When you look up Aaron Kaplan on IMDB, you will see the list of shows that he is an Executive Producer on are all very different from each other. He’s worked on the sci-fi drama Terra Nova, the nighttime soap GCB, the hilarious alien/human sitcom The Neighbors, the raunchy Friends with Better Lives, the family sitcom Instant Mom; and coming up he has the suspenseful murder mystery Secrets & Lies and the police dramedy The Mysteries of Laura. So while most EPs stick to the same genre, he does anything but. I asked him about that at the NBC Summer TCA Press Day and he said, “It allows me to play in so many different spaces and exercise so many different creative muscles.” Then he added, “Frankly, I would be scared of doing the same kind of show every single time.”
So what would be that perfect show for him to produce? His answer is not what you would expect. To him, “The perfect show to do is one that resonates with an audience, with a cast that enjoys each other, with great creative writing. That’s what excites me.”
One of his shows that is currently on the air that really excites me is ABC Family’s Chasing Life. I wanted to know how long this show could go because lead character, April, has Leukemia. I asked this question because her type of cancer killed my old boss within 6 months of her diagnosis, but then there were people are her memorial service who had it for years. Kaplan responded by saying, “Whether April lives or not, the message has to be to not take your days for granted, to not take your friends for granted. “ Adding, “What I do promise is we are not going to prolong this, where she is healthy, she’s sick, she’s healthy, she’s sick.” He knows the audience is smarter than that and because of that they will be keeping the show authentic. What he loves about Chasing Life is that mortality is not something someone who is 25 is thinking about. He concluded his thought with, “What we are trying to do on this show is really talk about how precious life is.”
And tonight at 9p, someone on the show is given an end date. That person understands how precious life is, and they are teaching April (Italia Ricci) to live her remaining days to the fullest. Not that she is going to die, but we all need to live our lives. Although for April that is getting tougher to do now that her mom knows about her cancer. Sara (Mary Page Keller) is being overprotective of her daughter and the lengths she is going to might cost her April. And April has enough on her plate because the side effects of the cancer are starting to show their evil side. Because of that she has no choice but to face the fact that she has cancer and everything comes along with it.
So once again get the tissues ready for an another emotionally well done episode. Just think this season only 16 more episodes to go after this one. Do like I did and go stock up on tissues at Costco because you are going to need them to get through the rest of the season.
