Chasing Life is back for its second season tonight at 9p on ABC Family and I can’t stress enough to you that you have to watch this show that is about more than just cancer.
The episode takes place shortly after the season finale, and April (Italia Ricci) and Leo (Scott Michael Foster) are dealing with their new status as an engaged couple. While they are planning their wedding and everything that comes with it, April is waiting to find out if the Chemo worked. Once she is in remission, then she can get the bone marrow transplant she needs that will save her life. That is only one complication in her life. She now has to find a job since she lost her old one right before she found out the cancer returned.
While that is April’s life, her mom (Mary Page Keller) is dealing with her oldest daughter wanting to get married so quickly and she’s in denial over it. Brenna (Haley Ramm) is single again, but she won’t stay that way for long. Who will be her next lover, a boy or a girl?
As you can tell this show deals with a lot important life-changing issues and because of that it is impactful. I have said this before and I will say it again, Chasing Life has really affected my life. Shortly before the show premiere, my former boss died from the same cancer that April has. The drama with a lot of heart has helped me get through her death.
While that is my story, other people have reached out to the cast and shared with them how the show has impacted them. Recently, I sat down with them on the lot where they tape the show and they talked about how people have responded to the show and their characters.
Italia Ricci plays April, a 24-year-old woman going through cancer, and people have responded to her about more than just that. She said, “April is like the face of hope for so many people and not just people with cancer. I have gotten letters that April has helped them stay strong through their parents’ divorce or an eating disorder or bullying or depression or whatever it is they are dealing with.” Then she explained, “They have just looked at the show and been like if she can hold on, so can I. Just being the face of hope for anybody who is relating to her or anybody else in the story. It makes me want to the best that I can and never let them down.”
Haley Ramm, plays April’s younger sister, who recently came out as bisexual. After the show airs, she told me that she “logs on to Twitter and see responses from girls saying they don’t know if they would’ve had the guts to ask out the girl that they like because that might be weird where they are from.” She shared with me one story of a girl who sent her a picture of the girl she asked out and said she isn’t sure if she would’ve been able to do if it wasn’t Brenna. Then she shared another type of fan reaction she got after the episode when her character got bullied aired. She said, “I got this really sweet response from this mom that her little boy had watched the episode and brought out the fact that he was being bullied in school for quite a while. That was nice to know that a little boy out there got the courage to say something because Brenna said something.”
That is one story of how a mom and her child watched the show together; and Mary Page Keller, who plays the mom to the two sisters, had something to say about that. She said, “I have two kids that are a little younger than Italia (April) and Hailey (Brenna), but I have a lot of mom friends who have children in that sort of age group and they watch this show with their daughters. The response I am getting is that they are able to connect with their daughters in a way that they can’t with a lot of the other shows on television.” Then she added, “They can watch it together. Which I think is really neat and I love that.”
The show’s Executive Producer, Patrick Sean Smith, hears all of that and he is listening. In fact, he said, “It is gratifying and it is reassuring. It pushes us to want to continue to tell these stories in an authentic way.”
Let them know how you feel because they are listening and they are keeping the show real because of you. Chasing Life is the most authentic show on television and if you have never seen it, tune in tonight and every Monday at 9p. If you have seen it, then you are already watching it and loving it. Everyone should be watching this show. Cancer will affect us all at some point and this is show about living with it. That is just one aspect of the drama and because of that you will be able to relate to it. Not only that you can watch with anyone because it has something for everyone. How many shows can you say that about?
Chasing Life is a story that needs to be told and nobody does it better than this show.
