New show: 'Life is Wild' is a rare family-friendly show
Posted: Friday, July 20, 2007 4:46 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
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TV
Some critics claim that "Life is Wild" is the worst of the CW's four new shows, but I disagree. It's a sweet family drama in the spirit of "Seventh Heaven" or even reaching back to "Napoleon and Samantha." The basic plot: A veterinarian father in a blended family wants to make a difference, so he packs up his kids and leaves the bustle of New York behind to work for a year at a South African lodge run by the father of his late wife. The kids resent leaving home at first, but quickly learn to love the animals and their new South African friends.
No question, this is a family-friendly show. Who doesn't love the beautiful animals and scenery? And these kids are not running around the streets of New York taking drugs and having sex -- instead they're discovering a gorgeous new country, helping injured lion cubs, and learning to get along with stepsiblings. Not to be a prude, but I'd rather have my kids watch this than CW sibling "Gossip Girl" any day.
The show is actually filming outside Johannesburg, so the cast joined press tour via satellite hookup for an impressive looking lodge. New cast member D.W. Moffett (who recently replaced Brett Cullen as the dad/vet), had the luckiest seat in the house -- he took questions while stroking an adorable baby lion cub who slept like a kitten on his lap.
TIDBITS:
--Currently there is only one South African actor cast as a regular (Atandwa Kani, as a classmate the family's daughter Katie befriends). Producer Michael Rauch said that will change, and that "there will be a good number of both white and black actors and characters in the show."
--Like so many shows this season, the show is adapted from a British original, "Wild at Heart," which is popular in the U.K. "Life is Wild" used some of the British show's sets for their pilot.
--As with many family shows, there'll be an educational component. The producers spoke of hoping for upcoming storylines on such serious topics as poaching, AIDS, and apartheid. Said Rauch: "I think it's incumbent upon us in this production of this show and the network it's
airing on to be truthful about the country the show is set in. And otherwise, why do it in South Africa?"
--The actors mostly praised their animal co-stars, but Scottish actor Calvin Goldspink, who plays Katie's crush, Oliver, had a bit of indecent exposure thanks to the lion cub Moffett was petting during the panel. "I was wearing kind of, like, loose Nike shorts, and it clawed me and pulled my pants down," Goldspink said with a laugh.
GAEL'S GRADE: I'm going to be the one non-cynical critic that thinks this is a sweet family show. B plus.
