention "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors, then when they engage in that hot, torrid kiss that leads to more sexy times, the song blasted onto the soundtrack. Love it! Especially since that was probably my favorite song back in 1994. It's a fun development that they started early on - the sex, I mean. Particularly since Cate goes back to Ryan and tells him she wants to marry him. Ryan, incidentally, seems very cool with the whole Lux situation at the moment. Will that last? And will he find out about Cate and Baze's night of passion? We have to assume it will come out at some point.
Anyway, the episode ends with Lux getting kicked out of her foster home, and Cate deciding she's going to take her in. The show looks to be a coming-of-age story for both Lux as well as her parents. I don't know about you, but I'm along for the ride.
Next Episode
- ...set: Life Unexpected 2x01 "ocean Uncharted"
Confession: I completely forgot this was premiering tonight. I noticed my DVR was recording something and turned it on to find: oh! Life Unexpected returned tonight! Ummmm.... I suppose I did not miss it oodles and oodles?! I did love all of the various...
- ...set: Life Unexpected 1x12 "father Unfigured"
Just to get this out of the way up front - do we think maybe, just maybe, State Farm was a sponsor of this episode? Seriously, that was over the top promotion. I even have State Farm, people. Anyway. On to the episode itself, which I think I can say with...
- ...set: Life Unexpected 1x10 "family Therapized"
For the first third of this episode, I thought we were going down another sad road of Cate and Baze trying to do something for Lux, failing, and Lux getting all cranky whiny upset about it. But, luckily, after some of that happened, things took a turn...
- ...set: Life Unexpected 1x03 "rent Uncollected"
First up, what do you guys think of the titles of the episodes all being similar to the title of the show ("Rent Uncollected", "Home Inspected")? Clever? Cloying? I'm on the fence. The show does have a certain cheesy factor at the end of every episode...
- ...set: Life Unexpected 1x02 "home Inspected"
In this second episode of Life Unexpected, we find Cate and Baze struggling to get their places ready for a home inspection by Lux's social worker to determine whether they are fit to be her guardians. We also get to meet some of Lux's foster...
Lists
...Set: Life Unexpected 1x01 "Pilot"
I had a feeling going into this show that I would like it, and like it I did. Everywhere you look it's been heralded as "Juno meets Gilmore Girls" and while I see the GG comparisons, I'd say it's closer to another much beloved and missed WB show, Everwood, than Juno. It's got that old school WB feel that has been very sadly missing from much of The CW's lineup of late. That earnest family-teen-drama-comedy of yore is back, thank god. I cannot take any more of the stuck up rich kids.
Anyhow, on to the actual plot. Things were pretty basic here, as it generally needs to be in a pilot to get the story going. We get glimpses into the lives of our main characters before things get uprooted. Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby) is a radio personality for station K100 in Portland, Oregon. And, as a side note, I'm from Portland, and I really loved seeing all of the shots of the city, though I know the show itself is shot in Vancouver, BC. I'm not sure if the pilot was actually shot in Portland or not, but in any case, it looks good. Incidentally, there is no K100 in real life, as is to be expected. There is a Z100 and a K103 and 105.1 The Buzz. Okay, I'll spare you from more Portland talk. Anyway, Cate cohosts her talk show with her paramour Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith), though it seems they keep their relationship strictly off air, though Ryan does want to make Cate his wife.
Nate "Baze" Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha) lives above the bar that he owns, and is a general man-child, as we would expect. He has a couple guy friends who seem to hang around or work at the bar as well, and as I'm not sure what their names are, that will have to wait until some other episode.
Finally, there is Lux (Britt Robertson), the 15, almost 16-year-old, foster child who has had enough of the foster system, and decides to track down her birth parents: Cate and Baze. They are both baffled to see Lux. Baze because he had assumed that Cate had "taken care of it" back in the day, Cate because she thought Lux would've been adopted right away. But, it turns out, little Lux never was adopted because the poor thing was born with a hole in her heart (how metaphorical!) and had to have multiple operations to fix it, thereby passing her easily-adopted window.
Although Lux manages to get Cate and Baze to sign the paper for her emancipation, things don't go as planned at the hearing, with the judge deciding to give custody of Lux over to Cate and Baze, who both showed up for the hearing. Outside the court, though, things turn sour when Cate and Baze start arguing, resulting in Lux deciding she's better off in the foster system than with them, particularly after Cate confesses she never even thought of keeping her when she was born.
That night Cate and Baze catch up on old times, and I have to say I think this was my favorite scene of the episode, particularly when they mention "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors, then when they engage in that hot, torrid kiss that leads to more sexy times, the song blasted onto the soundtrack. Love it! Especially since that was probably my favorite song back in 1994. It's a fun development that they started early on - the sex, I mean. Particularly since Cate goes back to Ryan and tells him she wants to marry him. Ryan, incidentally, seems very cool with the whole Lux situation at the moment. Will that last? And will he find out about Cate and Baze's night of passion? We have to assume it will come out at some point.
Anyway, the episode ends with Lux getting kicked out of her foster home, and Cate deciding she's going to take her in. The show looks to be a coming-of-age story for both Lux as well as her parents. I don't know about you, but I'm along for the ride.
Next Episode
- ...set: Life Unexpected 2x01 "ocean Uncharted"
Confession: I completely forgot this was premiering tonight. I noticed my DVR was recording something and turned it on to find: oh! Life Unexpected returned tonight! Ummmm.... I suppose I did not miss it oodles and oodles?! I did love all of the various...
- ...set: Life Unexpected 1x12 "father Unfigured"
Just to get this out of the way up front - do we think maybe, just maybe, State Farm was a sponsor of this episode? Seriously, that was over the top promotion. I even have State Farm, people. Anyway. On to the episode itself, which I think I can say with...
- ...set: Life Unexpected 1x10 "family Therapized"
For the first third of this episode, I thought we were going down another sad road of Cate and Baze trying to do something for Lux, failing, and Lux getting all cranky whiny upset about it. But, luckily, after some of that happened, things took a turn...
- ...set: Life Unexpected 1x03 "rent Uncollected"
First up, what do you guys think of the titles of the episodes all being similar to the title of the show ("Rent Uncollected", "Home Inspected")? Clever? Cloying? I'm on the fence. The show does have a certain cheesy factor at the end of every episode...
- ...set: Life Unexpected 1x02 "home Inspected"
In this second episode of Life Unexpected, we find Cate and Baze struggling to get their places ready for a home inspection by Lux's social worker to determine whether they are fit to be her guardians. We also get to meet some of Lux's foster...