ABC FAMILY PICKS UP ORIGINAL SERIES "CHASING LIFE" FOR A SECOND SEASON

Special Christmas Episode to Air in December as Part of ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas" and the Winter Premiere to Air January 2015

Burbank, CA (November 7, 2014) - ABC Family has picked up its original series "Chasing Life" for a second season, it was announced today by Karey Burke, Executive Vice President, Programming and Development. "Chasing Life" will return with an all-new Christmas-themed episode on Tuesday, December 9th at 9 PM ET/PT, as part of the networks "25 Days of Christmas" programming event.

"Through the laughter and the tears, our audience has connected with the characters and relationships in 'Chasing Life' and we are thrilled to continue telling April's courageous story," said Burke. 'Chasing Life' has found a home here."

Chasing Life" is a one-hour drama that follows twenty-something April (Italia Ricci), a smart, charismatic and quick witted aspiring journalist. When not pursuing the latest scoop, April tries to balance her ambitious career with her family, which includes her widowed mom Sara (Mary Page Keller), rebellious little sister Brenna (Haley Ramm) and her grandmother (Rebecca Schull). In an unexpected twist of fate, April lands in the hospital where her estranged uncle George works as an oncologist, and she learns the devastating news that she has cancer.

The series follows April through her journey in the face of this daunting revelation, during a time in her life when the challenges of finding love and success would be enough to keep any girl occupied. But April is determined to fight and refuses to give up her dreams and goals. Along the way, she'll find new reserves of strength and passion within and discover that facing death may really be the only way to truly live.

"Chasing Life" premiered on June 10, 2014 and season to date, "Chasing Life" is cable TV's #1 series in its time period in Adults 18-34 (616,000/0.9 rating), Women 18-34 (527,000/1.6 rating), Viewers 12-34 (911,00/1.0 rating) and Females 12-34 (810,000/1.8 rating)*. The new series also garnered three 2014 Teen Choice Award nominations - Choice Summer TV Show, Choice Summer TV Actress and Choice Summer TV Actor.

"Chasing Life" is adapted from the successful Televisa Spanish-language Mexican television series and is a co-production of BV Family Productions, Lionsgate, and Televisa in association with ABC Family. The series is executive produced by Sean Smith ("Greek"), Susanna Fogel ("Life Partners"), Joni Lefkowitz ("Life Partners") and Aaron Kaplan ("Terra Nova"). "Chasing Life" stars Italia Ricci ("Unnatural History"), Mary Page Keller ("NYPD Blue"), Aisha Dee ("I Hate My Teenage Daughter"), Richard Brancatisano ("The Elephant Princess") and Haley Ramm ("Red State").

Part of the Disney/ABC Television Group, ABC Family is distributed in over 97 million homes. ABC Family features programming reflecting today's families, entertaining and connecting with adults through relatable programming about today's relationships - told with a mix of diversity, passion, humor and heart. ABC Family's programming is a combination of network-defining original series and original movies, quality acquired series and blockbuster theatricals. For 2014, ABC Family has launched the "WATCH ABC Family" authenticated service which allows viewers with participating TV subscription services access to 24/7 live viewing of the network, as well as continued on demand access to such popular series at home and on the go via a wide array of devices. ABC Family is also the destination for annual Holiday events with "13 Nights of Halloween" and "25 Days of Christmas." ABC Family. A New Kind of Family.