“Life” Season 1 (2007, NBC) – “Life” stars two unconventionally attractive leads – Damian Lewis (“Band of Brothers”) as Charlie Crews, freshly released after being wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years; and Sarah Shahi, who looks like Sandra Bullock’s cuter sister, as Crews’ tightly wound partner Dani Reese, who seriously unwinds when she’s off shift.
Crews, with his tendency to give suspects the benefit of the doubt and his propensity for munching on assorted fruits, is the season’s breakout character. He approaches life with an admirable Zen attitude, something he acquired while in prison.
The cases are conventional, but it’s a joy to watch Crews in unconventional action – he even invites a homeless witness/suspect to live at his house during an investigation.
While Crews is happy to be out from behind bars, Reese spends all her free time picking up men in bars. She is a closed book around Crews, who lives on an open ranch-like property outside the city, paid for with his wrongful conviction settlement.
Open-book Crews does keep one secret from Reese. On the side, he is investigating the murders he was framed for (we meet the potential framers in flashback interviews). The walls of a room feature evidence of his progress; appropriately, Crews is neater than most obsessive sleuths – he precisely positions photos and carefully writes key phrases in black marker.
I’m following “Life” for the long haul, and if NBC doesn’t like the ratings, I hope the net moves the show to USA (as it did with “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”). Crews would be right at home with Adrian Monk, the “Psych” boys and Vincent D’Onofrio. A
– John Hansen, “Fall TV a matter of ‘Life’ and death,” Brainerd Dispatch, Fall 2007