The L.A. Complex Information

The L.A. Complex (originally Highland Gardens) is a Canadian drama series which premiered on CTV and MuchMusic 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 wasn't 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

Main cast

Actor	Character	Season(s)	Notes
Jonathan Patrick Moore	Connor Lake	Seasons 1 & 2
Joe Dinicol	Nick Wagner	Seasons 1 & 2
Andra Fuller	Kaldrick King	Seasons 1 & 2
Dayle McLeod	Beth Pirelli	Season 2
Michael Levinson	Simon Pirelli	Season 2
Georgina Reilly	Sabrina Reynolds	Season 2	Recurring Season 1
Cassie Steele	Abby Vargas	Seasons 1 & 2
Jewel Staite	Raquel Westbrook	Seasons 1 & 2
Chelan Simmons	Alicia Lowe	Season 1	Guest Star Season 2
Benjamin Charles Watson	Tariq Muhammad	Season 1	Guest Star Season 2
Jarod Joseph	Christopher Taylor	Season 2

Recurring cast

Actor	Character	Season(s)	Notes
Ennis Esmer	Eddie Demir	Season 1 & 2
Paul F. Tompkins	Himself	Season 1 & 2
Dayo Ade	Dynasty	Season 1 & 2
Ryan Belleville	Scott Cray	Season 2
Kristopher Turner	Camron Logan	Season 1 & 2
Jordan Johnson-Hinds	Kevin Rainer	Season 1
Alan Thicke	Donald Gallagher	Season 2	Special guest star
Brett Dier	Brandon Kelly	Season 2
Megan Hutchings	Laura Knight	Season 2
Krista Allen	Jennifer Bell	Season 2
Kate Todd	Katee	Season 1
Aaron Abrams	Ricky Lloyd	Season 1
Rebecca Dalton	Dita	Season 2

Episodes

Production

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, the series moved to Mondays 8/7c as a lead-in for repeats of the new season of America's Next Top Model.

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 LA 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

• The L.A. Complex premiered on January 10, 2012 in Canada. It was previewed on CTV drawing 351,000 viewers as well as 60,000 on its regular channel MuchMusic.
• Episode 2 aired January 17, 2012 on MuchMusic drawing 87,000 viewers.
• Episode 3 aired January 24, 2012 on MuchMusic drawing 40,000 viewers.
• Episode 4 aired January 31, 2012 on MuchMusic drawing 44,000 viewers.
• Episode 5 aired February 7, 2012 on MuchMusic drawing 16,000 viewers.
• Episode 6 (season finale) aired February 14, 2012 on MuchMusic drawing 22,000 viewers.

However, in the United States, the series received the lowest-ever ratings for a broadcast drama series premiere, despite its generally favourable reviews. This may be due to the fact that it is a Canadian production, and one that had aired in Canada (and thus made it to streaming services) months before or to the fact that, unlike the heavily promoted Ringer, The LA Complex only aired a vague ten-second commercial. Some reruns of the episodes have had higher ratings than any of the original American premieres.

International broadcasts

• In France, June will broadcast the show starting November 5, 2012 (in French).
• In the United States, the series airs on The CW.
• It will also air in Australia on Eleven at some point.
• In the United Kingdom, the series will air on MTV.
• In the Turkey, tv2 will broadcast the show starting February 12, 2013