No, this is not a suicide post. More like a notice of murder.

Yes, I feel strongly. No, I don’t feel bad about it.

NBC revealed that Life did not make the cut today (I believe televisionaryblog.com used the word DOA to describe Life’s chances). While I may talk about the other shows that did make it, later, let me mourn now.

Of course I want to rant. It’s only natural. After spending all that time catching up on it after the writer’s strike, I felt sure that the stellar writing (god, that writing was good) and the acting would bring it to the renewal side. In a way, I guess we should feel lucky that Life didn’t go the way of Journeyman (which I also liked). So, in honor of Life and all the good feelings I felt about it, I will write a crappy poem. It will, of course, not rhyme.

Ah, goodbye my favourite ginger/with your penchant for eating fruit/and your questions with weird answers/that you somehow always get right./Yours isn’t the first show that we lost/(old grudges die hard FOXNBCCBSABC and sometimes I still hate you)/for Firefly/for Arrested Development/for Pushing Daisies/ and now/ for Life/Damian Lewis, you are now my favourite redhead/ Sarah Shahi you were turning into Crews and I liked it/Donal Logue, in being serious, you were seriously funny/You and your crew and your mysteries/I will miss you all/Thanks for the suckage, NBC.

If you are not watching Life, you are missing out on some good television.

Good television can be defined by many parameters: Good storyline, good character development, good surprises… And you especially need good surprises for those of us who are tv weary. Well, we’re not really tv weary as we’ve watched so much television that we could easily write the next year’s worth of television cliches. Maybe you don’t like procedurals or cop shows (there are way too many cop shows on television right now). I say if you have to watch one cop show, it should be Life.

Or Bones. Okay, watch two cop shows. Let go of CSI. That ish is played out.

Life started out very similar to many cop show. The anti-hero, the damaged partner working together to solve crimes while underneath, something sinister is afoot. But those somewhat generic roles were given a very steady and consistently great boost from Damian Lewis as Detective Harry Crews and Sarah Shahi as Detective Dani Reese. There were murders, of course, and solving murders, bad guys, no good double crossers, people being shot at point blank range, trickery and stealing intel – everything you should find in a good cop show with an anti-hero. But Damian Lewis made Crews more than a guy bent on revenge. He made him a complete man with foibles, fears, strengths, and most of all, questions. Charlie Crews asked the questions no one thought to ask. I guess 12 years in a maximum security prison serving time for a murder you didn’t commit has its advantages.

One of those advantages was clearly on display for the finale part of this very well done finale. Hell, the whole season was well done. After getting the two partners comfortable with each other, Reese gets the chance to go to the FBI where she sees a picture of Crews with her dad, who is missing. At the same time, Crews gets a picture of Dani with Mickey Rayborn (the guy who Crews believe may be behind his getting sent to jail) on Rayborn’s boat. They both must take what they know of the other person to make a decision. Each decides to trust their partner and this is where it gets hairy.

Apparently the whole goddamn FBI works for Russian mobster Roman Nevikov and this is what drives us, quickly, to the finale. In the finale, we get a Reese who has grown so used to Crews that her words are barely indistinguishable from his. And she is right. Because the thing that connects her to Crews connects Nevikov to Crews. When we see the exchange of Crews for Reese, and Crews getting into Nevikov’s SUV, we are not prepared for what happens and even in that, we get the unexpected Crews joke we’ve come to expect.

That’s another thing about this show. In so many ways, weird ways, there is humour found. Whether it be moments after a stunning action or in the middle of an interrogation with a detective who has an odd tilt to his brain, Life found ways to add humour – necessary humour – to the show. The addition of Captain Kevin Tidwell, played with depth and brevity by Donal Logue, was a welcomed addition. I wasn’t sure how his character was going to go, but the New York attitude, the often pained expression he constantly wears, the soft spot for Dani Reese, and the humourous way he looks at things (or tells a story) made him fit right in with the rest of the group.

This show has done more than what I would ask of any show, but what I should expect from more shows. It’s given me a great storyline that doesn’t appear to be falling by the wayside any time soon. Charlie Crews was set up and it’s much more complicated than anyone knows. He’s gotten 3 pieces of the 7 layer puzzle. I look at the future for this show and see how it can continue what it’s trying to do. I also see myself enjoying it all the way to the end. The show has also given me great characters that I have grown to care about. When Dani screws up and sleeps around on Tidwell, I was angry with her for sabotaging herself. Also, as the show ends, I think that Crews realizes he loves someone and I think that someone is his partner. Yet as the next season commences, he has to deal with the intricacies of Reese’s relationship with their boss. Even Tidwell, as he storms the place where Nevikov is holding Reese, I feared for his life because Nevikov has proven that he could give a eff about life, anybody’s life but his own. Yes, you care about the characters as you watch each episode. Even the new girl, Detective Jane Seever played by Gabrielle Union, now beholdened to Mickey Rayborn, draws our sympathy because her dreams may now have strings attached. Good surprises include the end of the finale episode. Good surprises include how we got to this point. Good surprise pop up like Easter Eggs in a hunt for 2 year olds. They’re everywhere, they’re easy to spot, and they make this show all the better for them.

I’m not saying that Life is the best show on television. I’m just saying if you didn’t at least give this a shot past the writer’s strike, you’re a moron.