‘Life Unexpected’-ly Is Very Satisfying

On 01.29.10, In Television, by Roque.

Just what we need to relieve the winter chill: a blast of warm fuzzies that conjures a rush of fond nostalgia for the glory days of the long-lamented WB network (from which the mostly underwhelming CW sprang). If ‘Gilmore Girls’, ‘Felicity’, ‘Everwood’, and ‘Dawson’s Creek’, stole your heart once upon a time, then get ready to fall in love with ‘Life Unexpected’. Like its predecessors, this charmer expertly blends youthful romance with smart humor and unabashed emotion for a thoroughly winning package.

At its very full heart, ‘Life Unexpected’ is about redefining family from the perspective of two thirty-something Peter Pans who’ve resisted growing up until a precocious teenager shows them the way. Baze (Kristoffer Polaha) drifts in a Judd Apatow fantasy world, living above the bar he runs in a building his dad gave him. Cate (WB vet Shiri Appleby, ‘Roswell’) hides behind her quirky wit, swapping early-morning radio banter with a doting partner (Kerr Smith, ‘Dawson’s Creek’) who wants to marry her.

Baze and Cate are classic opposites, forced back together by the issue of their high-school one-night stand: Lux (Gritt Robertson), a spunky, hard-knocks foster kid Cate gave away at birth 15 years ago, believing she’d be adopted. Seeking legal emancipation, Lux ambushes her birth parents only to become ultimately yoked to them, initially put off by their emotional immaturity.

‘Life Unexpected’ is the story of these terrifically appealing characters’ messy and funny period of adjustment. It’s a situation fraught with conflict, as a girl who never had a childhood contends with two guardians unacquainted with adult responsibility.

“You can’t be parents. You both need parents,” Lux says. Yes, she’s at times a bit too wise for her years and verbally glib, but she has her own learning curve here.

There’s plenty of life in this deluxe entertainment, with each episode expanding the world of friends and family who have a stake in Lux’s future. So far, I find myself rooting for just about everyone in this feel-good show that’s refreshingly unafraid to wear its feelings openly.