Lincoln Heights (TV series)

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Lincoln Heights is an American family drama television series that premiered January 8, 2007 on the ABC Family network with 13 episodes ordered for the first season. It was approved for a second season, which premiered September 4, 2007. Vanessa Hudgens' song "Say OK" had been used in a commercial to promote the second season. To promote the third season, the song "Crush" by American Idol's seventh season runner-up, David Archuleta was used. To promote season 4, the song "Avalanche" by Marie Digby was used. The show's theme song was written and performed by bassist Stanley Clarke and singer-songwriter Blaire Reinhard. On January 29, 2010, ABC Family announced the cancellation of the series after four seasons.^[1]

The series is about Eddie Sutton, a Mission Vista police officer who moves his family back to his old neighborhood, Lincoln Heights in the city of Los Angeles, California, to start a new life and to help out his old neighborhood. It is a dangerous place to raise a family, and through the many trials the family goes through, they soon learn that settling in is not as easy as it seems. While Officer Sutton struggles to cope with everyday life as a street cop in Los Angeles, his kids try to fit in at their new schools and with their new neighbors.

• Edward "Eddie" Sutton (Russell Hornsby) is a police officer who moves his family back to his old neighborhood hoping to make a difference. However, they are soon overwhelmed as one bad incident after another takes place. Despite all of this, Eddie strives to change the lives of the people around him for the better. It's revealed that his mother was killed twenty years ago when he was thirteen, making him thirty-three at the series debut. The age of his oldest daughter implies he and Jenn were teen parents, which is supported later on when it's learned Jenn was about Cassie's age when she married Eddie. This would've made him even younger when his oldest, Nate, with his old flame, Dana Taylor, was born.
• Jennifer "Jenn" Sutton (Nicki Micheaux) is Eddie's wife who is a nurse. She is the daughter of a judge and she is against the family's current location. Despite her own concerns on this, she stays with her husband and puts her medical skills to good use. She married Eddie and had Cassie while still a teenager, which is mentioned later after Cassie thinks about settling down with Charles. At first, Jenn does not like Dana, but they eventually become friends.
• Cassandra "Cassie" Sutton (Erica Hubbard) is Eddie and Jenn's oldest daughter, named after Eddie's mother. She is very determined, kind, sweet, and artistic. Her personality is similar to her father, Eddie. She is very naive to certain things since moving to Lincoln Heights but she is shown to be very feisty and tough when needed to, as shown in Season 2 when she uses her karate skills to help save an older woman from being robbed and to defend herself. She becomes romantically involved with a boy at her school named Charles and later becomes friends with the daughter of her father's partner, Sage. She starts not to trust Charles after the earthquake/Mac's death, fighting with people who are racists. She goes with Charles to meet his father after these events. Cassie and Eddie don't get along after that. After Charles tells Cassie about the money he took, she stops talking to Charles, but eventually forgives him. She wants to go to Pratt Institute, a prestigious college in New York, but doesn't want to leave Charles. They consider getting married, but ultimately change their minds because they wanted their parents to be there. However, they stay engaged, and a wedding is foreshadowed in the future.
• Elizabeth "Lizzie" Sutton (Rhyon Nicole Brown) is Eddie and Jenn's youngest daughter and second-oldest child. Lizzie is smart, outspoken, and witty. She and Cassie are both shown to be firm in standing up for causes they think are important. She enjoys playing basketball, singing and dancing. Later in Season 1, she is kidnapped by two thugs, but one helps her escape. She strikes up an unapproved friendship with him, which later gets her into trouble when she ends up baby-sitting for his teen sister who has a child. Lizzie is later accepted into a private school. She grieves over the death of her friend Johnny, who is killed after a hit and run. When she enters high school, she becomes friends with a boy named Andrew while working at an after-school volunteer program. Andrew kisses her at the program's dance, but she is timid to the fact that she still can't stop thinking about Johnny. Later, she comes face to face with the fact Johnny is gone but will still always be in her heart. She and Andrew finally start a relationship in the end of the series.
• Taylor "Tay" Sutton (Mishon Ratliff)^[2] is the youngest child and Eddie and Jenn's only son together. He has type I diabetes type and has a strong passion for music. He is initially shy, but begins to open up as the series progresses, and his talent is shown more towards others. He is seen to be sympathetic towards people and forgives for mistakes, especially towards Ruben, the man who shot Eddie's mother Cassandra to death. Tay is named after the surname of the family that took Eddie in when his mother died. Tay gets a record deal after being shown singing in public on TV.
• Officer Kevin Lund (Michael Reilly Burke) (Seasons 1-3) is Eddie's partner and father of Sage. Kevin and Eddie are very good friends; they help each other through tough times, like when Kevin drinks when things go wrong in his life, just like Eddie's father. During the start of the fourth season it is revealed that he left Lincoln Heights to heal due to the earthquake that happened at the end of season 3.
• Charles Antoni (Robert Adamson) is a boy who is new to the neighborhood. He takes an interest in Cassie. He loves her art and tries to support her in it. Their relationship is "tried" many times in season two. In season 3, they finally realize they were meant for each other no matter the struggles. Charles has numerous troubles with the law. He leaves his stepfather to die and takes money from the Suttons during the earthquake. On the run from the cops, Charles visits his biological father, but when his father rejects him, he returns home and gives the money back to the Suttons. He considers joining the army to pay for college, and he and Cassie decide to get married. They ultimately change their minds, and Charles decides not to join the army. Charles's parents reunite as do he and Cassie.

• Nathaniel "Nate" Ray Taylor (Chadwick Boseman) is Eddie's son with former flame Dana Taylor. Nate was raised down in the south by neither Eddie nor Dana. He served in Iraq in the Army. Eddie did not know Nate was his son until the season three finale. His age and the age of his parents implies they were very young when he was born, considering Eddie was already a teenager when Cassie was born. Season 4, he lives with the Suttons and does not get along with Tay. Nate goes back to Iraq, but he's seriously injured during the war. He suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
• Sage Marika Lund (Alice Greczyn) is Kevin's teenage daughter. She and Cassie are friends, but their friendship eventually deteriorates. Sage makes a move on Charles, but he rejects her. At the end of season two, she and Charles are in a car accident, and she winds up in a coma. She wakes up in season three, and she and Cassie rebuild their friendship. Sage also forms a friendship with Cassie's younger sister Lizzie. She is elected prom queen in junior year. She is last seen at Cassie and Charles's engagement party.
• Spencer Sutton (Michael Warren) is Eddie's alcoholic father who cannot seem to stay out of trouble in Lincoln Heights. Twenty years ago he made a choice to stand up against gangsters which ultimately led to the death of his wife. Whenever he ends up in jail, Eddie constantly bails him out. He starts a relationship with the late Reverend Hammond's wife.
• Becky (Jennette McCurdy) is Lizzie's friend in season 1.
• Mama Taylor (Juanita Jennings) is the woman who helped raise Eddie after his mother was killed by gangsters twenty years ago.
• Dana Taylor (Tammy Townsend) is Mama Taylor's daughter and Eddie's first love. In season 1, she works as a prostitute. Dana and Jen do not get along, but try to be civil to each other. Her son Jeron becomes friends with Tay, which irritates Jen. Dana bonds with Cassie, who turns to Dana for advice about sex. In the season 3 finale, Eddie learns that he and Dana have a child together (Nate). Dana and Jen become friends when Nate is seriously injured in Iraq.
• Jeron Taylor (Myzel Robinson) is Dana's youngest son, and younger half-brother of Nate.
• Coleman and Beverly Bradshaw (Richard Roundtree and Beverly Todd) are Jenn's parents. Coleman is a wealthy judge who sometimes clashes with Eddie and his father. In season 2, he reveals he has cancer, which strains his marriage. In season 4, he allows Jenn and her family to move in with him, but later reconsiders. Beverly is Jenn's mother who resents Jenn for getting to live her dream as a nurse.
• Ruben (Darrin Dewitt Henson) is a worker at the hospital Jenn works at and Tay's friend. He killed Eddie's mother. In season 2, he takes a bullet for Tay, but survives. In season 3, Tay asks Ruben to help him with his singing career. After testifying against the man who ordered the hit on Cassandra Sutton, Eddie's mother, he leaves Lincoln Heights, telling Tay that everything he needs to make it is in his heart.
• Cassandra Sutton is Eddie's mother. Eddie told the kids she was killed in an accident, however, they soon learn that she was actually killed by a group of gang members with Ruben being the shooter.
• Johnny Nightingale (Gus Hoffman) is Tay's best friend throughout seasons one through three. He becomes Lizzie's boyfriend for ten episodes. He is very in love with her, and eventually Lizzie returns the feeling. They stay together until another boy, Devin, steps in. He dies in season three episode six in a hit and run car accident.
• Marla Antoni (Julie St. Claire) is Charles's mother. In season 1 episode 13, she catches Charles and Cassie about to have sex on her couch and later tells Eddie to control his daughter. In season 2, Marla fights with Charles and Cassie before finally breaking down when she realizes that her ex-husband is a sex offender who made a pass at Charles. After the car accident, Marla vows to be a better mother to Charles, but leaves town in season 3, leaving Charles to fend for himself. She reunites with Charles's father, and tries to get Charles to move with her to Hawaii, but he refuses.
• Andrew Ortega (Tyler Posey) Andrew is Lizzie's first love. Their deep relationship starts out when Lizzie volunteers at the local Outreach center. The actual dating relationship starts at the Outreach dance when Andrew tries to kiss her. She really likes him, but the memories of Johnny Nightingale are too much for her.
• Vera Bradshaw (Bahni Turpin) Vera is Jenn's sister, and the aunt of Cassie, Lizzie and Tay. She is shown to be more free-spirited and spontaneous than Jen. She often states that she was popular throughout high school because of her fun personality and good looks. She is stalked by a man named David in Season 1, but the situation is eventually solved, and he is arrested for stalking. She is shown to be extremely caring for her nieces and nephew, especially shown when Lizzie was kidnapped.
• Detective Briggs (Scott Atkinson) appears in two episodes of Season 1

On February 16, 2010, Shout! Factory released the complete first season of Lincoln Heights on DVD in Region 1.^[3]

• Review: The New York Times review by Virginia Heffernan

• Lincoln Heights at IMDb