Life Is Wild is one of The CW’s new shows this season, about a family that moves to South Africa. The father is a vet, and his ex-wife (now deceased) lived there as a child. Replacing 7th Heaven (and before then, the only show to ever work for The WB on Sunday night, Charmed), it’s got some big shoes to fill. Based on the UK series Wild at Heart, the show has been referred to as African 7th Heaven by some.
The show starts off with the family driving through Africa. They pull over to take a rest, only to realize an elephant is charging toward them. Everybody hides in the car, but the father, Colin (Calvin Goldspink) is like Dr. Doolittle and calms it down.
Katie (Leah Pipes, also the narrator) has a flashback to why they’re there in the first place. The parents decided to move to South Africa as a chance for the stepfamily to get closer. They go to stay at her mom’s father’s “cutting edge” lodge, which is not quite what everyone was anticipating. When they get there, they’re greeted by a drunk, half conscious grandfather, Art (David Butler), who informs them of the snakes and warthog.
Katie tries to convince herself the year will just fly right by despite the lack of her friends and a computer but tells her father she’s blaming him if everything goes off track. He promises her she’ll thank him one day. Jo (Stephanie Niznik, Everwood/Nina), meanwhile, is upset it’s not a modern facility that she could actually assist with running. After her little tantrum, she says they’re there because the oldest son Jesse (Andrew St. John) got expelled and almost arrested because New York wasn’t working for them.
A villager comes and drags Colin off because they are in desperate need of a vet and can’t wait a couple days for him to start. He brings the two oldest children (his daughter and Jo’s son) with him and tells them to stick together, which may present a problem considering they don’t like each other. She quickly bails on him. Colin arrives to a line of people waiting for him with their pets.
Katie takes the time to walk around town with Tumelo (Atandwa Kani), one of the locals. Jesse, on the other hand, tries to steal some whiskey and takes off without telling anyone where he is. Not good news with a wounded lion on the prowl. When he finally does come home, Jesse’s drunk and informs Colin he’d rather be in jail with his real father than there with him. Unlike Jesse, Katie is very mature for her age, even if that means keeping everything bottled up.
When going to retrieve a soccer ball from their front yard, they run into a baby lion, who Art believes was abandoned. They take it to a nearby (functioning) lodge so Colin can examine it. And of course, the guy there has teenage children, the obvious love interests for the main cast. Jesse strikes out with Emily right away, but Katie doesn’t have much trouble with Oliver. He tells her the place is paradise and will grow on her.
Upon arriving back home, Katie figures out where the injured lioness is. She ransacked the area trying to find food. The youngest son Chase (K’sun Ray) thinks she was looking for her cub. After Katie gets back from her friend Tumelo’s, who brings her to play with a cheetah, they find out that Chase has wandered off to release the cub to its mom. Katie runs off hoping to catch Chase, and Jesse follows her. The only problem is they don’t have much trouble running into the lioness. Somehow, Jesse also channels Dr. Doolittle and saves them. Colin returns after having found Chase, who got lost, and Art shoots the lion with a tranquilizer dart so she can be operated on. Colin needs help from someone other than the drunk Art, so Jesse gets stuck, but it goes without saying that he’ll learn something from it and it will bring them closer together.
Toward the end of the episode, Art finally answers Katie’s question about why he and her mother stopped talking. She hated apartheid, but he didn’t. He says times have changed, although there was some indication from Tumelo that they haven’t changed for everybody. He gives her a bracelet that belonged to her mom, causing her to finally get emotional and say she can feel her there.
Not knowing what will happen, after the operation, they take the cub back to the lion, who Chase believes is his mom, and in the end, it all works out okay. Following that, the family sits down to their first meal without fighting and insults.
The timeslot this show has been put in seems like an instant kiss of death, but if it can overcome that, it has the potential to be a good family show, complete with the amazing animal safari that only filming in Africa can offer.
Life Is Wild premieres Sunday October 7 at 8/7c on The CW. Want to watch the premiere online before it airs on TV? Click here.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Life Is Wild episode 2, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on The CW.
Art is in fact played by David Butler and not Rutger Hauer