Hello everyone! Today I am doing a TV show review! Yes, that is right, I’ve decided to talk a little about the TV shows I watch (and love) and the TV shows I tried watching and didn’t love all that much. Today, I’m talking about ABC Family’s “Chasing Life”. Firstly, let’s see what the Hell I’m talking about.
“Chasing Life” is an American TV show from ABC Family, who also currently runs shows such as “Pretty Little Liars”, “The Fosters” and “Switched at Birth”. The very first episode, titled “Pilot” (wow, super creative), premiered on June 10th and new episodes have been premiering every Tuesday since then. (Including today, yay). That means the show is currently on it’s eight episode, considering that the ninth airs tonight and so am I. And I started watching it on Friday.
To be honest, I watched the eight episodes in less than two days and, considering I had school on Friday and woke up VERY late on Saturday, I consider that I good accomplishment. Because, here’s the thing, I either watch the entire show very fast or I take forever or I quit watching halfway through the first episode. With “Chasing Life”, it was the first episode.
Before I keep talking, though, et’s get something straight. “Chasing Life” is a Drama (although, lots of times, it looks more like a comedy) and it does aim at the young, female public. And what I have to say about TV Shows is that you have to keep in mind genre and target public when you start watching it. You can’t expect “Game of Thrones” when you’re watching an ABC Family drama (which is what people like my brother seem to do). So, if you enjoy shows like “Switched at Birth”, “The Fosters”, “Hart of Dixie” and so on, you might as well keep reading. If you’re an exclusive sci-fi fan or if you hate drama and romance, I guess you can skip this and wait for me to review “Resurrection” or “Doctor Who”.
Now, about “Chasing Life”. It mainly tells the story of April Carver (although there are some parallel plotlines), a 24 year old journalist who finds out she has cancer. Yet, don’t get yourself fooled. It might be a show about a character with cancer, but it’s not a show exactly about cancer. I mean, it will talk about cancer and chemo and everything, but it’s also a family drama.
What surprised me the most about “Chasing Life” is how funny it actually is. And I don’t mean dark humor funny. I mean that this is one of the lightest shows I’ve ever watched. It’s the kind of show that makes me feel good about the world and everyone in it. I really don’t know how they can pull it off, but, trust me, they can.
Also, as someone who’s seen someone very close suffer with cancer, I can say that this show isn’t turning into a joke and that the people who run it really did their research. The plotlines, the things, the symptoms… everything is very accurate.
When it comes to casting, “Chasing Life” also made me very happy. I can’t say I was familiar with Italia Ricci, who plays April, before this, but I’m loving her. I truly feel like she’s perfect for the part. You might recognize her from “American Pie Presents Beta House”, where she played Laura Johnson or from “Don Jon”, where she co-starred with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson. You might also know her from one of other roles!
Then, there’s Sara, who is April’s very worried mother. Although the character can be quite irritating at times, it’s on purpose and Mary Page Keller is doing a really good job. She’s been on several things, but I must say I recognized her from two of her smaller, most recent roles: Emily Chase in “Hart of Dixie” and Ezra’s mom (aka Dianne Fitzgerald) in “Pretty Little Liars”.
A face I was very happy to see in the show was Haley Ramm, who plays April’s younger sister Brenna, who’s struggling with finding herself, her sexuality and all the other things from teenage life (such as getting too drunk at a party for the first time). I must say I remmembered Haley from “Yours, Mine & Ours” and as Gwen in those real life Ben 10 movies. It’d been a really long time since I’d seen her in anything, so I was amazed when I recognized her! And she’s REALLY doing a really good job!
Then there’s Aisha Dee, who plays April’s best friend in the entire world, Beth. I gotta say Aisha is worth it first for her accent, which is fantastic and then for her acting, which is also fantastic. I rememberd her from TV commercials of “I Hate My Teenage Daughter” and I later realized she’d been on two episodes of “Terra Nova”.
Richard Brancatisano plays one of April’s love interests, Dominic and I won’t tell spoilers. Richard has been on quite a few things, but I must say I was most excited when I found out he used to play the Green Mystic Ranger, even though I didn’t watch this specific Power Rangers series. And he’s super cute.
Rebecca Schull plays my absolutely favorite character, which is April’s grandmother! I didn’t really know her before this, but I do know she’s been on “Suits” and used to be on “Wings”.
Scott Michael Foster who’s set to play Frozen’s Kristoff in “Once Upon a Time” plays Leo, who is also a character that I absolutely loved from the very first moment. If you watched “Greek”, he might be familiar to you as Cappie.
Someone I was very happy to see on the show was Gracie Dzienny. You might not be familiar with her, but I’m obsessed with AwesomenessTV and I love her there, so I was SUPER excited to see her play Greer. Specially since I love Greer. Her biggest role was on “Supah Ninjas”, but I can’t really say I ever watched that.
To sum up, “Chasing Life” is an amazing show and it’s totally worth it. You should give it a try if you like:
– The Fosters – VERY likely to like it
– Hart of Dixie – VERY likely to like it
– Switched at Birth – VERY likely to like it
– Pretty Little Liars – Likely to like it
– Finding Carter – Likely to like it
– The O.C. – Likely to like it.
– Gossip Girl – Likely to like it
– 90210 – Likely to like it
– The Lying Game – Likely to like it
And similar shows
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