NEW SERIES PREVIEW, CAST: HBO’s In Treatment
HBO loves therapy. First, shrink visits were the focal point for Tell Me You Love Me (that, and all the whoop-whoop sex); now, we’re back on the couch for In Treatment, a new nightly half-hour drama starring Gabriel Byrne as Paul, the psych Ph.D.
That’s right, nightly drama. Just one reason In Treatment is an experiment of sorts for HBO: Threre’s a brand-spankin’ new episode every weeknight, same as your local news. Another reason: You can catch the show across the media, bundles of episodes at a time. There are 9:30pm TV airings, HBO On Demand, online and mobile downloads. In fact, you can watch all five of this week’s In Treatment episodes right now on HBO.com. (Just click the “day” you want.)
The show’s narrative features a different “patient” each night — with Byrne’s character undergoing his own analysis on Friday night.
MONDAY — Melissa George as Laura
Laura’s in the middle of your standard ultimatum problem with her boyfriend. But she has way more complicated secrets. Melissa George had the lead in 30 Days of Night and the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror. She also appeared as a semi-regular character on Alias. See Melissa George’s website.
TUESDAY — Blair Underwood as Alex
Alex is a proud confident Navy pilot and Iraqi war veteran who’s having a tough time admitting he has problems (that really is the first step, you know). Blair Underwood has been on just about every TV series (five since 2003, including Sex and the City) and a whole bunch of movies, including Steven Soderbergh’s Full Frontal and the William Friedkin war drama Rules of Engagement.
See Blair Underwood’s website.
WEDNESDAY — Mia Wasikowska as Sophie
Sophie, a young gymnastics champion caught in an accident, shows up so Dr. Paul can attest to her sanity. But there’s more to her life than meets the eye — and she’ll be coming back for more visits. The Australian Wasikowska has only been acting a few years, and appeared in last year’s Down Under crocodile thriller, Rogue.
See Mia Wasikowska’s IMDb entry.
THURSDAY — Josh Charles as Jake, and Embeth Davidtz as Amy
Now these two would fit in great on Dr. May’s couch in Tell Me You Love Me. They’ve got all sorts of marital issues: suspicions, lack of communication, uncertain future. Josh Charles starred in Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night series and appeared in Four Brothers and S.W.A.T. Embeth Davidtz (easy on the eyes) got killed by Anthony Hopkins in Fracture, and met Amy Adams and family in Junebug.
See Josh Charles’ IMDb entry.
See Embeth Davidtz’ IMDb entry.
FRIDAY — Gabriel Byrne as Paul, and Dianne Wiest as Gina
Even the barber needs a haircut, right? Gina’s a lapsed shrink, but when Paul calls on her for guidance, she puts out the shingle again for him. Do I really need to tell you about the careers of Gabriel Byrne and Dianne Wiest? He’s the only good thing in The Usual Suspects and she’s won Oscars for Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway. She also got caught owning a vibrator by Steve Martin in Parenthood.
See Gabriel Byrne’s IMDb entry.
See Dianne Wiest’s IMDb entry.
In Treatment is directed by Rodrigo Garcia, who followed up his excellent feature Nine Lives with various episodes of Carnivale, Six Feet Under and Tell Me You Love Me.
Whether you watch online or on TV, this is excellent timing for the series since the WGA writers’ strike has turned primetime TV into the once-predicted vast wasteland. This could be quality nightly drama in a sea of evil, reality-based, gameshow crap. (Oh, by the way: If you agree to appear on a lie detector show, and the results cause you emotional problems, tough shit. Try some foresight next time.)
How will you watch? Will you catch multiple episodes at a time?
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This show is fantastic. At first I hated it because most of his patients were simply jerks, then I got to know them better after four weeks of episodes which I watched on demand. I love to hate these charactors (except for Sophie) because they make me feel so perfectly normal. I highly recommend this show, it is quite addicting. I recommend watching it back to back episodes to get into the flow. HBO rules!