Life as We Know It is an American teen drama television series which aired on ABC during the 2004–2005 season. It was created by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. The series was loosely based on the 2003 novel Doing It by Melvin Burgess.

Premise

Set at the fictional Woodrow Wilson High School in Seattle, Washington, Life as We Know It focuses on three teenage best friends: Dino Whitman, Ben Connor, and Jonathan Fields. Dino is a star ice hockey player whose parents' marriage falls apart when his mother has an affair with his hockey coach. Dino has an uneasy relationship with his girlfriend, Jackie Bradford, a soccer player. Jackie's best friend is Sue Miller, an academic star. Ben becomes interested in Sue, who is unaware he was involved in an affair with a teacher, Monica Young. Jonathan, a clumsy jokester, is teased by Dino for his attraction to the overweight Deborah Tynan.

As part of the show's narrative structure, characters broke the fourth wall by stepping out of the scene — of which the action proceeds behind them in slow motion — and directly addressing the camera.

Characters

Regular

  • Sean Faris as Dino Whitman, lead character and star hockey player
  • Jon Foster as Ben Connor, one of Dino's best friends who has a rocky relationship with Sue after his affair with Monica Young
  • Chris Lowell as Jonathan Fields, Dino's other best friend who goes out with Jackie's friend Deborah
  • Missy Peregrym as Jackie Bradford, Dino's on-and-off girlfriend and the best friend of Sue and Deborah
  • Jessica Lucas as Sue Miller, as Ben's on-and-off girlfriend who is best friends with Jackie and Deborah
  • Kelly Osbourne as Deborah Tynan, Jonathan's witty British friend turned girlfriend and friend of Jackie and Sue
  • Lisa Darr as Annie Whitman, Dino's mother who has an affair with Dino's hockey coach
  • D. B. Sweeney as Michael Whitman, Dino's father who leaves his wife after her infidelity with Dino's hockey coach
  • Marguerite Moreau as Monica Young, a teacher who has an affair with Ben, one of her students. Sue eventually found out and told her father, who convinced Monica to transfer or she would go to jail

Recurring

  • Evan Smith as Max Whitman, Dino's younger brother
  • Sarah Strange as Mia Tynan, Deborah's mother
  • Martin Cummins as Coach Dave Scott, Dino's coach who has an affair with Dino's mother Annie
  • Jessica Harmon as Zoe

Guest stars

  • Michaela Mann as Emma
  • Samantha McLeod as Marissa Becker
  • Nick Lashaway as Christopher "Topher" Flynn
  • Joshua Close as Matt Gleeson
  • Craig Ferguson as Oliver Davies, Deborah Tynan's dad
  • James McDaniel as William Miller
  • Megan Gallagher as Leslie Miller
  • Becky Ann Baker as Amanda Connor
  • Dylan Baker as Roland Connor
  • Richard Sali as Stuart Fields
  • Brenda James as Mary Fields
  • Tseng Chang as Science Teacher Mr. Chang
  • Sean Whalen as Mr. Parnell
  • Jeffrey Nordling as Mike
  • Julie Patzwald as Crystal
  • Meghan Ory as Greta
  • Amanda Crew as Polly Brewer
  • Crystal Lowe as Julie
  • Josh Meyers as Sam Connor
  • Peter Dinklage as Dr. Belber
  • Natasha Melnick as Sabrina
  • Connie Britton as Dianne
  • Samm Levine as Bernard Sachs
  • Busy Philipps as Alex
  • Ione Skye as Food Stand Woman

Production

The series was created by Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, who had previously worked on Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. ABC greenlit a full series order for the fall season in June 2004. The show was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington by Sachs-Judah Productions and (ca)bloom!, in association with Touchstone Television, a corporate sibling of ABC, both owned by The Walt Disney Company. airing at the same time as NBC's The Apprentice and CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Episodes

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a rating of 73% based on 22 reviews. The consensus states, "Life as We Know It might be too risqué for some viewers, but the teen drama tackles relationships in a nuanced manner."

Variety called it "a sly, sweet look at high school... so good that you immediately make room on your shelf for the cult-fave DVD because you know this is the kind of show that gets cancelled after five episodes." Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Gillian Flynn also gave a positive review and said the show "revels in off-putting frankness."

John Doyle of The Globe and Mail wrote, "Most TV dramas about teenage life either paint everything in a romantic mist or present the teens as near-savages, existing in the sort of hormone-crazed universe depicted in the American Pie movies. Life as we know it falls somewhere in between. The kids are neither precocious nor too crude. They're self-infatuated, but the realities of the world are revealed to them. This is a coming-of-age drama but it's about formative experiences and not merely adolescent high jinks."

The media watchdog group the Parents Television Council protested against Life as We Know It saying that the October 2004 episode was sexually charged.

Cancellation

Life as We Know It was pulled from ABC's lineup during November sweeps, but was rerun on MTV to good ratings in November and December 2004. It was ultimately cancelled by ABC in January 2005, with its final two episodes going unaired. It included all 13 episodes, 2 of which were unaired, on 3 discs. Bonus features included audio commentaries, deleted scenes, outtakes, and the producer's photo gallery.

{| class="wikitable"

!DVD name

!Ep #

!Release date

|-

| The Complete Series

| 13

| August 23, 2005

|}

References

  • Life As We Know It soundtrack