Justin Baldoni of The CW’s “Jane the Virgin” Changes Lives with “My Last Days”

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West Hollywood, CA -- “Jane the Virgin” co-star Justin Baldoni last night hosted a special screening at the London hotel of his long-time passion project “My Last Days.”  The three-part docu-series, debuting tonight and running through Friday on The CW, promises to do something many people would consider impossible: Shine an uplifting light on the very dark subject of terminal illness.  The series unquestionably delivers, largely because of the skillful storytelling by director Baldoni and his six extremely engaging subjects – Kendrick Evans of Tallahassee, Fla.; Kat Lazo of Las Vegas; Isabel Bueso of Concord, CA; Claire Wineland of Venice, CA; Jess Oldwyn of Seattle, and Darth Vader of Canandaigua, NY. (Yes, that’s his real name; he changed it years ago for personal reasons.)

(Editor's Note:  Ed Martin contributed to this report.) 

The three hour-long episodes each feature abbreviated 18-minute versions of two of the participants’ stories.  Those abbreviated versions will then live on CWTV.com. Thirty-minute versions of each documentary will simultaneously premiere on CW Good.  Technically, these six stories comprise season two of My Last Days.  Season one debuted on YouTube in 2012.  The CW has already ordered a third season.

The dedication of three hours on three consecutive nights to the second season of a documentary series that has lived online for many years is certainly something new for broadcast television.  Baldoni summed it up very nicely at the premiere.  After telling the six participants that the evening was for them, he added that the night was also “about the potential of what the media can do in this world.”

The CW President Mark Pedowitz spoke movingly about My Last Days during the recent Summer 2016 Television Critics Association tour.  “I am many years older than these young people who are afflicted, and they’ve lived life far fuller than I have,” he told reporters.  “Even talking about it today, I feel a sense of, I don’t know, maybe personal shame that I haven’t grabbed life the way I should have. But I’m very proud of what Justin did and what CW Good has done with My Last Days.  It is very powerful … and I really urge you to watch it.”

“These stories had to be told,” an emotional Baldoni told attendees at the screening, at one point choking up and needing to take a moment.  “This started with a crazy idea that we could be inspired by stories that don’t usually get told and be inspired by things we might have to go through -- and one day will.

“I don’t know how you find the time to be as joyful and as happy and giving as each of you are,” he said to his six subjects.  “[Starting tomorrow] we are going to introduce you to the entire country.  This night is about us celebrating and learning from you.  You were put on this planet for a specific reason -- to inspire -- whether you like it or not.”

Steve Gidlow

Steve Gidlow, a long-time columnist for MediaVillage ("Behind the Scenes in Hollywood"), has written about television and pop culture since 1994, beginning in Australia.  Since moving to Hollywood in 1997, Steve has focused on celebrity interv… read more