# Life Unexpected (2010)

> A sixteen-year-old adoptee moves in with the birth parents who gave her up, and the three try to become a family.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/18487

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 26
- Episode runtime: 42 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Liz Tigelaar
- Network: The CW
- Cast: Britt Robertson, Shiri Appleby, Kristoffer Polaha, Austin Basis, Kerr Smith, Keegan Connor Tracy, Cynthia Stevenson, Rafi Gavron
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442109/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, earnest, sincere, wistful, hopeful

## What critics say

Audiences warmly received the first season's family drama but found the second season considerably weaker.

## Synopsis

Life Unexpected (2010-2011) is an American teen drama created by Liz Tigelaar for The CW. Sixteen-year-old Lux Cassidy (Britt Robertson) was placed for adoption at birth but never adopted, and when she is returned to the custody of her estranged birth parents, Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby) and Baze Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha), the three must build something like a household from scratch. Cate and Baze, who were a couple in high school and parted badly, carry their own unfinished history into every decision, while Lux navigates a new school, new friendships and the question of where she belongs. Each episode is built from ordinary teenage problems colliding with the awkward work of parenting by adults who never expected to be parents again, with Matt Rogers (Austin Basis) and Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith) orbiting the central household. The tone is warm, earnest and sincere, with wistful moments about identity and second chances, and the show sits in the lineage of family-centred teen dramas like Everwood and Gilmore Girls. Its two seasons were a single run of twenty-six episodes, and the series was cut short with its story still in motion, leaving the family arc incomplete.

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