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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.

Life

EMAILPRINTSERIES: NBC, Wednesday 10:00p (60 minutes)

Life
64
9.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 199 votes
Read user comments
Rate this show >

Show Info

Genre(s): Drama

Created By: Rand Ravich

First Air Date: September 26, 2007

Summary

Starring Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi, Robin Weigert, Adam Arkin, Brent Sexton, and Melissa Sagemiller

Charlie's back after being falsely held in in prison for twelve years. Like a fish out of water, will he (and the show) flop or swim?

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83

Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker

Life is intelligent fun.

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80

Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith

Of all the new shows I've watched, it's also the one I'm most eager to see again.

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80

VarietyLaura Fries

Crews quirky mannerisms don't overwhelm the plot, and the show does strikes a nice balance between whimsy and its much darker backstory.

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80

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

It's an entirely different vibe, further enhanced by a charismatic and quirky central character who is both unpredictable and impossible to pigeonhole. Given a chance to develop, Detective Charlie Crews could someday take a place with the likes of Kojak, Columbo and Monk.

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80

Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara

Playing it long and lugubrious but with a tantalizing twinkle, Lewis (last seen in the States as the hateful husband in "The Forsyte Saga") may well wrest the mantle of sexiest troubled American played by a Brit away from Hugh Laurie.

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80

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

The actor [Lewis], who uses a flawless American accent, makes Life worth a gander. And he is surrounded by a distinctive cast.

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80

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

This peculiar comedy-drama has some cockeyed wrinkles that make it interesting.

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80

The New York TimesGinia Bellafante

The narrative structure of the show is incredibly satisfying: During each hour a crime is committed and solved, as Charlie’s search for who might have framed him provides the overriding arch, satisfying our short attention spans and taste for long-form narrative at once.

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75

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

Lewis is terrific. But his brazenly loopy lawman may not be to everyone's offbeat crime drama tastes.

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75

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

Life doesn't squander the talents of its cast. The mysteries are solid, the characters multilayered, and Crews is given a bigger mystery about which to obsess--finding out who framed him.

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70

NewsdayTom Jicha

Lewis is such a commanding presence that Sarah Shahi is rendered little more than an accessory as Dani. There's nothing going on between the partners at the outset, but this is subject to change.

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70

PopMattersCynthia Fuchs

Details of color and composition do the work usually handled by too much expository dialogue, granting access to Dani and Charlie’s thinking.

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70

New York MagazineJohn Leonard

Just as we begin to wonder whether Life is intended to be, um, wacky, it takes a darker turn.

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60

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

While one can never count out a decent cop show, Life's main character is so weird he either fascinates you immediately or turns you off.

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60

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

There’s no doubt Life is blessed with a fine lead actor, an intriguing premise and better writing than most new shows this fall. It’s just that viewers aren’t going to find that promising TV drama buried underneath all the crime procedural.

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60

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

Mildly satisfying, but pretty formulaic.

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60

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

Lewis is a strong enough actor (again, see "Band of Brothers") that there are moments where he pulls together all these tics into a character who could be interesting, but too much time gets wasted on pedestrian mysteries to give him room to work.

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37

USA TodayRobert Bianco

Strip away the abrasive flourishes, and what's left is a standard-issue TV mystery with cases that are too easy to solve and internal conflicts and conspiracies that make no sense.

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30

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

It gets bogged down by so many procedural elements that all the character moments get squished and forced out around the edges, resulting in an uninteresting blob of an overly familiar TV show.

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25

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Just dreadful enough to want to shoot yourself and end up in the tender loving arms of the people at "Private Practice."

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10

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

I could make more fun of Life, but it probably wouldn't be too good for my karma.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this show is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 199 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Richard D. gave it a10:
well written. very good character profiles, good acting and entertaining story lines, realistics gray line between police and criminal characters.

Mark L gave it a10:
Life is an absolutely brilliant series. It’s well-written, well-acted, dramatic, funny, engaging and, above all, poignant. The characters are well developed and captivating. Both the overarching plot regarding the conspiracy and the individual episodic crimes achieve a perfect balance between holding the viewer’s attention while not being too transparent. In short, Life is a true gem among the mostly unscripted drool (i.e., reality TV) that passes for entertainment on television these days.

Naomi H gave it a10:
Witty, intelligent - able to hold interest without insulting simple sexuality stuff: i.e - without relying on what seems like the cheap degrading allusions to sex that so many shows seem to need to include just to get ratings.

Jeff S. gave it a10:
Best new show on TV. Good writing & cast. The new boss in season two is much better than the first season.

Jack C gave it a10:
I really like this show. I don't want to see another CSI type show anyway. Isn't this venue all played out? Crews and Reese play well off each other and make for a fun watch. I'd like to see more of Reese's dark side though.

eedee ddedd gave it a10:
By choice, I don't have access to TV in my home. This is because 99% of television is crap. This show is different though. I found it online and I think it's great.

Dulcie M. gave it a10:
My husband and I LOVE this show!! What a nice change of pace from all the other cop shows. This is the ONLY show I put my life on hold for!!

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