Made for Love

This opens with Hazel Green (Cristin Milioti) escaping out of an underground hatch. She is married to tech mogul Byron Gogol who implanted a micro-chip in her head as his next great invention. Ray Romano plays her dad.

Cristin Milioti is a good comedic actress. She has those big eyes and sad face. She's a clown at heart. Ray Romano is doing some weirdness with some heart. It's a quirky weird sci-fi sitcom with heart and a take on the tech dystopian destruction of the self. It's a good binge. I don't know if it got good viewership. It got canceled after two seasons and a media merger secret doings.

This fascinatingly obtuse series adapted by the novelist Alissa Nutting from her own book has a vibe hovering somewhere between Black Mirror and Veep - about a woman escaping a seriously problematic relationship with tech billionaire and thinly-veiled allegorical caricature Byron Gogol. Not all of it works, it gets increasingly cluttered over the second season and some plot threads straight up dissolve away but the unsettling vibe and an incredibly strong cast lend it some serious weight. As a narrative reflection of contemporary issues around technology, assent and control it's super intriguing - as a straight up story it feels a little cold and lacking, the two combined make it a weird bit of TV that may genuinely end up having more to say in ten or twenty years than it does now.

This show was so good! A role we actually got to see "the Mother" in (same Actress plays "the Mother" in How I met your Mother). I want to see Christin Milloti in more and I want to see her projects thrive (Another favorite of hers is Palm Springs). Billy Magnussen is truly freaky as a tech mega millionaire Gogol. Such an interesting exploration of relationships, love, and technology, especially in this day and age, and from the perspective of the woman. This show highlights how nuanced interpersonal abuse is, that it is more than just violence and hostile language, but financial and emotional manipulation. So disappointed that HBO didn't give this show a proper chance, or push for it, and that they took it off HBO Max. There are people who like this show (and MINX) and we want to still be able to watch the shows on your platform!!

Hazel's (Cristin Milioti) escape narrative has huge caper energy, but Made for Love has mysteries within mysteries, and they unfold in ways that are alternately exciting, astounding, and creepy. Milioti is the clear standout among an already impressive cast. Even when the deliberately scattered storytelling wears a little thin, she holds our attention with no trouble. Billy Magnussen's Byron Gogol is also delightfully, terrifyingly unhinged. The only thing wrong with this show is its pacing. Otherwise the outstanding cast gives us more than enough reason to keep coming back for those answers and makes Made for Love a solid installment in the techno-dystopic rom-com genre.

3 episodes in, I cannot think of anything negative to say.. The cast is solid, the production solid, the story (get ready) is entertaining, funny, interesting, timely, relevant, well done, well told and, unfortunately in a sense, necessary.

But if you disagree, I'd respect that.