Satisfaction

"Satisfaction" begins with Neil Truman (Matt Passmore) having a terrible day. To top it off, he happens upon his wife, Grace (Stephanie Szostak) getting it on with another guy. Neil discovers that the other man is a paid escort, Simon (Blair Redford).

Neil comes into possession of Simon's phone, including all his contacts. On a whim, Neil takes a call and manages to fill in for Simon with a client.

Neil's heart belongs to his wife and his daughter, Anika (Michelle DeShon), who is having her own issues. But he has dipped a toe into forbidden waters and he is fascinated. He meets a modern day madam, Adrianna, played strikingly by Katherine LaNasa. She offers him a job working for her, which he declines.

As Neil juggles the various aspects of his life--and dabbles in Zen meditation to cope--things get more complicated. He knows Grace is lying to him. He is lying to her too, but she doesn't know it. The web of deception allows them to seek answers outside the marriage while they try to save it. Can that approach work? "You never really know where enlightenment will come from," he says in a voice over.

I find the story, after two episodes, to be well written. This is a sexy show. And there is an air of mystery surrounding the entire storyline. The acting is good.

On message boards, I have seen comments about the characters not being likable, but I disagree. Though they may be confused, they truly care about each other. The dilemmas they face are real and not uncommon. They are living in a world that is recognizable to many who work in high-pressure jobs, who lose sight of what their family needs, who wish to find a balance that promotes happiness for themselves and those they love.

So far, the story is in a state of imbalance. It is difficult to know what will develop and how Neil and Grace will achieve some equilibrium in their relationship. At this early stage in the story, I am interested in watching to find out.

Update 8/22/14: As the story lines expand to include other characters, the show is getting more interesting.

Sure there are tons of shows in prime time and elsewhere where adultery happens, but a show whose very premise is based on something that most of us, in our personal lives, find ugly goes a bit too far. And tit-for-tat infidelity is just wrong. To walk open-eyed into extra-marital relationships just because a marriage is unsatisfying is easy but at heart, lazy. Either work on the marriage or get a divorce. But as my mother used to say, "Don't land another plane until you've cleared the runway." The funny thing about us humans is that even though we are 21st century hip, we still, thank God, cannot jettison our morality and our emotions when we are on the "victim" end of violations of that morality. Wrongness wrapped in beautiful sets, rocking bodies, and decent acting is still wrongness. So low marks to a show that tries to make us forgot our moral compasses in exchange for cool.

I remember how I felt the first time I watched the series. I thought I was looking at an everyday-person's boring life being sure that something good would come out eventually. Passing the first three episodes, the only expectation that I had was kind of a need for having some questions answered rather than genuinely wondering about the next one and looking forward to it.

Then the surprise took over the entire plot. Neil started to show the other side of his actually amazing character and Grace was stunning on her scenes. The 4th episode was a real junction that the scenario took to another direction. The series was now more than a late-night cracker that we usually consume when there's nothing easy to eat in the kitchen.

The season finale met my expectations to the extent that I left the show to a long break rooting for another season and checking out the USA Network website every other day in the hope that they didn't cancel the show. It turned out they did not and that was a relief.

The second season started off with a near-perfect play and plot, which I'm sure all other fellow fans would agree with me on this.

I strongly recommend you give it a shot. You're not going to regret the time you spend on the show.

The well-titled "Satisfaction" is about a couple who believe that there is something missing from their basically contented, affluent lives. The show begins with something out of a dream: having discovered that his wife is paying an escort, the husband takes his rival's phone and decides to take up the business. His wife's infidelity does not sadden him so much as it provides not only a motive but an opportunity, presented here in a very ingenious way, as the husband follows headlong into another life. His wife, too, despite being far too stunningly gorgeous to be paying for sex, has her own power as a character, though she is offered a kind of international compensation at the end that is highly implausible. The show's very interesting, plausible view of the complications and kinks of husband and wife will be exciting to anyone who has experienced married life, though the same cannot be said of its view of parenting; the daughter and her boyfriend are utter bores.

One good, interesting and intriguing series and that one they cancel? What are they thinking with? The wallet of course, but why not do some better advertisement and give people a chance to learn something new and get rid of their wrong preconceptions.

I suppose the Americans have a little double standards in their thinking - they think its OK with violence, rape and drugs in movies. But when it comes to mutual accepted and agreed sex inside and outside the marriage THEN they are horrified and appalled.

They are like the three monkeys - see nothing, here nothing say nothing - then everything is OK and I don't have to learn anything new.

Or am I wrong?

The bottom line is - I'm sorry this series was canceled.