The best show on TV right now is IN THERAPY on HBO, which is hours and hours of people … talking.  Just talking.  They’re not throwing things, or screaming (most of the time).  They have problems, things on their mind, and they are trying to express those things the best way they know how.  Sometimes it seems very obvious what’s going on, at least to the viewer. Sometimes it comes out of left field.  Because one of the five shows every week is dedicated to the Psychiatrist talking to his psychiatrist about, in part, what he feels about his own patients, by the time week three of this nine-week run comes along, your mind is ping-ponging from one reference to the next.  Why did they say that?  Who are they really referring to with that offhand remark?  What did that mean?  What do you think it means? 

I’ve watched a lot of HBO shows over the year, and a lot of them are very, very good shows.  But this show really stands apart.  The acting is top notch, and it is a pleasure just listening to the actors do their thing and spin what they’re saying.   It’s a pleasure having a camera that barely moves.  You can certainly make an argument that it’s just a bunch of yuppies who can afford $150/hour to talk about their problems (thank God for HMOs!), but on the other side of this argument–isn’t it nice to have at least one show with people engaging in some intellectual exploration and understanding, rather than anti heroes garroting each other and struggling trying to articulate their inchoate feelings?  For me, at least, it’s nice to see people who can articulate their feelings, for all the positive and negatives that implies.

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