That's Life

"That's Life" (CBS Saturdays) is one of the best television shows I've seen for sometime. Heather Paige Kent is great as the lead actor "Lydia". She is also one of the prettiest women on primetime.

The working-class Italian-American characters portrayed on this show and the storylines are very believable. They grow on you, not in a corny endearing manner, but one where the viewer can immediately relate to all of the great characters and the storylines of this well written and well made show.

Ellen Burstyn and Paul Sorvino as Lydia's Mom and Dad do not look out of place on this show and they both play convincing roles.

"That's Life" will not leave you feeling like you've been pandered to the way some other new show about a genetically enhanced superwoman does. I think that show (Dark Angel) is just cheap thrills on TV. If you want that, go to a movie on Tuesday night.

"That's Life" is an excellent combination of both drama and comedy. The only thing working against it is that it is scheduled for Saturdays on CBS. So, it's worth the effort to program your machine if you have to go out next Saturday night.

Of course I watched this show when it first came on because at that time, I too was a thirty-something Italian American chick from the Northeast who had recently gone back to school. I loved it -- total warm fuzzies for me. I was so happy that they'd gotten such amazing talent like Paul Sorvino and Ellen Burstyn. It was the perfect Saturday night show. Lydia had unpackaged pluck, which was nice for a change.

Then the network started playing around with programming, and the show disappeared for a while. Then it had an early season finale, and no one knew if it was coming back. Then, voila!, it showed up for a second season -- with a total makeover. The ex-fiancee was gone, the Italian song opener was gone, and a completely unrelated love interest materialized out of nowhere. Classic network "wow, this show is working great as it is, so let's CHANGE it!" tactic. But despite stretching the limits of reality as it was doing, the show was still good enough to keep watching, so I did. Then it disappeared after January 2002, and they never actually declared the show cancelled. It was gone as if it had never really existed. For a show that had existed for 1 1/2 seasons and had a fan base, that is inexcusable.

This show brings back so many memories of my friends family. I guess Italian familys are the same everywhere you go.I loved Heather when she was in Stark raving mad. But she is fantastic in this. I hope that we get future season here in Australia.

I felt this was an excellent show. It had a very strong cast who played a close knit Italian American family with, like all families, both good and bad qualities. This was the backdrop for the main story of their daughter, Lydia, who was trying to be her own person, and discovering just who that was by going to college. It was inspiring and empowering. It was entertaining and had heart. What more do people want? It was quite sad to see it go, especially Heather Paige Kent, who played the lead role of Lydia so well. There must be other great roles out there for her, hopefully soon. Kevin Dillan went on to do well in Entourage, but I liked his role as Lydia's annoying but endearing brother even more.

It was a really good show and I miss it. It's really too bad that good shows like this end up on the short end of the stick while crap remains on the air. I guess reality show will take over every channel and we will have to watch cable reruns to see good old sitcoms and dramas.