Side Order of Life

Side Order of Life is a dramatic television series broadcast by Lifetime on Sunday night. In its first five weeks it aired at 8:00pm ET/PT, then switched to the 9:00pm time slot. Marisa Coughlan plays Jenny McIntyre, a photographer who reconsiders her life and is reawakened to her options after her best friend, Vivy Porter, is diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer. Jason Priestley returns to regular series television as Ian Denison, Jenny's fiancé. Christopher Gartin rounds out the main case as Jenny's boss Rick Purdy at the fictional In Person magazine; he is in love with Vivy, who has rejected him. Lifetime broadcast Side Order of Life with State of Mind and Army Wives in an effort to offer a night of new original programming aimed primarily at female viewers during the summer hiatus. Side Order of Life premiered on Lifetime on July 15, 2007. Initial reviews were positive, with Variety.com's Brian Lowry saying, "writer-producer Margaret Nagle brings a level of wit to the proceedings superior to most chick-lit-inspired TV drama." The Seattle Times, after describing the premise, said, "If this all sounds kind of corny, well, it kind of is until you realize the story line hits its mark, making you recall your own missteps and regrets for not having taken better charge."

en
Drama
Created By

Margaret Nagle

First Aired on

Jul 15, 2007

1 seaons till Oct 07, 2007

Popularity: 4.4043
2 votes
Networks
(US)
Production

Warner Horizon Television (US)Jinks/Cohen Company (US)

Status: Ended

Show Ended

Last episode: Funeral for a Phone

Seasons & episodes

Total 1 seasons, 13 episodes

Season 1

Aired

13 Episodes
  • Episode 1Pilot60 min

    Jenny McIntyre, a photographer for In Person magazine, is days away from getting married, and is starting to have nightmares and become a little bit of a bridezilla. In the middle of her doubts about her own upcoming wedding, she is assigned to work on a story about a woman who has gotten married to three men, in part because she "loves weddings." Jenny leaves the assignment, promising to come back later, and is blindsided when her best friend, Vivy announces that her cancer has returned, and it is in her brain. Vivy demands that Jenny reassess everything in her life, especially her engagement to Ian. Jenny refuses, but over the course of the episode has no choice, as her subconscious starts to provide a running, involuntary reassessment for her. She also connects with a mysterious stranger when she misdials Ian's number.

  • Episode 2Whose Sperm is it Anyway?60 min

    Jenny is assigned a photo shoot with a high-profile Hollywood couple. In exchange for a $2 million donation to their favorite charity, the couple is permitting In Person to print a spread of pictures of their baby. In a fantasy sequence, the baby discusses with Jenny her ongoing relationship problems. Jenny discovers pregnancy pillows hanging in the nursery armoire and realizes the child was born via a surrogate mother. Her plan to expose the parents falls by the wayside after she and the mother engage in a conversation in which the actress reveals how much motherhood means to her. In a parallel story, Ian and Rick vie for the opportunity to father Vivy's child with Jenny as the surrogate, in the hope the stem cells from the umbilical cord can help with Vivy's cancer treatment. The plan ends when Jenny and Vivy mutually agree it's not feasible. Jenny's phone relationship continues as she seeks counsel from the nameless stranger on the other end. In the episode's final scene, Jenny and Ian decide to separate, then fall into a passionate embrace that suggests neither is ready to give up just yet.

  • Episode 3Separation Anxiety60 min

    Jenny is assigned an article and photo shoot about conjoined twins who are about to undergo surgery to separate them. When she arrives at the hospital, she discovers they have decided to forgo the operation, given the odds that one will not survive are fairly high and neither wants to lose the other. Jenny suggests they view the surgery as an opportunity for one to allow the other to live instead of both dying, which is a given without the operation. They follow her advice, and subsequently one dies. A second plotline involves Becca (guest star Ashley Williams), Vivy's friend from San Francisco, who comes to town to spend time with her. Jenny is jealous that she's in the picture, and her feelings intensify when she learns Becca and Ian went out for drinks. Jenny finally takes a stand re: what has become a somewhat ambiguous relationship with Ian and returns her engagement ring to him.

  • Episode 4What Price Truth?60 min

    Seeking comfort following her breakup with Ian, Jenny impulsively buys an $1800 designer handbag while shopping with her overbearing mother (Susan Blakely). When Vivy vehemently reacts to the purchase as a feeble attempt to compensate for her breakup with Ian by filling her life with unnecessary material goods, Jenny donates the bag to a charity shop. Other plot lines involved Jenny introducing an F. Scott Fitzgerald fan/historian to a carpenter who discovered one of the writer's diaries in an old desk he purchased; the two discover they have something in common when they meet after he sells the diary at auction for $800,000. Becca decides to remain in Los Angeles and invites Ian to dinner; he declines, then changes his mind after he and Jenny have an unpleasant meeting while tending to Vivy after a chemotherapy session. While dining out alone, Jenny calls her phone friend who, unbeknownst to her, is seated at the bar waiting for a take-out order in the same restaurant.

  • Episode 5The Early Bird Catches the Word60 min

    Assigned a story about a teenaged whiz kid (Cody Kasch), winner of a word definition bee, Jenny succeeds in reuniting him with his estranged mother. She discovers her father's regular deposits into her bank account are the results of investments he made with the money she won while unwillingly participating in childhood beauty pageants at the behest of her mother. Vivy has a date with the visiting editor of In Person's sister publication in Mexico, much to Rick's dismay. Jenny's date with her mysterious phone friend is postponed when Vivy, suffering anxiety due to a partial hair loss resulting from increased chemotherapy treatment, calls upon her for comfort.

Crew & Team

Margaret Nagle

Producer

Dan Jinks

Producer

Bruce Cohen

Producer

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