Life (American TV series)

Life is an American crime drama television series created by Rand Ravich that aired for two seasons on NBC. It was produced by Universal Media Studios under the supervision of executive producers Rand Ravich, Far Shariat, David Semel, and Daniel Sackheim. Semel also directed the pilot.
The series stars Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews, a detective released from prison after serving twelve years for a crime he did not commit. "Life" premiered on September 26, 2007, on NBC and aired on Wednesday nights at 10 ET. On May 4, 2009, NBC announced its cancellation, a month after the final episode had been aired. The series was later made available for streaming through Hulu and Netflix.
Plot.
First season.
"Life" centers on Detective Charlie Crews, who at the start of the first season (set in 2007) is released from Pelican Bay State Prison after serving twelve years of a life sentence. In 1995, he was wrongfully convicted of the triple murder of his friend and business partner, Tom Seybolt, and all but one of Seybolt's immediate family. Thanks to the efforts of his lawyer Constance Griffiths, DNA evidence exonerates him of the murders. Having lost his job, his wife, his friends, nearly all contact with the outside world and even his grip on reality for a time while in jail, he emerges enlightened by the philosophy of Zen, a fixation with fresh fruit (which he acquired while in prison, as it is nonexistent on the inside), and an obsession with solving the murders that nearly cost him his life and exposing the conspiracy that framed him for it. After successfully suing the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD, he is reinstated to the police department and receives an undisclosed amount of money, rumored at $50 million.
Crews is partnered with Detective Dani Reese, previously an undercover narcotics agent and now a recovering drug addict and alcoholic (thanks to her work and several betrayals as an undercover cop). Crews is not well received by Lieutenant Karen Davis, who, during the season, tries to force Reese into offering information that will see Crews suspended and eventually fired. Even though she herself is uncomfortable with her new partner, Reese backs Crews up on numerous occasions, and the two slowly develop a bond.
The overarching story of the first season concerns the murders for which Crews was wrongfully imprisoned, which leads him to confront various figures from his past such as his former patrol partner, his remarried ex-wife, and the detective who solved the triple-murder case and is still convinced of Crews' guilt. Near the end of the season, Crews manages to uncover information that implicates Reese's father (also a retired cop and Lt. Davis's former partner) in the murder. In the finale, Crews is able to bring the true killer, Kyle Hollis, to justice, but he remains unaware of the reasons behind his having been framed.
Second season.
The second season premiered on Monday, September 29, 2008. On July 21, 2008, producers announced the second season would effectively re-launch the series with a new "pilot" episode. Earlier in March 2008, series creator and executive producer Rand Ravich explained that the second season would delve deeper into the conspiracy in the framing of Charlie Crews. Similarly, more of Dani Reese's past would be revealed.
Crews continues to investigate into the conspiracy to frame him and begins tracking some retired cops. He tracks down Rachel Seyboldt, the surviving member of his business partner's family and she moves in with him. Reese begins a relationship with the new captain after her father disappears. Crews eventually learns that he had been watched since the police academy, to eventually replace an aging crime lord. The intent was to corrupt Crews' friend Tom Seyboldt, who owned a bar with Crews and that by corrupting one business partner, they would also corrupt Crews. Mistakes were made, the Seyboldts were inadvertently murdered and Crews framed for the crime. The second season concludes with Crews trading himself for Reese after she is kidnapped by Roman Nevikov. Soon after, Crews kills Nevikov by crushing his windpipe. The last scene of the series shows Crews finally finding peace.
Production.
Development.
In an interview with seat42f.com, series creator Rand Ravich explained that "Life" came initially from Ravich's own long-standing interest in, and desire to work on, a police procedural show. Ravich first created the character of Charlie Crews as the basis for the show; upon the completion of the script for the show's pilot, Ravich immediately considered actor Damian Lewis for the role.
"Life" was conceived as an episodic television show in the vein of "24", where emotional closure is provided as new clues to the main mystery (the conspiracy that sent Charlie Crews to prison) are revealed every few episodes, with Ravich stating that he and the writers disliked the serial nature of some shows where it feels "like you’re kind of wandering in the desert".
Crew.
The series was created by Rand Ravich, who also served as executive producer alongside Far Shariat, David Semel, and Daniel Sackheim for Universal Media Studios. Semel also directed the pilot. Rafael Alvarez ("The Wire") was a writer and producer for the show. Alvarez also wrote a pilot called "Panic in Detroit" for NBC. Based on this piece they hired him to work on "Life" as a writer and producer.
NBC issued an order for a minimum of three additional episodes, on top of the original order for seven, the day "Let Her Go" aired, October 10, 2007. On November 26 NBC announced that "Life" had received a full season. However, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike only 11 of the 22 episodes were completed.
After the strike ended on February 13, 2008, NBC decided not to film any more episodes for the 2007–08 season and instead announced that "Life" had been picked up for a second season and would return for the Fall 2008/09 season on Friday nights at 10/9c. The network released the first episode of season two, a week before its air date, online and via cable on demand.
On November 7, 2008, NBC picked up "Life" for a full season.
After the first season and the writers' strike was over, half of the writing staff of the show (originally six writers), who were all also producers, decided to quit and did not return for season 2. According to creator/showrunner Rand Ravich, it wasn't either due to the strike or over creative disagreement: "I just think people went on to do what they want to."
One of the writers, Glen Mazzara, moved on to a new series, "Crash", starring Dennis Hopper, where he served as writer, executive producer and showrunner. Mazzara was also a writer and showrunner on 'The Walking Dead'.
Episodes and broadcast.
"Life" premiered on September 26, 2007, on NBC, aired on Wednesday. NBC initially ordered thirteen episodes of the show: an original order of seven episodes, and then on October 10, 2007 placed an order for at least three additional episodes, later pinned down as six episodes. In November 2007 NBC placed an order for the balance of a full season, nine additional episodes. This would've brought the show's first season to a standard 22 episodes, with NBC stating it was hitting its creative stride. However, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, only 11 of the 22 episodes were completed.
The second season premiered on Monday, September 29, 2008, and a second episode aired Friday, October 3, 2008. Another episode aired Monday, October 6, 2008, after which it was moved to its regular time slot of Friday nights at 10/9c and then after 4 weeks the show was moved to Wednesday nights at 9/8c.
Reception.
Critical response.
As of August 2008, "Life" has a 64% favorable rating for season 1 and a 72% rating for season 2 on Metacritic. Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" dubs the series "a very good new show that needs a more vivid title and more of NBC's promotional oomph" and praising the portrayal of Charlie Crews by the "beloved" Damian Lewis. In contrast, Gina Bellafante of "The New York Times" noted that the character of Detective Crews (and contemporary Adrian Monk of the series "Monk") did not portray "law enforcers as believable soldiers of the working class", which she considered a negative. Tonally though, she described the show as "a musical version of a Thomas Harris novel" (Harris is a noted and acclaimed author of crime novels) and found the narrative to be "incredibly satisfying".
David Bianculli of the "Daily News" (New York) also likened the character of Crews to Adrian Monk, noting that "Lewis is commanding, and draws your attention without saying a word, almost as much as does Tony Shalhoub on "Monk."" He also praised Sarah Shahi for her performance as Dani Reese, stating that "it's easy to imagine her as the star of her own spinoff, taking her no-nonsense character front and center". Alan Sepinwall, reporter for "The Star-Ledger" instead cited a resemblance between Crews and main character Gregory House (played by British actor Hugh Laurie) of "House", but noting that "where House's quirks and bad behavior are ceaselessly amusing, Crews' idiosyncrasies -- also including a bafflement at modern technology like camera phones and instant messaging -- are already tired by the end of the first episode".
Robert Bianco similarly made the comparison between "Life" and "House" and "Monk" but noted that the character of Crews is covered "with so many quirks, foibles, and eccentricities you can hardly spot poor Lewis underneath", concluding with "strip away the abrasive flourishes and what's left is a standard issue TV mystery with cases that are too easy to solve and internal conflicts and conspiracies that make no sense".
Ratings.
International ratings.
In Australia, TV ratings for the first episode of Life on Network Ten reached 1.085 million viewers, making it one of the top programs viewed for that day and timeslot. The season finale aired in that country "(episode 8)" on 21 November achieved the ratings of 908,000 viewers.
In the UK, the series is shown on ITV3. The series two premiere attracted 205,000 viewers.
In Germany, the series is shown on VOX. The first episode of the second season got 15% (3.5 million) viewers.
Awards and nominations.
The show won a 2008 AFI Award for best television series. The show as nominated at the 7th Visual Effects Society Awards in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program" but lost to Fringe.