Tell Me You Love Me

If you are uncomfortable about therapy, this show is not for you. The marriages depicted here are all broken - as 99% of relationships are - and they're broken enough that therapy is the only way to rescue them. The characters are interesting and deep, and their problems are realistic and almost scary in their accuracy. My favorite is the comments I've seen on some boards and even in HBO's little viewer comment section after each episode - when one of the reviewers said they couldn't imagine sex becoming annoying just because you have to have a lot of it to conceive, my wife and I laughed uproariously and yelled at the screen. Clearly some people just don't understand what it's like to be married! Fortunately, the writers of this show apparently do. There's good and bad, and sometimes you need help figuring out which is which. The show presents a fascinating view of modern marriage without any of the romantic crap and idealism that underlies most of TV today. Bravo, HBO! We're addicted.

HBO has finally won me over after canceling Six Feet Under and Deadwood. "Tell Me You Love Me" is a one hour show on the lives of three women and their significant others: Meet Jaime (Michelle Borth), a young chef with commitment fears and trust issues. She has ended her engagement to Hugo and tries to move on with her life. Now meet, Katie (Ally Walker, who is amazing) and Dave (Tim DeKay), a suburban married couple with two children and the passion has run out of their marriage. And then there is Carolyn and Palek, a yuppie married couple with no children and plenty of passion in their marriage and trying to have a baby. In fact, Carolyn (Sonya Walger) obsesses about getting pregnant to the point that Palek (Adam Scott) is now doubtful of his ability to be good husband and a good father. The show is very graphic in sexuality, but that is the point. It is often times painful to watch because (for myself especially) there are moments in the show that you can actually relate. From the desperation of bringing passion, joy, and fulfillment into the lives of our characters to emptiness and loneliness they feel. It is heartbreaking to see Katie and Dave become so faraway when they do love each other still. What these people have in common? They are seeing therapist, Dr. May Foster (the formidable and incredible Jane Alexander), who has issues of her own with her long time marriage to her husband but still is adult enough and knows better. The show is honest, raw, and real with amazing performances from the cast. Truly the best dramatic series HBO has put out.

I've watched the first two episodes of this series and I truly enjoyed it, and not for the explicit scenes. The drastically different couples all have very deep character profiles that seem to parallel in unexpected ways. If you can look below the surface of being a "glorified porno" like jrpk1964 thinks it is, the true intentions of the show will become apparent. To portray the lives of these couples each with unique situations that all seem to share commonalities which you can relate to.

Overall I wouldn't call this show ground-breaking but it is definitely a well executed drama.

I like this a lot. Very new pace, daring way to go about telling stories. I am a big fan of this style,I think it is riveting and relevant to life, just my kind of thing. God I love to see sex that seems somewhat real. Good writing, true, insightful, fresh. GREAT ACTING!!! Ally Walker is brilliant, had these moment where I just sat with my mouth open, I knew exactly the inexpressible conflicting place she was at. All the choices were subtle, very right, exactly catching the moments of marriage and the pain. The pilot also was brilliantly directed, so quirky and confident. Not surprising coming from a woman who directed "I Heard the Mermaids Singing" Bravo Patricia! It is a show that seems to cash in on honest and patient Canadian integrity while remaining thoroughly entertaining. Note, give it more than 10 minutes before you decide it's not for you. Hope it manages to last- it is a bit risky, not what we're used to. Also, I'm not sure it will appeal to everyone, a little worrisome that I like it so much but I also am a big fan of Six Feet Under, Gray's Anatomy, House and Entourage (but I also liked John from Cincinatti) so who knows?

To speak analogously, Anyone unamused by Tell Me You Love Me just doesn't want to take the deep dive and would rather stay close to shore in shallow water. To those people I say "Your loss!" I WILL BE SHORT HERE.

Given the nature of the sex scenes, I too am genuinely surprised at finding the script and storyline flowing nicely as any HBO show's should. This show makes it's points in evoking our own thoughts and emotions around the issue of love and relationships through the interactions of the character couples. If you can't get by the nudity, then that is unfortunate for you (and paradoxically emphasizes one of the key motifs of the show: HUMAN VULNERABILITY!) Let me reiterate, Right out of the gate, this show is instantly unique for it's no holds-barred depiction of intimacy, but as other reviews suggest: DO NOT LET THIS SWAY YOU. While the sexual choreography is intense, the simultaneous depiction of reality itself (marital freedom, relationship statuses, the burden of children) overshadows the lustiness, creating a truly RAW atmosphere that I personally have yet to see done in television (besides maybe EASY).

The cast truly go balls to the wall in creating brutally real depictions of the phenomena of marriage. Even the slower moments in the anthology of character storylines create a healthy amount of anticipation.

I will keep this review short and just say it is worth giving this show a watch, as there are very few shows with the "extremity through mundanity" that this show has, and it may be AS CLOSE AS WE'LL GET to a a show that accurately depicts the issues of monogamous relationships, and it is weirdly entertaining for it.