The TV Addict 

You’ve seen the teasers. You’ve heard the hype. Now there’s only one thing you want to know: Which of the new fall shows midseason offerings are worth watching and which should be avoided at all costs? In this continuing series, we give you the scoop on some of the most highly-anticipated shows of the season. Which will be the next GREY’S ANATOMY… and which will be the new JOEY? Next up, an early look at the CW’s LIFE UNEXPECTED (or as the CW insists on presenting it as “Life UneXpected”)

Why We’ll Watch: It may have taken four years, but the network that GILMORE GIRLS and 7th HEAVEN built finally seems to have remembered how to produce a quality drama that doesn’t revolve around vapid, self-involved high school students with problems very few people outside of the cast of Bravo’s NYC PREP can relate to. In fact, thanks to LIFE’s plucky young protagonist, 15-year old Lux (SWINGTOWN’s Britt Robertson) and her genetically blessed bio-parents (played by Kris Polaha and Shiri Appleby) who she decides to track down after tiring of being shuffled around Portland’s Foster Care system — LIFE UNEXPECTED is quite possibly the most unexpected new treat of the season. And, with apologies to ABC Family, not only a new kind of family, but a welcome one on the network that we had incorrectly assumed parenting forgot (see: ONE TREE HILL and GOSSIP GIRL)

What We’ll Fast Forward Through: Nothing, assuming creator Liz Tigelaar doesn’t cave into pressure from the higher ups to shy away from the show’s core group of adult characters in order to make room for a more demo-friendly gang of Lux’s high school friends.

Watch Live or DVR: As long as LIFE UNEXPECTED continues to deliver on the promise of more GILMORE and less GOSSIP, consider this series a lock for a slot on this TV Addict’s coveted “can’t miss” list.