Breakfast With The Stars of @ChasingLifeABCF! #ChasingLife #ABCFamilyEvent

“Chasing Life follows twenty-something April (Italia Ricci), a smart and quick-witted aspiring journalist, who is trying to work her way up the ladder at a Boston newspaper by trying to impress her hard-nosed editor. When not pursuing the latest scoop, April tries to balance her ambitious career with her family – her widowed mom Sara, rebellious little sister Brenna and her grandmother. Just as things start to look up at work, home and on the romance front with co-worker Dominic, April gets the devastating news from an estranged uncle that she has cancer.”

And, the show is up for a Teen Choice Award! Category – Choice TV: Breakout Show!

Italia Ricci plays April, the 24 year old girl, at the “start” of her life, who at the beginning of the season received a leukemia diagnosis. Cancer. She’s 24.

But don’t worry! In real life she is fun and vivacious! She insisted on taking a selfie with me! And, she is up for a Teen Choice award as well! Category – Choice Summer TV Star: Female!

This show has so many levels I found out that not giving it my full attention at home was the wrong way to watch. We saw a full episode on our trip and now I am a regular viewer at home. Without giving away any spoilers, in case you didn’t see last weeks episode, I was teary eyed through most of it. Yes, I am a big mush. And if you missed any episodes, they are all available on ABCFamilyGo, or catch up now with the WATCH ABC Family app: http://getwatchabcfamily.com/ !!

Italia was an absolute delight to chat with. She said it is really important to do justice to the role since it covers such an important topic, and that there is not one right way to talk about cancer. She has also done a lot of research on the subject to keep things authentic. And her hard work pays off, she is excellent in the role.

We never expect the child to have cancer, it has almost always been about the parent. Never a 20 something child. Someone who may want kids down the road. How do you handle that? Someone who has not been married, and is heavy into the dating scene like most healthy 20 something girls. 

And someone with a younger sister! Typically the younger sibling gets the most attention, but this show is about reversals, so it is the younger sister who has to mature fast to deal with the fact the her older sister has a life threatening disease. And both of them are still young ladies who want to have fun so there is humor in the show, it is not completely depressing!  Trust me, there was a a scene with April’s friend Beth getting caught in someone’s apartment (you have to watch to find out who!) that had all of us in hysterics!

Haley Ramm is Brenna Carver, April’s teenage sister. For the third time I say thank-you to ABC Family for having gay characters on the show, and especially in this show where they could not be portrayed in a more matter of fact way. Again, I have an 11 year old son and any opportunity I have to show him how our family with two dads is just as much a part of American life as any other family, is extremely important. Brenna Carver occasionally dates a gay classmate, Greer.

I love how Haley talked about her character, “you don’t need High School drama when your sister has cancer.” Her character has to grow up fast on the show.

Mom, Sara Carver, is played by actress Mary Page Keller. I have seen her in several roles through the years and I have always been a fan. She shared that when she got the call to audition she was writing for another show (she was doing some writing with her husband for one of my favorite shows, Grimm!) and wasn’t that interested in moving back into acting at the time. Her husband read the script and told her to go for it! Luckily she did!

Mary Page is a mom herself so she brings that knowledge to the role, because no one can understand raising kids better than a parent! And this is such a meaty role, the mom of a twenty something who has cancer, a situation that we usually see in reverse.And a mom who is trying to find the right support group, the right way to cope, and have a life of her own. Mary Page did say that as a mom she would want to know everything coming up with her kid in this type of a situation, but as an actress, she prefers not knowing so the acting is organic. She says “the writers are really on their game” so it is easy to trust in the script process!

We then spoke to Joni Lefkowitz and Susanna Fogel. And yes, we take pictures with everyone! They wrote the pilot episode, that was their first TV gig! They had read a NY Times columnist who mentioned that young cancer patients are invisible, so they wanted to change that. And they’ve done an excellent job! The series is adapted from a  Mexican television series.

They have had responses from cancer groups who told them that the show had sensitivity and realism. That was the group who’s opinion counted. They shared that the fans responses opened up conversations and that taboos were broken. They also said that the story was better with a 24 year old who was living at home, because that was a different life than an 18 year old living at home, different, more real world adult issues come with a 20 something, than a teenager. These are the small things that the producers have to decide when trying to come up with a relevant show.

We then got to chat with executive producer Sean Smith. We got a peak into the process!

“Cancer is not automatically depressing, it is not just all doom and gloom.” That is the best attitude in life (glass half full vs. half empty). The main character is 24 and has cancer. But she still has a dating life to think about and she has a positive outlook that she will be a survivor, hence the show tackles the fertility issue: she wants to foresee parenthood in her future.

We also found out that Rebecca Schull who plays Emma, Sara’s mother and April and Brenna’s grandmother, actually fly’s into LA for the taping, she lives here in New York City! They loved her so much for the role, they had to have her! And she is 85!

And we got to hear about some of the show’s nuances, for example when the network said to change the diagnosis from leukemia to cancer. People react more strongly to the “C” word. And  I loved how Sean said “you go to commercial break on emotion , not plot!” That’s the other reason that I absolutely love these opportunities to talk to the folks making the shows!

April and her family prepare for her chemo and hospital stay in “What to Expect When You’re Expecting Chemo,” An all new episode of “Chasing Life” airing Tuesday, August 5th, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC Family, that’s tonight! With only a few days left before April has to check herself into the hospital for aggressive chemotherapy, April is determined to live as normal a life as ever. But as she has to deal with Leo drama, Beth falling apart, and trying to live under the hovering eye of Sarah, April quickly learns that nothing will ever be “normal” for her. Meanwhile, Brenna tries to juggle time with Kieran and Greer.

In conclusion, Chasing Life has been nominated for 3 Teen Choice Awards! You Can Vote Now: 
– Choice TV Show: Breakout Show
– Choice Summer TV Star: Female: Italia Ricci
– Choice TV: Male Breakout Star: Richard Brancatisano

Disclosure: Disney invited me on this press trip and paid all of my expenses. No other compensation was received. All  opinions are always 100% my own and honest. The group pictures are courtesy of ABC FAMILY/ Eric McCandless and the picture for tonight’s episode is courtesy of ABC FAMILY/ Ron Tom.

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