Another Life

Totally misunderstood, Another Life was on of TV's best dramas ever, capturing the lost souls of life and how they find salvation reaching outside themselves. One of the greatest dramatic actors ever Tom McGowan played Jeff Cummings with style and bravado to counter his unbelievable good looks. He alone is the greatest saving grace of this program. One wonders what ever happened to him.The reality of being human might be what eventually stopped the program. There was no place to go in the mind of the producer once the characters got"saved", believing all would be well from then on. Real life doesn't work that way.Mankind must constantly struggle and work for it's salvation. It is not a one shot deal.

Another Life ran for 4 years in America and can be currently seen on the Inspiration Network in the UK. Set in the fictional town of Kingsley much of the action takes place around the hospital. Central characters include the heroine of the show Terry Davidson, her evil sister Nancy Lawson and bad boy Gil Prescott. Other pivitol characters include the larger than life Ione Redlon, the reformed Miriam Carpentor-Mason and rogue Russ Weaver. The show has a deeply religous theme and the characters often find their answers to the problems they are facing through god. What makes this show special is that some of the stories are just so outrageous but are always brought to a happy conclusion. Why the show was cancelled in America I do not know but in the UK I am enjoying it very much and the show will not be forgotten!

there are a number of reasons why the show died. One, they did come up with some really strange, direction-less story lines. two, the ratings were never all that good, in part, because they were a religious program and (I don't think) they never really reflected LIFE. a lot of the characters on the show weren't written as real people. Third, and most important, Pat Robertson lost interest in the show just like he lost interest in all his other TV ventures. Once, he proclaimed that his network would help to usher in the coming of Christ. He also proclaimed his Christian Broadcasting Network was going to be a Christian alternative to the standard fare at the other networks. I guess he decided that Fox could do a better job of it when he sold it years ago. it did make him very wealthy.

The reason this show was cancelled is the same reason practically nobody remembers Stryper or Petra and Left Behind: The Movie was a huge bomb. When good intentioned evangelists try to use a traditionally secular medium (in this case soap opera) to try and preach the Word of God, they tend to err by assuming that anybody other than God fearin' Christians would want to watch. Nobody wants to watch a soap opera where people happily solve their issues by turning to God. They want to watch miserable people wallow in their sorrow. They want to see people stab each other in the back and just be generally nasty. This is why people watch soap operas. As the ratings for Another Life dwindled, the storylines become MORE outrageous. Some of the ones they conconcted in this show's death throes would have made Melrose Place seem sane.

Watching Another Life was a life changing experience for me. I saw myself in many of the characters and realized I was not alone in many of the feelings and struggles I had in my life. It showed me how to talk to others, how to stand up and speak up for myself when needed. I have never found a better "life lesson" than my recent watching of theses episodes. (I just searched Youtube "another life soap opera") If one did not have a parent who spent time with and talked to their child about life, this soap opera can help fill the void in a life changing way. I also want to comment on why it ended. I saw Pat Robertson speaking in his final years as CBN's 700 Club host and said he had to end it because it became too expensive and was draining to much money from CBN. I suppose once an actor gets known, they are made other offers and ask for a higher salary. This is what I see as the real reason it ended. My only disappointment was the emphasis on Christianity was not enough (ie: the characters were not shown attending Sunday worship) I'm sure CBN had a good reason for this and I understand. I hope and pray CBN (or someone else) will bring back a new series to teach life lessons through a soap opera in the deep powerful way it was done in "Another Life". There is so much more I could say but I will end it here. If there ever is a reunion of fans I would be interested.