Comments on: Life Unexpected Not Up to Expectations

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:45:21 +0000

Well, the CW has the choice where to set it … especially since it’s filmed in Vancouver, which subs in as pretty much any city. So if they wanted diversity, and had more of a commitment to it, the show could just as easily be in a more diverse city, no?

By: Cass Roberts

Cass Roberts — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:49:21 +0000

While I agree with many of your comments, I just wanted to point out one thing. I live in Portland, Oregon (where the show is ostensiblys set), which is a city where the majority of the population is white. You noted the lack of diversity of the cast, but Portland is actually a fairly white city. In this respect, the white cast of Life Unexpected is fairly accurate. Having this, I do wish there was more diversity on television in general. I just wanted to note that Portland is not a particularly diverse city.

Now, the CW has no excuse when it comes to 90210 and Gossip Girl, which are both set in cities which are extremely diverse.

By: Life Unexpected – “Bong Intercepted” « Cultural Learnings

Life Unexpected – “Bong Intercepted” « Cultural Learnings — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:42:29 +0000

[…] Sharon Ross argued over at Antenna over the weekend that one of the show’s problem is its fairly one-dimensional glimpse into the Foster Care system, and I think that’s the part of its premise which feels as if it hasn’t evolved in the least. We’re seeing changes with Cate and Baze, but we’re not seeing them with Lux, and when she starts to engage with the reasons for this lack of evolution the story shifts the impact to the adult characters. There was some material here with Lux and the Bong Lamp and all, as her potential new friends turned her down, but her chumminess with them felt quite distant from the Lux we saw in the pilot, and yet we haven’t really seen the character change in any way over that time period. It seems as if Lux exists to teach her parents a lesson more than as a human being, and so long as she’s defined by a fairly one-dimensional childhood, and so long as that remains a major focus, and as long as her life is one big puppet show where she reacts to Cate’s actions rather than acting on her own, the character and the show can’t truly come into their own. […]

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:25:31 +0000

pin down? sure thing:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=keefer%20and%20gore%20vancouver&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
😉

By: Myles McNutt

Myles McNutt — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:46:21 +0000

I think a lot of the show’s struggles can be tied to the creative pressure placed on Tigelaar by the network in terms of repeating the pilot’s premise over and over again. The logic (that new viewers can more easily engage with the premise if the first set of episodes are essentially just the pilot ad nauseum) is not entirely without merit, but it’s forcing the show to stick to its fairly limited depictions of the foster care system and the scale of the show’s world, depictions which were understandable (and perhaps even desirable, for the sake of narrative clarity) in the pilot. While there are still remnants of the show that the pilot hinted at, they aren’t evolving in any real fashion (although, I’ll be honest in that I thought Episode Three took the show in some good directions, especially for Baze’s character and his position within the dynamic).

And while I’m aware that your concerns over diversity go far beyond the presence of token characters, Baze DOES have a token black friend (who, of course, has no actual identity – do we even know what he does for a living?). In terms of its depiction of an urban environment, I did find it interesting to see Lux’s family taking up refuge in what was clearly Chinatown (and which Jonathan may be able to pin down as a particular location in Vancouver), although the cultural ramifications therein are clearly outside of the show’s purview – perhaps, once they get out of pilot retread mode, the world will begin to expand in kind.

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:20:59 +0000

as you say, like a teen, it keeps bumping into things, not totally aware of itself … though it is nice to see that brand of melodrama back. I hope it gets its act together