AllMovie

Another Americanization of a popular British TV series, Life is Wild was inspired by the BBC comedy-drama Wild at Heart. D.W. Moffett headed the cast as New York-based veterinarian Danny Clarke, who on little more than a whim relocated himself, his second wife Jo (Stephanie Niznik) and their four children (two from his first marriage, two from hers) to a new home in South Africa. The Clarke family reconnoitered at the Blue Antelope, a game preserve and safari lodge run by Danny's crusty father-in-law Art (David Butler) (his daughter was Danny's late first wife). Though the kids thought that Danny was crazy, wife Jo did her best to be supportive, using her skills as a lawyer to help rebuild the Blue Antelope into a thriving concern, despite stiff competition from a newer, more tourist-friendly lodge owned by Art's rival Colin Banks (Jeremy Sheffield). The rest of the characters included Danny's level-headed daughter Katie (Leah Pipes) and his frisky son Chase (K'sun Ray; Jo's rebellious son Jesse (Andrew St. John) and sports-nut daughter Mia (Mary Matilyn); Colin Banks' twin children, handsome-hunk son Oliver (Jeremy Sheffield) and drop-dead-gorgeous daughter Emily (Tiffany Mulheron); Tumelo (Atandwa Kani), a local teenager who aspired to become a veterinarian himself; and singer-bartender Mbali (Precious Kofi), for whose attentions Jesse and Tumelo carried on a friendly competition. Filmed on location in South Africa, Life is Wild debuted October 7, 2007 on CW, in the Sunday-night timeslot formerly occupied by Seventh Heaven.