NBC ANNOUNCES ITS FAITH IN "LIFE"
Universal Media Studios' Critically Acclaimed Freshman Drama Receives Full-Season Pick-Up
UNIVERSAL CITY - November 26, 2007 - The Universal Media Studios-produced drama "Life" has received a pickup order from NBC for an additional nine episodes of the critically acclaimed freshman series, it was announced today.
"We're thrilled to pick up 'Life,' which is produced by our own studio, for a full season," said Ben Silverman, Co-chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. "We're so appreciative to the cast, producers and crew for delivering such a high-quality, compelling drama each week and we look forward to many more episodes to come."
Universal Media Studios President Katherine Pope said: "Rand Ravich, Far Shariat and their team have re-invented the cop show genre with 'Life.' With the pitch-perfect Damian Lewis at the center of a brilliant cast, each week this show has quietly built since its premiere into the little engine that could. We have every confidence that this drama will continue to impress audiences and critics with the quality of the acting and the writing."
According to Executive Producers Rand Ravich and Far Shariat, "We are fortunate and grateful that from the beginning, Katherine Pope and everyone at NBC shared our vision for the show. As Charlie Crews would say, this proves that you don't have to understand here to be here."
"Life" was one of the best-reviewed new shows of the 2007 fall season. The Los Angeles Times said when "Life" premiered: "NBC's new drama 'Life' is the sort of show that makes a person want to write things that will be picked up for ad copy. Like: 'If you only watch one new show this fall, watch 'Life'. Or: Terrific cast, terrific writing, and even when simply eating a pear, Damian Lewis sets a whole new standard for the broken hero genre."
"Life" is executive produced by Rand Ravich, Far Shariat and Dan Sackheim. It airs Wednesdays, (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on NBC and stars Damian Lewis as police detective Charlie Crews. Wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years for murders he didn't commit, Crews re-joins the force as soon as he's released, both because he loves the job, and because he needs to clear his name and find out who framed him. Co-starring as his partner, Dani Reese, who has demons of her own, is Sarah Shahi and Robin Weigert plays their no-nonsense boss, Lt. Karen Davis. Adam Arkin plays Crews' best friend and former cellmate, Ted Early, and Brooke Langton is Constance Griffiths, the attorney who won Crews' freedom and is now a D.A. who has developed a major crush on her former client.
In a special two part episode, airing Monday, December 3 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) and Wednesday, December 5 (10:00 PM, ET/PT), a critical piece of the Crews mystery is solved and he is finally able to unravel some of the secrets behind his being framed for the murder of his friend's family.
"Life" is averaging a 3.0 rating, 9 share in adults 18-49 and 8.0 million viewers overall for the season to date. With its November 14 telecast, "Life" retained its full adult 18-49 lead-in from "Bionic Woman" for the first time and attracted its biggest overall audience in four weeks. Season to date, "Life" is winning its competitive time period among men 18-34 opposite CBS's "CSI: Miami" and ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money."
Universal Media Studios, a division of NBC Universal, is one of the country's largest and most successful television production companies, responsible for more than 15 of television's most critically acclaimed, hit primetime series. Some of the series produced by the studio include the highly rated dramas, "House" and "Heroes," the Emmy Award-winning comedies "The Office" and "30 Rock"; and critically acclaimed cable hits "Battlestar Galactica" and "Monk" as well as the freshman hit dramas "Bionic Woman" and "Life." The studio also produces a variety of reality programming, the daytime drama "Passions" and NBC's late night programs "Saturday Night Live," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Last Call with Carson Daly."
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