Categories Life Media Print Media

A Toast to the Greatest Cop Show Time Forgot – Sept 30, 2017

A Toast to the Greatest Cop Show Time Forgot

by Karen Han | The Daily Beast | September 30, 2017

Happy 10th, Life! On its tenth anniversary, it only seems fair to give Life another day in court.

Life is a difficult name to live up to. There’s the board game, there’s the cereal, there’s the thing itself—and then there’s the TV show. The series, created by Rand Ravich, ran for two seasons and a total of 32 episodes from September 2007 to April 2009. Over the course of its run, it didn’t quite seem to gain any real traction; much of what was said about it was less original observation and more comparison to other shows, specifically Monk and House, which also followed a procedural structure and featured a straight man/weird man routine. Unfortunately, Life hasn’t fared much better in the decade that’s passed since the pilot. The only context in which it’s been mentioned has—in a stroke of irony—been in reference to its generic name. But even just a quick survey of the show will make it clear that Life is far from generic.

The show centered on Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis), a detective recently reinstated after serving 12 years out of a life sentence for a triple murder he didn’t commit. He was partnered with Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi), a recovering alcoholic and drug addict working her way back into the good graces of the department. While the show followed the typical “cop show” template of solving a murder each week, it also set up a larger arc: that of Crews’ solo investigation into who’d actually committed the triple murder, and why he’d been set up to take the fall.

Continue reading A Toast to the Greatest Cop Show Time Forgot – Sept 30, 2017

Categories Life Media Print Media

Damian Lewis: Life, The Telegraph, October 25, 2008

Damian Lewis: Life

By Michael Deacon – The Telegraph – 25 October 2008

Damian Lewis

Damian Lewis, star of ITV’s new US series Life, tells Michael Deacon about his role as an ex-convict, being a British actor in America and his love of bicycle

Charlie Crews, the character Damian Lewis plays in Life – ITV’s new drama import from America – is perpetually defeated by modern technology. Lewis isn’t too hot on it himself. The London-born 37-year-old can’t stand Facebook, worries that video games are a threat to the film business and struggles with text messages. When we meet he is wrestling with his mobile phone: ‘Sorry, I’ve just got to text my sister-in-law, who’s a tyrant – if I don’t text back within half an hour she shouts at me,’ he says. ‘My text response time is usually about two days.’ His mobile, grey and chunky, is a model so antiquated that most teenagers would probably mistake it for a TV remote control.

Continue reading Damian Lewis: Life, The Telegraph, October 25, 2008

Categories Interviews Life Media Print Media

Interview: Life Star Damian Lewis & Creator Rand Ravich – Sept 29, 2008

Vengeance is Very Un-Zen Like

by Jim Halterman | The Futon Critic | September 29, 2008

Tonight marks the season two launch of of “Life,” the crime drama starring Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews, the quirky detective who spent 12 years of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. And as an extra boost for its sophomore run, “Life” will follow “Heroes” this Monday and next in addition to its regular time period of Fridays at 10:00/9:00c. Jim Halterman talked to Lewis, co-star Sarah Shahi and executive producer/co-creator Rand Ravich about the new season.

Ravich wanted to give some advice to viewers who didn’t get a chance to check out “Life” during its first season, which was shortened by the WGA strike. Viewers, he said, should not “be afraid [and] although ‘Life’ has a reputation for being slightly serialized, this year starts all over again. I mean, if you had never seen this show before you can come to the first episode this year and be caught up by the end of the recap, which is only 21 seconds long.” He also encouraged new viewers by saying, “We’ve constructed the first episode to act as kind of a booster pilot. So you will not be left behind if you come fresh.”

Lewis, a Brit who masterfully uses an American accent with the Crews character, joked that in the new season “Crews will continue to bounce back between the kind of pick and mix candy store girls that keep falling in his lap metaphorically and literally.” However, speaking more seriously, he offered, that Crews would continue to feel “the ongoing heartache with his ex-wife (Jennifer Siebel).” As for his partner in crime fighting, he said, “His relationship with Dani Reese (Shahi) improves steadily, weekly. They seem to have a good, solid respect for each other and accept one another’s differences.”

Continue reading Interview: Life Star Damian Lewis & Creator Rand Ravich – Sept 29, 2008

Categories Interviews Life Media Personal and Family Life Print Media The Escapist

The Public-School Psychopath – June 15, 2008

The Public-School Psychopath

Damian Lewis on villains, typecasting and living in an earthquake zone

by Ally Carnwath 


Actor Damian Lewis rose to fame playing a US soldier in the Second World War drama Band of Brothers. He is married to actress Helen McCrory and has two children (Manon, 1, and Gulliver, 7 months).

You spend half your year in LA. How is it?

LA is like an eccentric beach town. Next to London, it feels utterly provincial but remains fascinating. My wife says she doesn’t like living in a town where you may get swallowed up by an earthquake at any moment. But it’s fantastic for our children to be able to walk on Hampstead Heath one half of the year and on Santa Monica beach the other.

Continue reading The Public-School Psychopath – June 15, 2008

Categories Media Print Media The Baker

Damian Lewis: Slow Cooking, The Independent, February 26, 2008

Damian Lewis: Slow Cooking

Seven years after Tom Hanks told him he’d be the first red-haired movie star, Damian Lewis is making his mark in ‘The Baker’.

 By James Rampton – The Independent – 26 February 2008

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Damian Lewis is deep in conversation with his brother Gareth, who has just directed the actor in his latest film, The Baker. So how was it for the actor working with his younger sibling? “We’ve actually had a ball working together,” Lewis declares, as Gareth bids us farewell. “Maybe at the end of each working day, the Coen brothers throw knives at pictures of each other when they get home, but Gareth and I had such fun. It was like being kids again, only more sophisticated.” He stops and grins. “Perhaps I should say, ‘only marginally more sophisticated’! We certainly have more expensive toys now.”

Continue reading Damian Lewis: Slow Cooking, The Independent, February 26, 2008

Categories Life Media Print Media

Actor Damian Lewis Enjoying New Life Style as an L.A. Cop – Oct 8, 2007

Actor Damian Lewis enjoying new ‘Life’ style as an L.A. cop

Damian Lewis plays a detective with a new perspective on ‘Life’ after being wrongly jailed for years.

Categories Life Media Print Media

Damian Lewis is in For Life – Oct 4, 2007

Damian Lewis is in For ‘Life’

The Associated Press – Today – October 4, 2007

It wouldn’t be hard to feel jealous of LAPD Detective Charlie Crews.

He’s got millions in the bank, a huge house, no lack of female companionship — and a Zen attitude to keep him mellow.

On the other hand: Crews spent a dozen brutal years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit (his hefty cash settlement came from the state of California when his lawyer got him cleared). His marriage was over. And now that he’s back on the job, co-workers rudely speculate on why he returned — and don’t trust his motives. Nothing to envy there.

But Crews makes the best of life, and then some. That’s what “Life” is about.

Continue reading Damian Lewis is in For Life – Oct 4, 2007