Life Unexpected is an American television drama series created by Liz Tigelaar and produced by Mojo Films in association with CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television about a teenage girl, brought up in the foster care system, who decides to track down her birth parents and become an emancipated minor.
The series aired in the USA on The CW from 18 January, 2010 to 18 January, 2011. There are 26 hour-long episodes in two seasons.
Life Unexpected premiered in South Africa on DStv's Vuzu channel on Wednesday 18 August 2010, at 20h30. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 premiered on Vuzu on Saturday 9 July 2011, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 13 episodes in the second and final season.
Season 1
After spending all of her 15 years bouncing from one foster family to another in Portland, Oregon, Lux (Britt Robertson) has decided it's time to take control of her life and become an emancipated minor.
Her journey through the legal maze leads Lux to her biological father, 30-something Nate "Baze" Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha), who owns a bar, lives like an aging frat-boy with two slacker roommates, and is astonished to learn that he has a teenage daughter.
Lux is equally astonished when Baze reveals that her mother is Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby), a star on the local "Morning Madness" radio show, along with her on-air partner and real-life boyfriend, Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith).
Lux has been listening to Cate's voice on the radio as long as she can remember, so she feels an instant connection with the mom she's never met.
Baze takes Lux to meet Cate, who is shocked and saddened to learn that Lux has grown up in foster care, but thrilled to finally meet her beautiful daughter.
When a judge decides that Lux isn't ready for emancipation and unexpectedly grants temporary joint custody to Baze and Cate, they agree to try to get past the awkwardness and make a belated attempt to give Lux the family she deserves.
Season 2
Returning for a second season, Life Unexpected is a coming-of-age family drama that centers around 16-year-old Lux, who was given up for adoption at birth but never adopted.
When she is put back into the custody of her estranged-since-high-school birth parents, radio show host Cate and bartender Baze, the three form an unlikely family, complicated by the fact that Cate is engaged to her co-host, Ryan.
Cate and Baze struggle with becoming insta-parents and raising a daughter they are only now getting to know, while Ryan must deal with the fact that Cate's feelings for Baze aren't entirely in the past.
Lux, meanwhile, tries to reconcile her past with her present, often torn between her old friends from foster care and her new family.
As the unlikely trio begins to grow up together, Lux encourages Baze to reveal what she already knows - that he is in love with Cate, just like a part of Cate is in love with him.
Baze tries to stop Cate's wedding, but when he's too late, Cate marries Ryan. Heading into Season 2, the unlikely threesome become a foursome as Ryan joins the family.
The series stars Shiri Appleby as Cate Cassidy, Kristoffer Polaha as Nate "Baze" Bazile, Britt Robertson as Lux, Austin Basis as Math, and Kerr Smith as Ryan Thomas.
Life Unexpected is produced by CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television in association with Mojo Films with executive producers Liz Tigelaar and Gary Fleder.
Seasons
Series exclusive to Vuzu
Season 1 (13 episodes)
Premiere: 18 August 2010 | Finale: 10 November 2010 | Wednesdays, 20h30
Season 2 (13 episodes)
Premiere: 9 July 2011 | Finale: 1 October 2011 | Saturdays, 20h30