‘Life’ support from the network
NBC is being loyal to its cop show. But ratings are low. And you can’t survive simply on strong characters and stories.
Even a man seeking to have no worldly attachments would find it difficult to ignore the sophomore slump that afflicts not only his show, NBC’s critically acclaimed “Life,” but all prime-time television this season as well. No show that had its first season truncated by the writers strike last year has yet bounced back in the ratings.
But “Life” did receive a double-boost this month when NBC moved it back to Wednesdays from the dark hole of Fridays and gave it a full-season order. The drama, which stars Damian Lewis as the police detective who wrongfully spent 12 years in prison, registered 8 million viewers per show last year and has averaged just 6 million this season. Despite the ratings dip, NBC, much as it has done with critically acclaimed, low-rated shows such as “Friday Night Lights” and “30 Rock,” is sticking by “Life.”
“We’re trying to get ‘Desperate Housewives’ or ‘House’ to be our lead-in,” joked creator Rand Ravich, wishing that he could steal those shows from ABC or Fox.
“It’s a confusing time in network television. But to the network’s credit, so far, they’re not equating the numbers to the show. They’re saying it’s got to do with where we’re putting you or promoting you and what your lead-in is. They love the show.”
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Or maybe the three-month labor stoppage should be blamed. The only two sophomore shows being embraced by viewers are the CW’s “Gossip Girl” and CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory,” the only series that returned with original episodes after the strike. NBC’s “Chuck,” and ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” and “Dirty Sexy Money” are still struggling to find an audience.
You’d think it would be easy for Charlie Crews to gain a following — after all, many cop shows, even new ones such as CBS’ “The Mentalist,” command big audiences. And Crews is not just a cop: He’s a great detective, with a sunny, empathetic disposition; a penchant for fruit; and a beautiful, troubled partner, Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi). Framed for homicide, Crews lost his badge and was sent to prison; he used the time to become a better person, learning to live in the moment.
“I enjoy Crews’ contradictions,” said Lewis, during a scene break underneath the 6th Street bridge in downtown L.A. for an episode that will air Wednesday. “I enjoy the blend of dark and light and the possibilities that are presented to you when you’re able to write a character with a totally blank canvas.”
Like Crews, the show itself is light and dark and defies genre, making it a challenge to promote. Is it a procedural? A serialized drama? A dramedy?
It could even claim to be a bit of a mystery, given an ongoing story line within the show involving a documentary about Crews being shot by an anonymous source. (It’s such a mystery, in fact, that Ravich will not even discuss it.)
The show is all — and none of — these things. Perhaps, the best way to describe “Life” is it starts and ends with Crews’ character.
“We could really enjoy great extravagant things with him and let him make mistakes and always forgive him because he went through such a dark period in his life,” executive producer Far Shariat said. “But at the same time he can be a little damaged. There’s a lot of arbitrarily quirky characters on TV — people who seem a little bit different or weird for the heck of it — and this seemed like a grounded place to come from.”
The show’s underlying conspiracy — who framed Crews, and why? — is the dramatic engine driving the program.
Last year, the detective discovered who committed the triple homicide he was wrongly imprisoned for, but he still hasn’t figured out who orchestrated it. The clues, so far, lead to as many as six people.
Indeed, by the end of the shortened first season, Crews had returned to a darker psychological place, but this year found him in a lighter mood, even joyous. The show adopted a more casual look, which included dropping partner Reese’s leather jacket and loosening her tight hair bun, and reveled in using Los Angeles as its backdrop.
“There’s so much beautiful, available sunlight here,” Ravich said. As Crews is moving “through these dark things, we wanted to counterbalance that with a lot of it happening in a world of light.”
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