Now that The Secret has become a worldwide phenomena, forcing people to look at their own connections with the universe, it is about time somebody made a TV show about it. Side Order of Life centers on the weekly experiences of Jenny McIntyre, who begins the show thinking she has her life under control. Jenny has a cushy magazine job and a hunky fiancé (Jason Priestly), but when her friend reveals that she is dying of cancer, it gives her a whole new perspective.

Suddenly Jenny realizes she's meant to do something else and calls off the wedding. Her photography becomes a vehicle for more life discovery as she now sees things differently through her photo lens. Marisa Coughlan, in the role of Jenny, has been learning to shoot her own pictures in the role. The show's cinematographer has been her mentor.

She told Dish, "He's always giving me tips and we had a few sessions before we started the season where he educated me a bit more. I love collecting photography. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm particularly gifted at it yet, but I'm learning. So far, none of my photos are used in the show."

The actress is already starting to take after her character though, so it might not be a far off day when a genuine Coughlan print appears as one of Jenny McIntyre's. "Certainly because of my character, I'm developing sort of an eye because all she does is look for moments and capture things that, prior to the pilot, were kind of passing her by. It can't help but sort of sink into me as a person. So I'm more aware of things that would be good photographs. I just have to get a good camera."

On the show she is using a Nikkon film camera and a digital camera. "Because we spend a lot of time in the darkroom, we're able to use this older camera. It's a really nice device to reveal information and it taps into the magical aspects. Every episode, something is revealed to me via my photography. It's a nice way for me to, as I'm evolving and digging into myself if you will, or kind of exploring my own path, it's my way into other people's stories."

In front of the camera though, Coughlan is shy. Even though film acting is her job, posing for paparazzi never feels comfortable. "I'm a little self conscious about that stuff. I've been doing this long enough, I'm more used to it now, but it's not my favorite aspect."

Side Order of Life is the first series lead for Coughlan but she has a decade of comedy experience behind her. She has done raucous films like Super Troopers and Freddy Got Fingered, and a recurring stint on Boston Legal. Side Order taps into more of her dramatic skills in addition to the laughs.

"This is like the perfect marriage for me because I really like doing poignant kind of heartfelt stuff, but definitely my background is in comedy. It's so hard to find someone who's good at writing both and [creator Margaret Nagle] has nailed that tone somehow. We have a lot of stuff that tonally is really light and really almost like super quirky and kind of funny, but wacky because we have the magical reality stuff. Then we have heart wrenching stuff with Diana [Maria Riva]'s character so it's unbelievably fun to be able to do both."

With this female driven series on Lifetime, it is also a chance for Coughlan to reach an audience closer to her than Tom Green's scandalous shock-fest or Broken Lizard's testosterone heavy antics.

"I'm A-OK with getting away from the vulgar stuff. This is definitely more up my ally. I would be a viewer for this show much more so than some of the more vulgar male-driven stuff. It's nice to not just be kind of the sidekick. It's nice that it's really about our story and the men certainly, they're not sidekicks in our show. It's as much about their journey as ours but it's nice to not just be kind of the ‘wingwoman’ to a guy's story."

With the starring role and appearing in almost every scene, Side Order of Life is Coughlan's toughest work load. When asked what she does for fun, her response was, "Sleep."

"I've never had a schedule like this in my life. Boston Legal, there were like 35 of us in the cast so I'd pop in for my scenes. It was a cushy schedule compared to this, but it's fun, I like it. I have the crew and everything. Every day they ask me, 'Are you okay? How are you holding up?' and I am happy as a clam. I'm very in my element working this way so I like it a lot."

Side Order of Life deals with reconnecting with friends after life takes everyone in different directions. Likewise, Coughlan finds most of her Hollywood friendships fleeting compared to her lifelong ones. "I have one best friend who's an actress. I've incredibly bonded to these folks now but most of my friends are from college and have careers in totally other businesses. Obviously at this stage in your life, people marry off and move across the world and are spread everywhere and thank God, I guess, for e-mail. That sort of changed everything."

Even with technological means of connecting, part of the show's message is the value of real face time. "Even though we're more interconnected via e-mail and cell phone and everything, in a lot of ways we're less connected because the personal aspect of it is taken out. This show is really about reconnecting on a more personal level, which is nice. In the beginning of the show, I'm blackberrying to the ends of the earth and then it kind of evolves and it starts to be more about real communication."

Side Order of Life airs Sundays at 8 on Lifetime.