THE CW'S CROSS-COUNTRY CROSSOVER

I've never seen an episode of 'Life Unexpected' before - that genre just isn't my thing, and I'm way outside the intended demographic. And yet I just watched as much as I could* of the latest episode because it had a crossover with its lead-in, 'One Tree Hill'.

(* Don't take that for the way it sounds. The site where I was trying to watch it claimed I was already online there for 65 minutes for free and if I wanted to see more, I think they wanted me to pay. Bleep that! And besides, I was only in that site for about twenty minutes tops.)

Anyhoo.....

Ryan Thomas hosted the Sugar Magnolia Music festival for the Portland radio station where he hosts "Morning Madness". Two of the performers at the concert were Haley James Scott and Mia Catalano. They came to Portland, Oregon, from North Caroline (where their own TV series 'One Tree Hill' is located.)

When Cate Cassidy met Haley at the festival, the two learned that they share similar pasts, having both spent their teenage years as nerdy overachievers who got pregnant in high school. Later, Cate reached out to Haley for advice when one of Cate’s secrets got out.

In addition to Galeotti and Voegele, the festival’s other music performers include Sarah McLachlan, Ben Lee, and Rain Perry. (Rain Perry's song "Beautiful Tree" serves as the theme song for 'Life Unexpected'. It's apparently a testament to the power of blood relations.) So it was an episode rich in appearances by the League of Themselves, music department.

First up, one of Ben Lee's songs at the festival:

Here's Sarah McLachlan as she performed "Forgiveness" to cap off the festival......

Here's a short clip of Haley unexpectedly singing at the Sugar Magnolia Music Festival:

The episode also supplied an in-joke, something David Bianculli (Check out his site "TV Worth Watching" linked on the left.) calls "Extras". Emma and Baze were finally getting to know each other, breaking past their previous conceptions of each other.....

Emma: "Say you could conjure up your ideal woman from scratch, who would she be? You know what, let me guess...pint sized, big eyes, looks like that chick from 'Roswell'?"

And the joke? One of the stars of 'Life Unexpected' is Shirl Appleby, who plays Cate Cassidy, the woman Baze is fixated on. She starred in 'Roswell' as Liz Parker back at the turn of the millennium, so Emma pretty much nailed that description!

Haley and Mia are now just one TV series away from becoming eligible for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, and there are plenty of opportunities still available on the CW - '90210', 'Gossip Girl', 'Hellcats', even 'The Vampire Diaries'. ('Smallville' takes place in 'The West Wing' TV dimension, and I don't think 'Supernatural' and 'Nikita' would be good fits.)

So, it's not a show I'll return to, but it kept me pleasantly entertained with the crossover, the musical performances, and that in-joke. Oh! And a pozz'ble theory of relateeveety for the character played by Cynthia Stevenson......

"Bent or broken
It's the family tree
Each branch a part of a part of me."
Rain Perry
"Beautiful Tree"

BCnU!