"They say guys think about sex every 15 seconds. I think about it every 5 seconds. I'm thinking about it right now.and now.and now. Man, that's less than 5 seconds." - Jon Foster as Ben Conner
Life As We Know It: The Complete Series DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
Of all the new shows introduced by the networks each season, only a handful ever make it past their first season. In fall 2004, ABC struck ratings gold with the smash hits Lost and Desperate Housewives, two shows that almost single-handedly revitalized the hour-long drama.or at least the hour-long drama that doesn't contain the words "law," "order," or "C.S.I." in the title. One of their other offerings, the teen drama Life As We Know It, didn't fare as well. With the release of all thirteen episodes of this short-lived series on DVD, curious viewers can finally see what they were missing on ABC while they were watching Survivor or (shudder) Joey.
Based on the novel Doing It by Melvin Burgess, Life As We Know It focuses on a group of sex-obsessed pals who are sophomores at Seattle's Woodrow Wilson High. Dino Whitman (Sean Faris) is the school's star hockey player, a Tom Cruise look-alike who happens to be dating the school's star female soccer player, Jackie Bradford (Missy Peregrym). Dino is a walking hormone, but Jackie has decided that she's just not ready for sex yet. Dino wants his first time to be with Jackie, but their home lives threaten to drive them apart. Jackie's father is a raging alcoholic who embarrasses her at soccer games. Dino has discovered that his mom, Annie (Lisa Darr) is cheating on his dad, Michael (D.B. Sweeney). Even worse, she's having an affair with Dino's beloved hockey coach.
Jonathan Fields (Chris Lowell) is constantly teased by his friends. He's a little goofy, and his massive G.I. Joe collection (or "doll collection," as Dino refers to it) doesn't help matters. While working together on the school yearbook, he finds himself falling in love with Deborah Tynan (Kelly Osbourne.yes, that Kelly Osbourne), his oldest female friend. He worries how the other guys will react, especially since Deb isn't exactly a typical beauty.
Smart guy Ben Connor (Jon Foster) faces ostracism for his taste in girls, too. He has the hots for his English teacher, Monica Young (Marguerite Moreau). Before you can say "Mary Kay Letourneau," the two are having a secret affair. It's fun, but frustrating, too. Forced to lie to his family and friends, he begins to wonder if life might be simpler if only he were dating someone his own age, like overachiever Sue Miller (Jessica Lucas).
When Life As We Know It premiered, it was heavily promoted as being from "the producers of Freaks and Geeks." This may have been a mistake, since Freaks and Geeks wasn't exactly a hit, and the two shows couldn't be any less alike. Freaks and Geeks was about loveable losers. Viewers would be hard-pressed to apply the "loser" label to anyone on Life As We Know It. Jonathan has a perfectly sculpted body that would make his G.I. Joe dolls cry, and even the brainiac gets to bed his hot teacher.
Life As We Know It is closer in spirit to teen soaps like Dawson's Creek, but with more sex, skin, and believable adult characters thrown in. Dino, Ben, and Jonathan are horny to an extreme, and barely a scene goes by without some sort of sex talk. Sometimes this is used to great comic effect, as when Deb's mom, Mia (Sarah Strange), gives Jonathan a perversely deadpan lecture about her family's history of extreme fertility and "tilted" cervixes.
Ultimately, Life As We Know It is simply a glossy, surface-level soap that fails to capture Freaks and Geeks' emotional resonance. Entertaining? Yes. Deep? No.
The final two episodes of the series were never aired. Fans and newcomers alike should be forewarned that the final episode doesn't provide much closure. There are a few emotional resolutions, but several plotlines are cut short, and episode thirteen even ends with a minor cliffhanger.
Several Freaks and Geeks alums appear as guests in Life As We Know It, including Becky Ann Baker, Samm Levine, Natasha Melnick, and Busy Philipps. Other familiar faces include Dylan Baker (Murder One), James McDaniel (Taken), Megan Gallagher (Millennium), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent), Craig Ferguson (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson), and Jeffrey Nordling (Once and Again).
The thirteen episodes that make up the complete series are divided onto three discs. Each disc is decorated with portraits of the gang - Dino and Jackie on disc one, Jonathan and Deb on disc two, and Ben and Sue on disc three. The discs are housed in a foldout case decorated with publicity stills. The three discs attach to two panels - one of the panels holds two discs one on top of the other in a figure eight pattern. One panel of the foldout case lists the episode titles and extras found on each disc. Unfortunately, no plot synopses are included, making it a little more difficult for viewers to choose individual episodes. The case slides into a cardboard sleeve. Sure, it is a little inconvenient to remove one of the DVDs in the figure eight in order to get to the other, and an episode guide would have been welcome, but overall, this set is pleasingly designed.
The DVD menus are relatively easy to navigate. Viewers can play all episodes or choose an individual one. There are no scene selection menus, but the episodes include chapter stops.
