The L.A. Complex


The L.A. Complex is a Canadian drama television series which premiered on CTV on January 10, 2012, subsequently airing on MuchMusic. It also began airing in the United States on April 24, 2012 on The CW. The series stars Cassie Steele as Abby Vargas, an aspiring actress who moves to Los Angeles with nothing but her Maple Leafs hockey bag and dreams of being a famous actress. As described in CTV publicity materials, "The L.A. Complex follows the lives of twenty year olds living in the same apartment complex in L.A. trying to make it as actors, dancers, producers and comedians. Relationships begin and end, the need to succeed is tested and all characters are pushed to their breaking points."
On December 3, 2012, it was announced that The L.A. Complex was not renewed for a third season by Much and Bell Media, but with a possibility that the series can be picked up by another network. On December 20, 2012, The CW announced that the series was not going to be picked up by the network, making it officially canceled.

Cast and characters

Main

CTV's parent company, Bell Media, ordered six episodes of the series in August 2011. Shooting and production of the series began in the summer of 2011, with both Toronto and Los Angeles as primary locations.
Several hours prior to the series premiere, Bell Media announced that The L.A. Complex had been picked up by The CW to air in the United States later in the spring.
On March 22, 2012, Bell Media ordered a further 13 episodes to be produced for the first season.
The CW picked up the second season of the show for the network's summer schedule, to begin airing on Tuesday, July 17, 2012. Later, starting on August 27, 2012, the series moved to Mondays 8/7c as a lead-in for repeats of the new season of America's Next Top Model.

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Production on the second and final season was scheduled to begin in mid-April and will be shown in Canada beginning in July 2012. The 13-episode second and final season was simulcast by The CW. Alan Thicke joined the cast as Donald Gallagher, a hot-headed actor-director-producer. Also guest-starring is Louis Ferreira as Beth and Simon's father Dean Pirelli.
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Critical reception

The series received mostly positive reviews from critics. Metacritic which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 from reviews of mainstream critics, gives the series a score of 70 based on 12 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.
Rob Owen of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gave the show a positive review stating "For the type of show it sets out to be, this Complex is surprisingly, well, complex." Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix also gave the show a positive review, describing the show as "It's a primetime soap, but one that's genuinely more interested in what the characters want to do for a living than in who they're sleeping with."
The TVLine team said of The L.A. Complex, "It's like everything you'd want from a CW soap, and it delivers," and that it contains "TV's most interesting, unexpected romance."
Entertainment Weekly gave the show an A- and declared that it was "summer's hidden gem", saying that it was "unexpectedly smart", and that the bad decisions of the characters made it "far more interesting, relatable, and likable than the glambots we normally see".
However, Tom Gliatto of People Weekly gave the show a negative review, describing the show as a "blah drama about kids living in an LA apartment complex while hustling for big breaks."

Ratings

However, after its initial airing in the United States, the series received the lowest-ever ratings for a broadcast drama series premiere, despite its generally favorable reviews.

Home media

On August 13, 2015, Echo Bridge Entertainment released The L.A. Complex – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.

International broadcasts

On October 3, 2018, it was announced that a reboot of the series was in the works at The CW with original creator Martin Gero and writer Brendan Gall set to executive produce. The "sequel" project, hailing from Gero's production company Quinn's House in association with Warner Bros. Television, is based on the original series, but will follow "a new crop of tenants who move into the Luxe hotel in the heart of Hollywood — a ragtag commune of twentysomethings all hustling to make it as actors, dancers, producers or comedians. Relationships rise and fall, beliefs and values are tested, as the drive to succeed pushes all characters to their breaking points." On February 8, 2019, The CW passed on picking up the script to pilot, reportedly due to a "numbers game" between Warner Bros. Television and The CW's other production studio CBS Television Studios. Because The CW is a joint effort between CBS and Warner Bros., the network orders an equal number of pilot episodes from each studio. However, The CW decided to keep the project in the works for the following development cycle. After Gero inked a new development deal with Universal Television, moving away from Warner Bros. Television, Gero confirmed on Instagram that the reboot would not happen.