Cheri Oteri Scores Web Series on AMC: ‘Liza Life Coach’

As far back as October, internet blogs have been cying out for more Cheri Oteri since she ended her Saturday Night Live run after five seasons. And like past SNL-cast members which have gone one to movies and other television gigs, they are now hitting the internet. Oteri made a guest starring role on Easy to Assemble earlier this fall. Now, Oteri has teamed up with AMC to star in her own web series.

Liza Life Coach delivers exactly what the title orders: Liza brings the audience in on her one-on-one life coaching sessions with clients running the gamut of issues: from the grief-counselor who is just too darn happy to the guy who won the lottery the very first time he bought a ticket and is too scared to actually cash-in. Oteri plays Liza with what you would expect from a seasoned comedienne: Liza is tragically terrible at her job and is completely oblivious to it. The dialogue is snappy, the setups simple, and I wonder at how much of it is actually improvised on the spot: it has that quick, almost-talking-over-each-other feel.

An interesting facet to the show is the encouragement of community involvement by asking viewers to upload videos of themselves asking Liza for advice about their own life issues. The community votes on which problems they would like to see Liza address. Liza then periodically responds to her, as well as community favorites, sometimes through text but also by video. It’s great to see a show with a natural inroad for interaction being taken advantage of.

Episodes of Liza Life Coach can be found on LizaLifeCoach.com or you can catch them aired throughout the AMC prime-time movie every Monday at 8 PM PST, 7C.