Liars and Saints

  One thing I like very much in "The Outs" is a climactic battle between the two central characters, Oona and Mitchell. As a viewer in his middle aged years, I still strongly relate to both of these people. Oona has residual anger because Mitchell's former boyfriend sabotaged Oona's relationship. This isn't Mitchell's fault--but, also, Mitchell has dragged the former boyfriend back into Oona's life. (At an Oona-sponsored party, Michell called his ex to assist in the search for a missing shoe. Drunkenly, Mitchell said, "I just think that other shoe is so lonely.....so alone....right now....") At the same time, Mitchell is furious with Oona. Having been laid off, Mitchell wants to talk about his work woes. But Oona can't listen; she is more concerned with her dating issues, since she is with a guy who is "not mean enough" during sex. Oona has also forgotten Mitchell's birthday. The screaming ends with an oddly lyrical exchange. ...

 "Catastrophe" is the story of Sharon, who gets pregnant by accident, and who decides to keep the baby. ("At my age, it's dicey to just yank out the fetus and hope that another might start growing, in the same spot, later, somewhere down the line....") Sharon sort of enjoys her life. She teaches small children. ("During war, you can either starve to death or feast off the corpse of your own grandmother....") She has a fun, bawdy colleague, who dreams of fornicating with the new principal. ("Look, if *I* chose to marry every time I got pregnant? Can you imagine?") ....Also, Sharon likes reading in bed; the bed itself may be three-fourths the size of her apartment, but it's an arrangement that works for her. At the beginning of "Catastrophe," a stranger comes to town: It's "pre-cancer." It's not really cancer, but the word "cancer" comes up so often in the diagnosis, you could easily start to feel confu...

 I love the show "Catastrophe" because it knows a secret about marriage, i.e.  Marriage is fascinating.  As one writer observed, "In many TV shows, the husband looks like Rush Limbaugh, and the wife looks like Gwyneth Paltrow, and there are jokes about football and beer. And that's all. But that's not what marriage is." Viewers have described watching "Catastrophe" with a spouse: "I get the side-eye at least six times per episode." One moment that strikes a chord for me is Sharon complaining about Rob's toilet behavior: "You're spending too much time on that seat. Something is going to crawl up inside your hole. Or something crucial is going to fall out." When Rob and Sharon are in sync, the writing becomes weirdly poetic. After a brutal day, Rob says, "Sharon, why don't you head home and we'll watch some  Better Call Sauls  and I'll brush your hair." This is something more special than Paris or Ven...

 So much of my daily life is family time, and I'm always happy to find great writing that is specifically about the things that occur in one house. My husband and I like the show "Catastrophe," in part because it feels like a documentary about our own marriage. For example, in one episode, the central couple fields a question from friends:  Will you care for our son if we die?  This would seem to be a no-brainer, but we follow the central couple back home, where a debate occurs.  What's in this for us? Do we get the beach house if A and B both die? What if B doesn't die--but he is comatose for years? That means we're taking care of B *in addition to* his son? His son has this growing acting career....If we become his godparents, we might have an *in* with Daniel Radcliffe....and Susan Sarandon.... To me, this is all of marriage, in three or four minutes. Unforgettable. The other domestic drama I love is "Ramona and Her Father," by Beverly Cleary. The...

  In "Catastrophe," a husband, Rob, returns to his wife, Sharon, after an intercontinental trip. Sharon asks, "Did you masturbate?" "Definitely," Rob says. "But I held a little pillow to my chest and pretended I was hugging you." "I have a hard time masturbating now," says Sharon, who is pregnant. "I have to crane my neck around the fetus-bump--and then, well, I'm reminded that the baby is right there...." Rob and Sharon have married after a one-night stand. They're forty; they seem to like each other. Why not "give it a shot"? The problem is that Rob isn't really an adult; he wants to abandon his soulless corporate job to "work with large animals." Also, he has an alluring colleague who says, "You've been looking at me recently. Why don't we find a spot off-site--a spot where you could *really* look at me?" Finally, Rob has a problematic approach to sex; on the verge of an org...

  A few years ago, a law professor made his way through a nasty divorce. His controlling behavior became unbearable; it seemed he wanted to crush his ex with his boots. He had been an insufferable spouse; in divorce, he was worse. So the ex-wife's family arranged a murder. The mother paid cash for the death of her former son-in-law. (I'm thinking of the murder victim Dan Markel.) This might seem to be an odd source of inspiration for an intermittently comedic TV show, but it's basically what we're watching when we watch "Bad Sisters." There is a man; he is almost cartoonishly awful. His in-laws try several times to murder him, and he ends up dead. (I'm only halfway in, so I don't know if the actual death results from a murder plot. Regardless, the in-laws have "sinned" in their minds.) The writer, Sharon Horgan, asks: Is it really so hard to sympathize with murderers, in certain cases? She has great fun inventing the victim. He kills a cat, t...