News Flash: Here comes a new teenage drama about a daughter who comes back into the life of the teenage parents who gave her up for adoption:
Life Unexpected. From the Website, where the "critics are calling completely charming--Juno meets the Gilmore Girls":
After spending her life bouncing from one foster family to another, 15-year-old Lux has decided to become an emancipated minor. Her journey through the legal maze leads Lux to her biological father, 30-something Nate "Baze" Bazile, who lives like an aging frat-boy and is astonished to learn he has a daughter. Lux is equally astonished to learn that her mother is Cate Cassidy, a star on local radio, along with her boyfriend, Ryan Thomas. When a judge grants temporary custody of Lux to Baze and Cate, they agree to make a belated attempt to give Lux the family she deserves.
Oh, we can't wait. The premier is January 18, 9 p.m., 8 p.m. for Central and Pacific time zones. Stay tuned for lively reviews. And check out a short snippet of the premier above
--lorraine
Simone is utterly taken with the Secret Life of an American Teenager or whatev it's called and she might like this. It's funny, though. She is obviously not fixated on any particular outcome. She was OK with the adoption plan when it was discussed but when I asked her if she had been worried that the baby would be adopted she gave me one of those "me worried?" looks and then added in quite a grand tone that the BF had turned into a really great father. Anyway, I'll watch for it. We never did get Find My Family in our Socialist Paradise North.
ReplyDeleteosolo...
ReplyDeleteyou made me smile, with your Socialist Paradise North...
lo
Of course she was bounced around the foster care system reather than with a forever family. Or do we call them legal families now? That's what they call them on the site where they advertise children who are being sent away from their forever families.
ReplyDeleteUgh MTV has this show called 16 and Pregnant that I find really awful when they relinqusih to adoption.
Awful that adoption has become entertainment now.
Should be interesting to see how the writers and producers take the direction of the show. I think it could be a wonderful opportunity to showcase some key points of the adoption industry, the foster care system, and reunion with your first family.
ReplyDeleteI somehow doubt we'll get that, though; I just hope they don't screw it up too badly.
It's NOT coming to my home. I've long sworn off adoption shows...
ReplyDeleteAssuming that her birth parents relinquished their parental rights when she was an infant, I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't have been adopted immediately.
ReplyDeleteI will be giving "Life Unexpected" a try. I too think it could be an opportunity to address lots of facets of relinquishment, foster care, etc. If it's even half as good as Gilmore Girls was, it can do those things without losing dramatic effect. I was often amazed by how GG treated situations that had become cliches. They were often turned on their heads. We'll see though. This could also devolve quickly into melodramatic dreck.
The old lady in me is shocked that Shiri Appleby is old enough to be cast as the mother of a 15 year old, even though I had a friend in high school who had a child at 14 (and was tragically forced to surrender, after caring for her daughter for 6 months).
Oh Maura, surrendering after six months must have been torture. But at least the baby was with the heartbeat and smells that were familiar to her.
ReplyDeleteI admit, I'm going to watch It's Unexpected. Yes, it's hard to imagine that a white infant who is 14 or 15 today would not have been snapped up...but I just saw Up in the Air, and it's hard to imagine that the plot line is believable, once you get to the last part of the story. Suddenly the plot has a few holes in it.
Incidentally, I just checked the Find My Family website...it says, returning in 2010.
ReplyDeleteChildren did end up in foster care who were never adopted, and the natural mothers were never informed of this fact until they searched years later. However I know of no cases of this happening to healthy white infants when they went into the system except for many, many years ago like in the 1930s. The kids I had heard of born in the late 50s and after were handicapped, but the mother was never told this fact, or if they were healthy, were minority or mixed race babies which some agencies considered "unadoptable."
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting what explanation they use on this show for the child remaining in foster care. Perhaps to be realistic it could be thought that she had some disability that later turned out not to be the case.
It was torture for her, Lorraine. My friend was so heart-broken over it. She really clung to the memory of her time with her daughter. Yes, 14 is insanely young to start raising a child, but she was never given a choice. Her parents sent her off to live with her aunt and uncle, I suppose to avoid embarrassment and scandal. It was her uncle who decided she had to surrender. The early 70s weren't much different than the 50s and 60s, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteAt least when I went through it, I was 23, and could make my own decision without interference.
Oh, we're talking about the show, aren't we? I'm all for suspension of disbelief when it comes to television and movies, but the idea that a healthy, white baby would stay in foster care seems like a huge stretch to me. Maybe Maryanne's right, and they'll find a credible way to explain it.
I do like the ads I've seen, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.
I bet it'll be shlock, just like most of the other human interest dramas and/or 'reality' shows - including, by the sound of it, "Find My Family".
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn't mean it'll fizzle.
Just so long as the audience can emote to its tune and get their daily dose of feelingfulness, it'll probably be a success.
Little Snowdrop
Agreeing with Little Snowdrop, more schlock on the way. I do not intend to watch it.
ReplyDelete(I tried to leave a comment on the blog, but it wouldn't let me see the security word that I had to type, for some reason)
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, since the blog post was about adoption-related television shows, I wasn't sure if you knew about the MTV show "Teen Mom". Actually, the show started with a series of documentary specials called "16 and Pregnant", about several different pg teens and it followed them and their struggles about coming to terms with being young parents. There was one couple they followed, Catelynn and Tyler, who chose adoption. Their special was pretty gut-wrenching (it showed the birth and them handing the baby over in a parking lot). Now, on the "Teen Mom" show, they are following most of the moms from the "16 and Pregnant" specials...all in one 1hr weekly show. They are continuing to follow Catelynn and Tyler too and I know this show would definately interest you, if you aren't already following it.
Just wanted to pass that on...
Have a great day!
lisa
I remembered to watch the show tonight!
ReplyDeleteThey explained why the girl was not adopted at birth. (I won't spoil it for those who haven't watched, but it was a totally plausible reason)
Did anybody else watch? What did you think?