Here and Now - Alan Ball's new HBO show

zzzzzzzz

Looks like SJW heaven. Hard pass. Along with that thing Sharon Stone is appearing in.

o gawd yes

how did the hated ms stone land a series?????

they mus be desparate for actors over sixty....

I'll give it a watch. See if it's worth investing in. Who knows.

Are there vampires in it?

Uh, no! Hollywood has no shame in the way they pander to us.

So gross and I hate Tim Robbins.

It looks hideous

Wow. That looks deeply contrived.

True Blood ... well, you knew exactly what it was about.

This? An entire trailer and I have no idea who these people are or why there's a show about them. What is this show ABOUT? What story is it going to be telling? What's the purpose?

I see a gay character in the preview so I will check out the first episode. Skeptical I will want to keep watching.

Ugly hipsters who do not wash I can see at any coffee shop. No thank you. And he fucked up True Blood after season one. I kept watching. Hoping it would improve. It didn't. We cancelled HBO after Looking.

I think it was sometime in season three I had to stop watching "True Blood", that show kept getting more stupid.

From the trailer , it appears they will introduce every single solitary social hot button out there today and then some. I don't want to watch a show that reminds me of the fucked up culture we now live in.

In fairness to Ball, it was either this show or a reboot of "Cybill."

Some of those hippies need a shower.

The Indian guy/trans/hijra stuff -- no one wants to watch that, its been the rating kiss of death for years now.

You all sound old.

And you sound unwashed.

R9 This, no idea what this is about.

so HBO desperately needed a This is Us, uh? I went in a coma just watching the teaser. White Fraus will LOVE this shitfest!

Another show with gay characters that's getting panned on DL before it even airs.

Jesus fucking christ.

It's set in Portland and there are black people in it?? So it's a fantasy show.

This Is Us meets The Electric Company?

BUMP

This doesn't look like it'll improve Alan Ball's track record.

American Beauty and Six Feet Under were great and all, but True Blood was a mess and unwatchable towards at end.

Reviews from people who have seen the first four episodes seem to be largely negative.

[quote]This tragicomic scene, in which Ramon interrupts Greg’s sad-sack monologue by screaming, cursing and hallucinating, is emblematic of what “Here and Now” seems to be: a pointedly contemporary family drama with supernatural elements. And, if this set piece is any indication, those two facets of the story won’t always coexist so comfortably.

I did not see that coming at all.

C- for the first episode from the AV Club. That's proper bad.

I guess I'll support it because of the gay stuff?

so PC its boring as fug.

2 bad,

I love Holly Hunter. I liked the gay characters. The model and the son in law were cute. Lots of male nudity. So I will keep watching to see where it goes but I really don't enjoy a rich white guys end of life crisis nor do I want to watch rich successful kids complain about the life their adoptive parents gave them.

As a gay Lebanese man, what does this show and its intersectionality mean to you?

It’s not just because I’m a minority, but it’s boring to see the same sort of people and the same stories and struggles. The world is much bigger than that. And America is getting much bigger than that.

gay or trans?

Oh Christ there are Muslims in this show? Forget it. As if any of them in the real world would even give the white characters the time of day,

Holly Hunter is annoying which is what she does best. They're an academic family living far better than a academic in Portland would. Tim Robbins seems too believably clinically depressed--the therapist should be treating him. The gayest scene was the best thing in the show. The daughter. With the horses head was odd--the show doesn't seem to know whether to be camp or just pretentious.

[quote] In fairness to Ball, it was either this show or a reboot of "Cybill."

I'd rather have had the latter.

[quote]It's set in Portland and there are black people in it??

I know, right?

Vulture’s review: “It stinks!”

Wow. After seeing the trailer I definitely do not want to watch that show.

[quote]In fairness to Ball, it was either this show or a reboot of "Cybill."

Couldn't he just sit quietly in the corner? Over there.

I enjoyned True Blood and watched all seasons. But Six Feet Under I couldn't stick with till the end. Out of curiosity I read a synopsis after the show ended - probably on Wikipedia. Then watched the last episode on Amazon. There is nothing in the trailer that makes me want to watch the show.

Watched the first episode. It's definitely a slow start but lots of sex and male nudity. Especially Trent Garrett's ass

Jesus Christ, are you queens that hard up that you'll watch a shitty program just to see a naked ass? It's not like you can't go to a hundred different sites and see free gay porn, rub one out and save yourself some time.

Yes, we need more alt-right programming. Has Breitbart started a TV network? What about Stormfront? Until then, you'll have to settle for Fox News - I'm sure a lot of posters here rub their tiny dicks to Sean Hannity, a tried and tested anti-SJW crusader.

If this is progress, then hurry up and invent the time machine.

What IS r42 going on about?

[quote] What IS [R42] going on about?

I have no idea. I assume he was responding to me because he made the masturbation reference, but my point was- everyone is complaining about how bad the show is, but hey, it has nudity. A naked ass is fairly easy to see these days that one should not have to put up with an hour of Alan Ball's bullshit just to encounter one. How he got to what he was blathering on about is beyond me.

Managed to sit through a few minutes of it, but that was all I could manage. Too many people cheating on partners for no good reason.

I already watched [italic]Cybill[/italic] on Hulu and enjoyed it, but this makes me not want to see anything else he did.

This is goood

R44 His post is justified, seeing how many in this thread seem triggered by homos and brown people being featured in this show.

I liked it and think some of the progressive stances were too on the nose but I suspect this is on purpose like.six feet under it's kind of mocking it's characters while somehow humanizing them. Will watch more and loved Ball was fine Ally able to center something on a gay and happy character.

What brown people? The only brown in the show is the sister and her daughter. Ramon is white, a white Latino his sister even makes sure to emphasize that.

I think this is our first major gay character and thats also why "critics" hated it.

i tried twice

simply unable to stomach it.

who in fuk is gonna take time out to watch depressing story lines of fugly neurotics????

tim robbins at sixy acting seventy??

no.

R53 The only depressing storyline on the first episode is of the old guy.... Oh.

It looks like "This is Us" with nudity and more ethnicities. Dreadful.

[quote]What brown people? The only brown in the show is the sister and her daughter.

You answered your own question there, didn't you? One person, two [italic]people.[/italic]

[quote]It looks like "This is Us" with nudity and more ethnicities. Dreadful.

This Is Us, as treacly and manipulative as it is, is a much better show than this. I finally watched it last night and I am surprised that HBO greenlit it. It's more John From Cincinnati than Six Feet Under.

there is not enough money in the world to convince me to watch this. I miss Six Feet Under. Sigh.

Who's convincing you again?

WTF?

I see Ball's BF, the weakest thing in 6FU is in it.

Say no more, quite frankly.

Reference article to R60's photo

[quote] I think this is our first major gay character and thats also why "critics" hated it.

Oh, really?

It's already tedious as hell and we haven't even gotten to the genderfluid Muslim teenager.

[quote] It's already tedious as hell and we haven't even gotten to the genderfluid Muslim teenager.

Unless his first scene opens with him getting the shit kicked out of him, not interested.

a white guy writing about a white guy cooking for three non white people and talking about how things are all changing

where do I sign up to write my own show?

at my computer, I suppose.

Can't believe Sarandon could stomach living and -the horror- fucking that Rim Robbins guy for twenty years. Yuck.

GENDERFLUID. MUSLIM.TEEN!!! Ball obviously reads the DL and wants to fuck with us!!

R63 On a non-gay-themed show.

This show doesnt air on my country. Must be homophobia :/

[quote]On a non-gay-themed show.

Oh, really?

I actually didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. It’s watchable. Alan Ball is a gifted director and writer, but he’s definitely going to have to work hard to keep this show on track. Everyone is a mess, and that’s fun. He’s definitely poking fun at Portland culture, it’s not at all serious. Not sure what accent Holly Hunter is doing though and Tim Robbins looks like shit. Was there some reason they couldn’t find gay actors for the gay roles?

R71 Oh, sorry, I wasn't born at the time yet

You dont get to be salty just because you're on your 80s

Plus, 1977?? What does he do there? Being a celibate gay man?

[quote] Jodie was among the first gay characters on American television. Despite being gay, Jodie fathered a child through a one-night stand, and many of his storylines throughout the series centered on his involvement with women. Jodie had relationships with two other women but maintained throughout the series that he was still gay.

Shut up r71. That's nowhere near a gay man. Jesus, how amazing you defend sexual discrimination, you must be very proud of yourself

[quote] Although after his breakup with Dennis Jodie became involved romantically with several women and his same-sex relationship activity was limited to a single date in one episode, the character maintained that he was gay throughout the complete run of the series.

Is this what you are so proud of r71? Just a one episode of engaging in same-sex contact? Lol

The PC SWJs do not like supernatural stuff and the people interested in supernatural stuff are not interested in PC SJW stuff. A bad mix!

Affirmation is not entertainment or literature.

This would be canceled after the first season on a normal network.

So on HBO, it will only last 3.

It's pandering to so many token demographics that it won't do any of them well and nobody will coalesce.

[quote] Nowadays, he says, he can be put off by some gay story lines on TV. "Sometimes, it's just pushing it a little too far for my taste and I'm not going to reveal to you which ones they are," he said.

R71 That guy you're SO proud of, also said this.

But I might be silly, if you actually are an 80-year old straight WOMAN who just happen to got lost in the net, then your support of homophobia would make more sense.

The family on this show could be mine, minus the diverse kids. It portrayals pretty accurately a Berkeley left leaning academic family.

I think some conservatives here are once again taking offense on something they disapprove. Face it conservatives make shitty art, art it'sbthe anthitesis of conservatism.

I'll be watching there's subtly in this show if you get past the tokenism and on the nose race issue.

These kids are clearly trying to rebel against their parents and clearly resent being used as tokens. Ball got that right.

[quote] [R63] On a non-gay-themed show.

oh, rly?

Steven Carrington, Dynasty Sidney Shore, Love, Sidney Cliff, Brothers Rick, Hooperman Various characters, Roseanne Ellen, Ellen Carter, Spin City Josh, Veronica's Closet John Goodman, Normal, OH Ellen, The Ellen Show Oscar, The Office Regina, Out of Practice Kyle, The Class Various, Nurse Jackie Various, Glee Cam and Mitch, Modern Family Peter, Happily Divorced Max, Happy Endings Patrick, Anger Management John, NYPD Blue Ricky, My So-Called Life Various, ER Javier, Felicity Jack, Dawson's Creek David, Six Feet Under Julien, The Shield Various, Grey's Anatomy Various, Ugly Betty Kevin, Brothers and Sisters Sal, Mad Men Lafayette, True Blood and so many more. ALL before this shitfest.

Now kindly fuck off, thanks.

I wish I had HBO so i could see it. I am too cheap and too poor to subscribe.

I actually liked this much more than I thought I would. I am quite surprised that HBO greenlit it (as somebody else said above), but I'm glad they did.

The gay hipsters will no doubt rile up the DL (shades of LOOKING) but it was quite unexpected to have such a graphic gay sex scene, so there's that...

Speaking of which, I found it to be a stretch that the gorgeous male model would fuck the homely teenage virgin with the horse head, but so be it.

The best part was Ramon's horrifying visions and I'm intrigued to see how it all plays out. Sadly, he's not much of an actor... but, maybe he doesn't need to be and Ball will tailor the role to his strengths. He has great hair.

All this being said, I can't see it lasting beyond one season. I hope they tie it up well at the end. What is it, 10 episodes or 12?

Anyway, I'm in.

R82 MAIN character

The gay character here seems to be the MOST significant character compared to the other cast.

Where as of all the people you said, they are just secondary or even side characters.

Stop being such an angry 80 year old woman, r82 ☺

This idiot is tiresome. And wrong. Blocked.

80-year old lady choosing to be immature rather than having a sensible argument. She knows she's wrong and she cant even defend her own stupidity, guess she's stuck in 1977. Welp 💁

This has already been done: Degrassi Junior High

I didn't hate it, and for now I'm intrigued to see more.

And I loved Trent Garrett on ALL MY CHILDREN..he's even hotter now, but I don't think he's going to be in many more episodes.

I'll be watching this series for the Ramon character. I don't care much for Tim R's character, yet another privileged yet extremely depressed white person. Who gives a fuck.

Think the virgin daughter wearing the horse head mask got knocked up by the model, the clip from the next episode alluded to her being pregnant. The model was so determined to get laid that evening, he kept pressing the black daughter about when they were going to fuck, meanwhile she's married with a baby. The model was so horny he was willing to have sex with a woman whose face he wasn't able to see. I actually found the model annoying.

[quote]Plus, 1977?? What does he do there? Being a celibate gay man?

Celibate in '77?

R92 I'm talking about the 80-year old woman's favorite "gay" character. And by celibate gay, I mean gay man deprived from any ACTUAL gay romantic/sexual activities.

R92 This is what his story arc looks like--

[Italics] "Although after his breakup with Dennis Jodie became involved romantically with several women and his same-sex relationship activity was limited to a single date in one episode, the character maintained that he was gay throughout the complete run of the series."

Thought about checking it out but the reviews for this are not good, only a 46 on metacritic.

some excellent spot-on reviews on there, R95

[quote]New York Post - Robert Rorke - If HBO was looking for a “This Is Us” with nudity, “Here and Now” is an aimless, unsatisfying result.

[quote]TV Guide Magazine-Matt Roush -Laughably self-important

I like some of the basic Sally Field Programme plotlines. There are some really nice touches, like lastnight they showed the Vietnamese guy's secret life, and watching the black chick get arrested and her humiliation was some good TV Soap, but the hideous SJW lectures they have to insert every other scene is really godawful

R93 r94 Oh, you're talking about that show. I only watched a couple of episodes. I thought you were talking about real people.

I fell asleep during last night's episode. I did hear The English Beat's, Mirror in the Bathroom at the end of the ep. Ball always picks great pop music for his series.

Anything interesting happen with Ramon? He's cute but has awful hair which appears to be thinning, isn't he a bit young for that?

btw, Peter Macdissi is Alan Ball's partner and an executive producer on this series.

Ramon enjoyed nature with bearded hipster guy.

Didn't realize what a great body the Asian guy had.

Aren't the "SJW lectures" parodies? No one on this show comes out looking good because they are so precious. I thought that was the point of the series. To show the stages people set for themselves and then watch them fall apart when real life intrudes.

But maybe not.

I like the show and I figure the SJW stuff is supposed to make them look like twats.

I really like how we still do not know what the fuck is going on. I honestly believe that this will be a good show once we get to the very plot of the story.

I get what the others saying that this could be SJW-y, but I'm just too excited to find out what is going on

Last night, I watched Sunday night's show On Demand, yet I still don't know WTF is going on.

Every character has some 'inner conflict', even though, from the outside, they have perfect lives. Is that the 'message'? Spoiled entitled good looking people with great careers and money who are still incredibly miserable? Which, sad to say, is the message on most brain dead 'reality' shows, wealthy people who are miserable. I want to strangle the mother and father, be a parent, not a friend, to your children.

I hope this show is a parody, because I cannot take it seriously. Good performers, once again, wasted on bullshit.

The main guy looks bit like Xavier Dolan, is it just me?

I watched the UK premiere of the first episode last night and actually didn’t think this was so bad. I’m fascinated by the “11:11” symbolism and I don’t think we’ve ever seen a wider chasm between a married couple on tv than Hunter and Robbins. It’s better than True Blood, which just chased its tail in circles for many seasons.

I really liked the first episode. The second episode, not as much, but I’ll keep watching. I’ve always loved Holly Hunter and I like the actor who’s playing Ramon. The most annoying actor is the one playing the 17-year-old girl, who looks like she’s in her late 20s.

each time I try watching, its just kvetch and bitchin.

sad attempt at ........whatev.

I give it one season

I was gobsmacked when they said the bio daughter was 17. I thought she was a slacker millennial still living at home.

It feels like non stop Brenda and Nate.

Yaaas R90 for AMC reboot reference! I wanted to like this show but its so unfocused and light-handed. Im a snowflake SJW and even I felt this show tried too hard. Do they have writers of color that can actuall give perspective to the character's experience and nuance? The only thing interesting is the diversity of the cast and even thats boring. I will say though, all the guys are hot. I flapped to the Asian guy and the model. And the gay son and his boyfriend. And Tim Robbins. I guess Im just a big ole whore.

I watched the first two episodes and I friggin' love it. I am a New Age nut myself and i can both laugh and resonate with a lot that's being said and expressed on the show. Love Holly Hunter as the New Age shrew micromanaging everybody around her.

In the second episode I was surprised at the scene of the school club argument scene. I kind of expected the white school kid to say "Fine, we take back our application for our White Only Club if all the other groups disband their clubs" that point blank retreat felt anti climatic.

R113, looking at the clips from next week’s episode it looks like more will be happening at the school.

[quote]I kind of expected the white school kid to say "Fine, we take back our application for our White Only Club if all the other groups disband their clubs" that point blank retreat felt anti climatic.

Yeah, that was so jarring that I wondered if the Holly Hunter character had somehow set the whole thing up to demonstrate how valuable she was to the school.

I like the third episode. The deer shitting was probably the most hilarious and absurd part of it. That family show is really getting trippy.

Is it just me or do Farid's scars look like angel wings?

Duc is such a dick, getting all high almighty about being celibate, but being a slut when he's out of town and so scared of intimacy.

What's the deal with Ashley? At the end she just had sex with her cool and understanding husband and still looked like she carries some heavy burden (a secret?).

To me it felt the storyline about Ramon was the weak link in this episode (the whole key thing with Henry).

Farid seems to hate his religion and no longer practices it. Yet it appears his wife and son do? His trans son wants to wear the hajib outside, WTF?

Yes, the scars look like angel wings.

Farid has lot of demons, yet there is he as therapist (or is he a psychiatrist?) giving other advice? I've always found that extremely weird about psychiatrists and therapists, they seem to be the most damaged people, in so much pain, yet they choose to help others when they can't help themselves. .

Funny about Daniel Zovatto (Ramon). Just remembered him from Revenge and even back then he had messy, greasy hair. What's up with the guy and his hair?

Daniel Zovatto seems to have bad hair, it's thin and stringy, could be he's on some medication which thins the hair, certain thyroid meds do that. I remember him from the film, It Follows.

he looks like a cross between Avan Jogia and the young Johnny Depp, he's very handsome.

To me Daniel Zavatto is a dead ringer for a young Skeet Ulrich.

Oh yes, I left Skeet off of my list. I've always thought Skeet resembled Johnny Depp. Someone should put all these actors in a movie together, a Western perhaps?

Daniel is is very sexy, it's a shame he has such bad hair. He doesn't look as if he can carry off the bald look.

At least he's not sporting dreadlocks

R122 I think he'll look good with bald hair

This is the best episode so far!

And yes, the scars do resemble wings

I also think he would look good bald. I don't like the long hair he's currently sporting at all; makes him look too girly.

If Chronic Fatigue Syndrome isn't on the agenda, I'm not watching.

Duc only fucks white women. When a pretty Asian girl gave him The Look at a club, he ignored her.

Obviously, he has mother problems. Mom fucked white men for money.

Duc's a dic.

Duc is also obviously not Vietnamese.

Yeah, he's Korean. But for Hollywood, Asian is Asian.

Imam Chuck?

The Asian brother is such a douche. Why does he have to lie about being celibate? He has such an open hippy-dippy family, would they care if told them he had sex with many different women?

Please tell me this is the theme song.

Reading the comments above, it looks daunting to slog through. I'll give it a pass for now. Let's see if HBO gives it another season.

The premiere episode of HBO’s “Here and Now” didn’t make much noise, finishing outside the top 25 cable shows with a 0.2 in adults 18-49 and 541,000 viewers.

HBO shows rarely get only one season. I imagine given Ball's track record with HBO he will get at least another season.

Just watched the 2nd episode and still quite like this.

ide rather watch nude hobo wrestling than this show.

It couldn't get a lower rating, R139.

Shocked that the youngest biological daughter, played by Sosie Bacon, is the real life daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. I see no resemblance whatsoever.

I’m so sick of diversity in entertainment. Just hire good actors.

So more white TV series and films then, R142?

How about films and TV series which do not stereotype the race or nationality they are depicting? Not all Italians are in the Mafia nor are they working-class guidos from Bensonhurst, the same goes for black people, not all of them live in the 'the projects'. Not all Indians , Pakistanis and Mid-Easterns drive cabs and not all Hispanic women are maids. Need I go on?

The problem with Hollywood is that most of the writers, and everyone else behind the scenes, are hacks, very few have original thoughts in their empty coke filled heads.

Watch High Maintenance instead. It has the courage to make fun of it's audience.

It looks boring and manipulative.

[quote]At least he's not sporting dreadlocks

….he’s also not in your photo.

[quote]Watch High Maintenance instead. It has the courage to make fun of it's audience.

I actually watch four HBO series, why must viewers make an either or choice? I enjoy High Maintenance, but not all the episodes have been entertaining. I recognized the Uber driver from a show on VICE, he's the host of Bong Appetit, think that's what it's called.

[quote]….he’s also not in your photo.

WTF are you talking about? That IS Daniel Zovatto in R123's link.

Here's another view of the same photo.

Weird show

It's getting better. Looks like there's an Emma Thompson-in-Love-Actually type of scene coming next week. SAD!

The black daughter and her husband are boring, which makes me think they'll start having problems in order to justify their being in the show.

I think Kevin Bacon's daughter looks a lot like him. Like all younger sisters in Alan Ball shows,she's obnoxious.

This show gets more confusing and convoluted. Alan Ball was able to make that quirkiness appealing on "Six Feet Under", but there are so many unlikeable characters on this series, I'm not interested in most of them, lots of navel gazing.

I wouldn't be interested in Ramon either, except he's easy on the eyes. The transgender kid in the hijab is interesting, but his father is extremely fucked up for a man who is a psychiatrist. I guess that's the main idea of the series, don't judge a book by it's cover, how original!

Gender fluid, not transgender R151

Oh excuse me, yes, "gender fluid". He still has his cock.

Is Ramón very short? I can't figure out his height. He seems short, about 5'8"-9" the most, maybe it's his posture.

Tim Robbins is very tall, he's 6'5" and Holly Hunter is about 5 feet tall.

Daniel Zovatto is listed as 6'1"

Could be because he's so thin, he looks slight?

I just saw an HBO interview with him about the series, he's speaks perfect Spanish, guess that's because he was born in Costa Rica, he spoke Spanish as a toddler and child. That's the best time for anyone to learn a second, or third, language, as a toddler or a small child.

I'm enjoying it. The teen is Claire Fischer, down to the voice.

The teen is uber annoying, she acts as if she's always high and seems kind of naive and dumb.

That jerky guy at school just wanted a blow job, he doesn't want to date her. The teen daughter is such an idiot. I hope she's not mean to the gay Muslim boy.

I find it odd, for such liberal parents, a few of the kids are very uptight. The Asian son who fucks every women in sight, yet claims to be celibate, is a fake and poseur.

Holly's character is going to have a meltdown when she finds out her husband was seeing an escort.

R158 Is the Muslim guy GAY?

Also, where did Henry and his pubes went off to? 😭😭

Isn't the Muslim boy gay? Thought he was.

Because he's gender fluid that can't mean he's also gay?! 🤔

[quote] The Asian son who fucks every women in sight,

Only if they're white.

Sam Smith says he's gay and gender fluid, so I don't see why not R160

Nothing goes on on that show until the last 60 seconds. Terrible pace.

Is Daniel Zovatto gay?

R131 That's the wrong Raymond Lee. The actor in your photo is Raymond J. Lee, who's openly gay, married, and a dad. He's done several Broadway shows such as: MAMMA MIA, ANYTHING GOES, and GROUNDHOG DAY.

The Raymond (no initial) Lee in HERE AND NOW starred Off-Broadway in VIETGONG for which he won a 2017 Theater World award. I have no idea if he's gay or not, but he sure is pretty to look at.

R123, sorry but those are CORNROWS , not dreads. I believe Ramon is wearing the white guy version of dreads/twists in this show.

Yesterday, HBO showed a marathon on one of their many stations. I missed the first episode so I'll have to see that but I saw the rest of them, including last night's episode. This show is oddly quirky but I'm liking it

How the hell did TR wind up sleeping in the woods on a rainy night??!!

GREAT scene bewteen Robbins and Hunter this episode. They're the best thing about this show.

WHAT!?!? I can live with the Humanities 404 lectures, the vaguely unique commentary on post-Trump world, identity politics - but I just can’t with the Holly Hunter/Tim Robbins combo. They scream actors acting (just like the teen daughter). And though someone above implied it’s meant to be sarcastic commentary on Uber-liberals, the schmaltzy music implies it’s meant seriously.

I think a big part of my issue with Holly/Tim characters is I just don’t get why straight men would put up with bitchy pain-in-the-ass women like that. I feel like it’s Stockholm syndrome - who would ever put up with that shit. And since there is no real connection with the kids, why has he stuck around?

Crazy much r168 ? I don't see how the Hunter character is a bitchy pain in the ass, you must be a rabid misogynist. The Robbins character is the one who's a cheating, sad sack, lying bastard who's abdicating everything in his life.

I LOVE Holly Hunter's character. She took the time to print out the entire emai correspondence and then forced the cheating husband to read one of his best lines. LOL! Even in her most crazy she is still somewhat composed (well apart from the shouting match in the end where she throws him out).

And I love how the show manages to make two male hipsters, having sex with each other, look sexy.

I also love that the show seems to go the uncomfortable route that even with loving parents you still end up with some fucked up issues (older sister having issues with being black, Asian son having a trauma connected to his birth mom, etc.)

I guess it’s living in middle aged gay world where the idea that my husband was having sex - esp with a prostitute and not an emotional affair- would cause so much drama is bizarre. And also the neediness and controlling behavior is something I would never put up with from a mother or a partner.

Ex., The PRINTING out and FORCED reading of emails is psychotic behavior - but hey that’s just “crazy” me.

Indeed, r171. You're fucked up beyond help that you think screwing prostitutes is a fact of life, let alone cheating on one's husband. What a sad empty existence you must lead. Here's hoping you're single and never traps anyone into a life with you.

[quote]I guess it’s living in middle aged gay world where the idea that my husband was having sex - esp with a prostitute and not an emotional affair- would cause so much drama is bizarre.

I'm living in a different middle-aged gay world than you.

[quote] my husband was having sex - esp with a prostitute and not an emotional affair-

But it is Blanche, it is an emotional affair. He says "I'd forgotten what it was like to want someone." If it was just wham, bam, thank you ma'am he wouldn't have said that.

Holly Hunter's character is over-emotionally invested in her family's life. She's a micro manager. She wants to be in on everything that's going on in her kids' lives and ultimately, to control them. That never ends well. But she does care for them greatly, while Robbins' character is a mopey "poor me" character. Poor me, I'm the only one who sees what's important about life. Poor me, I'm surrounded by idiots. Poor me, the world has turned upside down and I don't like that.

Duc takes after the mother. He micro manages people's lives for a living. He wants others to be like him. Exercise, eat well, sleep well, be healthy, dammit.

The shrink is having a crisis. Something happened in his past -- violence and loss -- and it's being brought back to the surface. He struggles with identity. He doesn't want to be Muslim, but he is. His family is. He has bad experiences with religion, but his family doesn't. So he's caught in a world where he doesn't fit. If he truly wants to be an atheist, he needs to leave. Otherwise, he's just going to be tortured.

The teen girl is a teen. Everything sucks, life's a joke, I live in a hypocritical world, adults are so fucked up. I'm not going to be like that when I'm an adult. But she was right about compromise. You can't do everything yourself without help from others; without compromising. Now her parents are going to need to compromise or they'll lose everything.

I don't know wtf is going on with 11 11 boy. I wonder if the tent guy his bf went to see is actually his (the bf's) brother.

One thing I don't like is the "a billionaire steps in to save the day" story. Too many tv shows go that route. It's amazing how many tv characters happen to know billionaires.

Truly educational - I’m amazed how people empathize with the Holly H character. As a 50 yo man partnered for 19 years, I can’t imagine living life with a person so controlling, needy and demanding. Who assumes she is morally right all the time and judges all behavior that is not within her pseudo-religious moral dogma. Who created a world where she was the center - starting with adopting kids who “needed” her. - and expects the world to continue to revolve around her after her kids are grown. And demands her husband live a life focused on her alone.

The Tim R character is at least intellectually honest - any meaning we put in life is arbitrary. We’re all just put here for a while together to live our own destiny and try to help out others along the way - not control others. We live our lives as ourselves with others - not as a co-dependent child who constantly needs external affirmation.

I’m shocked that this is considered vaguely normal out there - even for middle aged gay men.

If you weren't such an apparent woman-hater r176 you would find yourself watching a completely different show than the one you describes in your post.

Bonus laughing points for : "The Tim R character is at least intellectually honest".

Unreal.

[quote]We’re all just put here for a while together to live our own destiny and try to help out others along the way - not control others. We live our lives as ourselves with others - not as a co-dependent child who constantly needs external affirmation.

Is faithfulness really about (mutual) control and co-dependency, though? You're right - every one of us has the right to make our own choices, and sometimes that choice is to be romantically faithful to someone else to the exclusion of all others, until death. Why not be respectful of that choice as well?

[quote] And demands her husband live a life focused on her alone.

I must be watching a different show because it's plainly obvious to me that he hasn't at all been living a life with his wife at the center of it. He's been drifting away from his family. He doesn't seem to know his kids very well. When he and the wife had sex in last week's show it seemed they hadn't had sex with each other in a long time. They haven't been on a vacation together or had fun in years. They've been tied up with their kids and their jobs -- not with each other.

It's kind of funny that the wife never saw her husband's texts to the hooker before. She micro manages her kids, but she's obviously not micro managing her husband, otherwise she'd have been checking his browser history/emails at least once a week.

I'm wondering what the AA daughter saw in her husband that made her want to marry him. Maybe that he isn't a micro manager like her mother? Because he's kind of gormless .

From the pic in the OP I thought the youngest son's bf was The Guy from High Maintenance.

I can't get over how much a beard can change his look

I thought all married 60 year old men visited prostitutes from time to time. Or at least the ones who could afford it.

[quote]I'm wondering what the AA daughter saw in her husband that made her want to marry him. Maybe that he isn't a micro manager like her mother? Because he's kind of gormless .

There is an offhand remark in the first episode that she married him out of spite, because the mother didn't like him since he's a Republican (which IMO is an odd thing for a such an easy going massage therapist). There is a scene where Audrey welcomes her granddaughter with wide open arms and yet acts rather coldly towards her son-in law when they arrive for Greg's birthday party.

It's interesting that Audrey (Holly Hunter) turns against Henry (Andy Bean) in the latest episode when she was so charmed by him in the first episode. That brother of hers really did a number on her. She insists on her adopted son, Ramon (Daniel Zovatto), to show the same symptoms like her brother and so it can only be the same mental illness that plagued her poor brother. I mean any shrink would dismiss that shrieking harpy as deranged, but because she's a psychiatrist and a caring mother herself she must be taken serious.

I wonder if it turns out that Audrey's brother molested Ramon, or any of the other children, and Audrey covered it up? And that's the real reason why she doesn't want Ramon to be talking to an outsider like Farid (Peter Macdissi) and ruin all that mind manipulation scheme she has going with her children?

Hoboning. Isn't that a great word?

Who was Audrey's brother, the guy she went to visit? Thought he was an old friend from Berkley.

[quote] but because she's a psychiatrist and a caring mother herself she must be taken serious.

She's not a psychiatrist. Farid made a point of saying she is isn't the same as a doctor.

Maybe she has an MSW. Or a masters in clinical psychology.

Audrey's brother is seriously schizophrenic

I don't think we have actually seen Audrey's brother yet.

What was the real with the hobos?

Maybe the tent hobo is a friend or a brother who survived the Waco siege. I mean, the age of the bf character tallies up with the Branch Davidson catastrophe.

Ramon's bf is homeless!

There's way too much going on here. As a poster said upthread, they seem to speed up the storylines during the last few minutes of each episode. There's some weird pacing going on here.

I have a feeling Daniel Zovatto will be this year's HBO breakout star, much in the same way The Night Of series caused Riz Ahmed to garner a lot of attention.

SO if the hot bearded boyfriend is off the show, I won't be watching any more.

The bearded guy is listed as being in 6 episodes. The main cast, 10 episodes. I have a feeling he'll be back.

Then again, IMDb info isn't always correct. The psychiatrist, Peter Macdissi, is listed as only being in 5 eps, meanwhile the series is up to 6 eps so far and he's been on the show since the first episode.

I tried to watch this show, but it's insufferable

The FUCK is wrong with Holly Hunter? She's always been awful but this...this is a new kinda awful. This show is terrible. I hate everyone but the Asian son and that's ONLY because the actor's hot.

Does Holly have a speech impediment? I never got her accolades.

I don't like episodes without nudity.

He is the visionary director Alan Ball! For seasons 1, 2 and 5 of 6 feet under, we adore.

It's weird how the bearded hipster boyfriend is homeless, when Ramon looks more homeless than he does. Plus, how does someone with a nice coffee shop job not have some place to live?

Also, I can't stand this Muslim storyline.

Oh how I TRIED to give this show every opportunity to be halfway decent, but everyone on it is heinous with the possible exception of the white dude married to the black daughter, and the teaching assistant - and that is probably because he really has no story line and we don't get to see much of them. Of course, after last night the assistant may be gone as well. I'm out. I basically hate every character on this show and hope they all die agonizing lingering deaths on the show, but I won't be watching anymore. I'm in a "helping" profession myself and even I don't know people this totally fucked up and unlikable.

Holly Hunter is so mannish now that she is menopaused. What's funny tho is her character wouldn't seem to be one who wears lots of makeup and gets expensive hair coloring/highlights. IRL someone who is an "empathy coach" would be messier, more old-lady-hippie than Hollywood hippie. Plus, she keeps wearing palazzo-type pants that no one has worn for decades. Why? Her IRL counterpart would wear long dresses, long beaded necklaces and would revel in having gray hair.

Hell, she even wore palazzo-type yoga pants while jogging.

I really hate tv shows that prevent characters from telling the whole story. IRL, the homeless bf would immediately have said, "Ok, I'll tell you what it's all about. I was a kid in the Branch Davidian crazy house in Waco. My parents burned to death and I was put in foster care and the tent guy is my friend/brother who was also there. We were pretty messed up by it, ok Suburban Jesus? So you're intuitive, ok? You see bits of other people's lives and put them in your video game. You've obviously picked up on tbe burning to death thing that's part of my story. Happy now?"

Instead, they want to write 3 seasons worth of episodes before letting that little info gem out. It's waaay too long to wait.

I'm weirdly drawn to this stupid show. I'm vested now because I want to know how Ramon and the therapist are related/involved/intertwined? Not sure of the word.

I love it. There is something so poignant about how hippy dippy parenting isn't preventing children from having issues in their adult lives.

The mystery between how Ramon and his shrink are linked is interesting.

The youngest sister getting pulled in by her friend's faith is imo interesting, too. Shit happens at home and there is some new, shiny faith ready for her to be explored and she embraces it with happy tears in her eyes.

The whole scene of Duc with that female Empath / Life Coach? was hilarious. He was so awkward around her like some little school boy.

Loved the passive agressive mom, Babette, constantly saying "I'm so sorry!" to Ashley when Ashley deals with the issue between their children. I almost expected Ashley to sucker punch her.

[quote]It's weird how the bearded hipster boyfriend is homeless, when Ramon looks more homeless than he does. Plus, how does someone with a nice coffee shop job not have some place to live?

Do you know how high rents are in Portland? What can he possibly make working at a coffee shop. it's assumed he doesn't own it.

Ramon treated him like shit. If Ramon liked him enough he would have had such a melt down. MARY!

WOULDN'T

[quote]The youngest sister getting pulled in by her friend's faith is imo interesting, too. Shit happens at home and there is some new, shiny faith ready for her to be explored and she embraces it with happy tears in her eyes.

Confused about the daughter's religious interest.. She went to the mosque with her friend, yet went home and listen to Torah music, isn't that Jewish music?

Someone needs to tell Ramon to wash and comb his hair. WTF is going on with his hair?! Good looking guy, but that hair!

Ramon is obviously in an agitated state of mind. Not just because of the weird visions he has, but it's his first serious relationship (apparently). So of course he freaks out when his sister shares some info about Henry he doesn't know about and uses it as an excuse to push Henry away.

Though I did love that bitter off hand remark of Henry fucking him for the indoor plumbing.

[quote]Ramon is obviously in an agitated state of mind. Not just because of the weird visions he has, but it's his first serious relationship (apparently). So of course he freaks out when his sister shares some info about Henry he doesn't know about and uses it as an excuse to push Henry away.

Though I did love that bitter off hand remark of Henry fucking him for the indoor plumbing.

Of course I understand all that, anyone would be shocked to find out someone they're seeing is homeless, but such a public meltdown? That scene also shows how coddled and entitled all the adult children are. As usual, blame the parents. I grew up with a lot of friends and family like these people, some are now well into their 30s and 40s and still being supported by their wealthy parents.

[quote]Ramon is obviously in an agitated state of mind. Not just because of the weird visions he has, but it's his first serious relationship (apparently). So of course he freaks out when his sister shares some info about Henry he doesn't know about and uses it as an excuse to push Henry away. Though I did love that bitter off hand remark of Henry fucking him for the indoor plumbing.

Of course I understand all that, anyone would be shocked to find out someone they're seeing, and developing deep feelings for, is homeless, but such a public meltdown? Especially at Henry's place of work.

That scene also shows how coddled and entitled all the adult children are. As usual, blame the parents. I grew up with a lot of friends and family like these people, some are now well into their 30s and 40s and still being supported by their wealthy parents.

Agree with the poster upthread : these characters are very hard to like. I watch for Hunter and Robbins but it's becoming really hard not to fast foward constantly. Hate these horrid people. Oh and somebody tells those writers the pacing is HORRIBLE!

There are tons of unlikeable characters on many series and in films, I don't think that's this series man problem. It's the pacing and the snail pace of the storylines. When things get interesting, it's usually during the last 10-15 minutes of the episode. Terrible.

What teen girl even comes across some musical version of the Torah, let alone dreamily listens to it cranked up to max in her room?

And holly hunter lying down and listening to that Torah music. IRL that woman would be all, "Aw hon, I remember when I got into Carlos Castenada, Buddhism and Herman Hesse. Have fun, but it'll pass."

[quote]What teen girl even comes across some musical version of the Torah, let alone dreamily listens to it cranked up to max in her room?

One with rich hippies for parents.

What upset Ramon the most (IMO) is that when he had that meltdown, Henry said he was with a friend who almost OD'd (or something like that). If it was true, Henry could have just said that was the friend and he was checking on him. The fact that he didn't let Ramon know he was being used.

After watching that episode, and having recently watched As Good As It Gets, I'm concerned that Henry might have been setting Ramon up for a robbery and possibly more.J He returned Ramon's house key but who's to say he didn't make a copy first. What if Ramon goes home and finds his computer equipment and game gone! Yes, I have a very active imagination.

#GiveRamonAShamPoo

Daniel Zovatto seems to have had his nose fixed. So what else is new?!

Wonder what this is from.

Has the series been renewed?

This show makes me miss the Fishers.

Does Ramon work? I know he's been working on his game design, but he doesn't appear to have an actual job.

If not, guess his parents are paying for his apartment?

I don't know why I watch this show. I hate everyone (except Henry and the daughter's husband) but I can't stop watching. I was actually disappointed when it said only 3 episodes left. I need help.

Ramon's mom still pays his rent. Holly Hunter's character addresses this issue in the pilot. He's still in college.

While we're at it, let's address this prejudice that artists working on their projects are not working real jobs.

An art project IS a real job. How do you think someone will create a game for you? By their wits? Thanks song you listen to, the animation you enjoy and the book you read are created by hours or hard labor most of you cunts take for granted as hobby. Sad.

Okay, this show officially sucks now, but I can't stop watching.

Ramon - FIX YOUR HAIR! It's so distracting. I keep staring at that mess instead of listening.

Holly Hunter plays the most UNINTERESTING woman in the world. And romance? No one gives a fuck.

Also, a grown ass woman marches into her grown ass child's home and demands to know about his diahrea? Really? This is interesting?

The white daughter is not a person, she is an SJW pamphlet with parent. Ucch.

The whole 1111 mystery with the shrink is turning into the third season of Lost.

However all will be forgiven when we see the Asian guy's peen. Bonus points if he puts into someone in the Gym locker room. I get the vibe that they are building him to closet case status, which might be interesting.

My partner recommended this show to me because he thought I would find Raymond Lee sexy (I do). But I find his personality insufferable.

I also find Ramon sexy. Maybe because I grew up in the '70s and in college had a thing for guys with long, unkempt hair. But every time he starts hallucinating and crumples to the ground I lose interest (I guess that makes me a bad person)

I really don't like anyone in this show....except I'm fascinated by the gender-fluid Muslim son, Navid.

Go figure

So some guy was just sitting in this fancy gym locker room jerking off?

Hi, I'm sorry your fiancé's dead......Oh I'm glad, he was a horrible person.....Well I loved him but I'm going to believe this miserable bitch and change my opinion

The daughter who hates her life now because she's not black enough should leave her husband and let Henry move in with him

The show is getting scary. While other people find the characters annoying I find them scary. Each of them seem to be ready to explode for different reasons. It's quite beautiful and yet unsettling to see their progression.

[quote]While we're at it, let's address this prejudice that artists working on their projects are not working real jobs. An art project IS a real job. How do you think someone will create a game for you? By their wits? Thanks song you listen to, the animation you enjoy and the book you read are created by hours or hard labor most of you cunts take for granted as hobby. Sad.

Oh please grow up. I went to a NYC art high school, then studied art in the UK for a year, then came back home to study at a NYC art college. When I returned home to NYC, I was only able to work part time.

I'm honest enough to report, I was in no way capable of paying all my own bills at the time and this was a long time ago, so I cannot possibly imagine how any student can go to school full time, only work a part time job and pay their bills, not these days. Unless mummy & daddy are bankrolling their lifestyle. Health insurance alone is expensive, so please stop the bullshit. Let me guess, your parents are supporting you while you 'work' on your creative projects?! If you don't need to work to pay your bills, your only job is your education and your school projects. Nice work if you can get it.

Working on his game, and other school projects, would be next to impossible if Ramon is going to school full time and needs to work at a crap job to pay his bills. Do stop the madness and the bullshit! It's pretty clear, the family in this series are more than middle class, they are way wealthier than that.

The point is that just because something is not remunerated doesn't mean it's not work. You could have saved your novel, r232. You're completely off topic.

R221 It's from The Deleted

[quote]The show is getting scary. While other people find the characters annoying I find them scary. Each of them seem to be ready to explode for different reasons. It's quite beautiful and yet unsettling to see their progression.

I'm enjoying it, especially the connection between Ramon and the psychiatrist character and the youngest daughter and her gender fluid classmate. I sure hope this series gets a second season.

I cannot stand the Vietnamese brother and the African-American daughter, they are way too self absorbed and superficial. Privileged people with issues, quell surprise!

Of course, I can totally understand the African-American daughter exploring her African-American background, but the Vietnamese guy is supposedly some type of self help guru? Yet her cannot deal with his own repression, anger and sexual demons? I cannot take such a character seriously. Shouldn't he also be seeing a shrink? The scene with the plain white woman grabbing his dick in public was ridiculous, they were in full view of everyone.

Boy, the parents sure adopted a lot of damaged kids. You have to wonder if they went out of their way to adopt kids from very extreme backgrounds.

[quote]The point is that just because something is not remunerated doesn't mean it's not work. You could have saved your novel, [R232]. You're completely off topic.

STFU, people like you hate to be called on their utter bullshit. Actually I wasn't off topic, maybe you're too stupid, or too full of shit, to get it.

Guess you forgot what you posted?! "While we're at it, let's address this prejudice that artists working on their projects are not working real jobs. An art project IS a real job. "

An art school assignment is NOT a REAL job! Sure, it's work, but its not paid work or "a real job". I assume Ramon's game has nothing to do with his art school assignments, that's MY point. I'm more interested in the connection between Ramon and the psychiatrist, the game is part of it, yet not the entire connection.

Now, get back to work! If you do work that is!

More dick scenes tonight.

How is Ramon's game a "game"?

How much money would these houses cost in Portland? The cute craftsman house of the "intuitive"? Duc's postmodern glass house? He hasn't even published his book yet but he can afford a place like that on a life coach salary?

R82, it's like when people call Steve and Alice or Travis and Liza or Doug and Julie soaps' 'first supercouple'.

I don't think the genre would have survived prior to those couples if there weren't other couples who were pretty super.

Tonight HBO kept flashing "Only two episodes left" after they aired this series. Guess the series wasn't renewed? Just when it seems to be getting better, they couldn't renew? Meanwhile High Maintenance and Crashing have been renewed for their third seasons.

Kevin Bacon's daughter is going to be in the movie about The Manson Family, she's playing Patricia Krenwinkel.

Hopefully HBO renews for at least one season to wrap up what's happening. I was disappointed they didn't show Tim Dekay naked. He's done full frontal on HBO before. That scene with the Black Lives Matter guy was so bad. It was so unrealistic. He would never have acted that way so it made the whole scene absurd.

Who is the pretty guy with the brown curly hair ? And isn't it Natalie Wood 's son in law that I see before me ?

Holly Hunter is a wonderful actress. Her character is insufferable. That her adult children engage her and spend so much time at that house is ridiculous.

[quote]Hopefully HBO renews for at least one season to wrap up what's happening. I was disappointed they didn't show Tim Dekay naked. He's done full frontal on HBO before. That scene with the Black Lives Matter guy was so bad. It was so unrealistic. He would never have acted that way so it made the whole scene absurd.

Yes, that BLM white asshole was absurd. Who the hell walks into someone's store and berates them, we can assume, he knew nothing about the daughter's background, that she was raised by white parents let alone anything else about her...or was she imaging that entire incident? The show is so surreal, why wouldn't she be hallucinating like Ramon?

Who is writing this crap? Surely not the Six Feet Under writers!

[quote]Who is the pretty guy with the brown curly hair ? And isn't it Natalie Wood 's son in law that I see before me ?

What guy with the curly brown hair? The guy Ramon picked up? He didn't look like Barry Watson at all. The guy he picked up was played by Matt Lloyd.

Alan Ball doesn't do full frontal on his shows? I don't think Six Feet Under did and TrueBlood didn't either for the first seasons, didn't see the later ones.

Why hasn't Ball changed the awful direction, screenplay, acting for the gay couple? We're supposed to believe Ramon is in love but how? The flirted once. The sex doesn't look sexual even. Where is the romance? Flirt, sex, relationship, moving in, in love within days or a weeks. They call each other man but they might as well call each other bro. That's what the show is trying to portray them, part hipster, part bro, part lover and it doesn't work.

[quote]Alan Ball doesn't do full frontal on his shows? I don't think Six Feet Under did and TrueBlood didn't either for the first seasons, didn't see the later ones.

There was dick last night. Not Ramon's but the guy he picked up. Ramon is hot, it's a shame about his crappy hair.

I watched Life of Brian yesterday and it had full frontal male & female nudity. A 1970s comedy can do full frontal but a 21st century tv show is coy.

Imo the best new show of 2018. Wonderfully absurd.

So gender fluid Muslim kid isn't gay? What was with that kiss in the car?

This show moves so slowly, now I have to force myself to watch to see how they can possibly wrap up about forty loose ends

Holly Hunter is trollish to me. I hate the idea of her having sex. It’s creepy, especially with that dislocated jaw of hers.

I found the sex scene between Holly and Tom so not hot. Ramon on the other hand with the homeless BF, those scenes were hot and not because they're gay.

I find Holly completely asexual, same for Tom. Though Tom with the hot actress on "White Collar" was kind of sexy, with Holly, not at all. How short is she, 4'11 or shorter?!

Everyone's a fkin critic. This is the openly gay successful guy who gave us the brilliance of 6 ft. Under & True Blood. I can't wait.

r20, that is why I'm convinced being gay makes most people naturally have mental disorder.

Can’t wait for what, R256? Something to happen besides repetitive visions?

Maybe we'll see some surprise anal!

And it'll be with Holly Hunter R259

R247 "Six Feet Under" had a few full frontal scenes including one by Justin Theroux

I thought the scenes with Audrey and Steven were so 50 Shades of Grey starting with Audrey getting those heels from her daughter. I almost expected Audrey to wake up at some point to reveal it was just a dream.

I like Holly Hunter. I wouldn't sleep with her (gay, duh!) but she's pretty great as the hard, Liberal shrew of a mother and scorned wife.

Ashley and her storyline with the women with guns club reminds me of "Pink Posse" from Showtime's Queer as Folk.

The "Black Lives Matter" guy was such a great spoof of a SJW bully.

Last episode teased Eik and then nothing. Ashley deals with racism. Duc faces some as well. Farids family face religious trouble. Basically there is no homophobia on the show.

I just watched episode 8 and then went and washed the breakfast dishes. Upon finishing I glanced at the clock on the stove and it said 11:11. Should I be concerned?

Was Dookie pilfering ketchup during his phone convo with RamRam? Is that how he can afford his fancy digs, condiment raids?

Who came up with this "porous mind" term? Because when I hear it I don't think "everything is connected", I think "Denny Crane". (But it could just be me)

Nice dick on Ramon's trick. Got me wondering if Duk and Ramon are cut. They wouldn't have been cut at birth, but isn't the family (nominally) Jewish? Since Greg and Audrey are such bleeding hearts, it seems plausible that they'd say 'fuck it' to tradition and leave their boys intact.

(Side note: In the movie THE PLAYER, Tim Robbins is shown getting out of a mud bath and he's clearly uncut. But if you listen to the DVD commentary, they talk about him wearing a prosthetic foreskin. I honest couldn't tell if they were joking or not, but it seemed to me that the point of showing an uncut dick was to let everyone know that Robbins' character Griffin Mill was not Jewish)

[quote]Nice dick on Ramon's trick. Got me wondering if Duk and Ramon are cut. They wouldn't have been cut at birth, but isn't the family (nominally) Jewish? Since Greg and Audrey are such bleeding hearts, it seems plausible that they'd say 'fuck it' to tradition and leave their boys intact.

Daniel in real life is Costa Rican, most likely a Catholic and they're usually cut. Duc? Since his real mom was a whore, do you think she was religious or would have made that time for such surgery? The flashbacks show he was a child while watching his mother screw her johns. Would his adopted family have made Dic go through such pain as a child?

Since when did Vietnamese men wear super long hair? I thought that trick of Duc’s mom was an American Indian at first

Catholics are not cut usually. Outside of Jews and Muslims for religious traditions only US Americans cut the foreskins from their sons because they are puritan crazy people who want to discourage masturbation and sexual pleasure.

[quote]Catholics are not cut usually. Outside of Jews and Muslims for religious traditions only US Americans cut the foreskins from their sons because they are puritan crazy people who want to discourage masturbation and sexual pleasure.

A lot of US Catholic boys are circumcised, or were. It has nothing to do with being a Wasp either. Lots of Italians get their boys circumcised. I grew up Catholic and Italian in NYC, all of the boys on both sides of my family were circumcised.

[quote]Another show with gay characters that's getting panned on DL before it even airs.

Now see...this what I don’t get about DL. Why does a show having gay character(s) get a pass from any criticism--even before it airs? If it looks like shit in the previews...it’s probably going to be shit when it airs.

[quote]So some guy was just sitting in this fancy gym locker room jerking off?

Without an iota of discretion and grunting like Ted Levine in Silence of the Lambs. It was so stupid and pretty much summons up this show.

[quote]Ramon - FIX YOUR HAIR! It's so distracting. I keep staring at that mess instead of listening.

Even though it kills me to agree…his hair is pretty bad. It would be easier to overlook if his character wasn’t such a whiny twat tho.

[quote]Even though it kills me to agree…his hair is pretty bad. It would be easier to overlook if his character wasn’t such a whiny twat tho.

The entire family is comprised of bunch of "whiny twats", why call out only Ramon? All the kids grew up spoiled, privileged and well educated. yet the they're a bunch of entitled whiners! Especially the two with successful businesses. No wonder there's such backlash from the deplorables against the "Hollywood elites", they watch this stuff and say, "I can't relate to this shit, complaining wealthy people."

The problem is, so many of us don't see the other side. I don't know one ReThug, so I don't know how they think, only what I see on the news and online. You just know the trailer park and Fox News crowd sure ain't watching this show!

R272 It's a US American phenomenon based on ideals of sexual frigidity. Go to a sauna in Rome, Barcelona or Warsaw and you'll see Catholics in general are not cut.

Everybody, liberal or conservative / gay or straight / rich or poor / male or female / black or white / good or bad / religious or non-religious / etc, has problems. Leave it to society to label other people's problems as good or bad, valid or invalid, entitled whining / serious concern, etc.

The frontal nudity was delicious. Keep the dong coming.

What's with Tim Robbins white pixie bangs? What old man has hair like that?

I presume it is supposed to make him look like a staunch liberal who refuses to look like a conservative douchebag.

[quote]Everybody, liberal or conservative / gay or straight / rich or poor / male or female / black or white / good or bad / religious or non-religious / etc, has problems. Leave it to society to label other people's problems as good or bad, valid or invalid, entitled whining / serious concern, etc.

Of course, anyone can have problems, that's not the point at all.

As a society we have been trained that having a lot of money, or basically not having to worry about where your next paycheck is coming from, shelters people from most problems, especially in the US. We cannot do much without money. Most of us have shelter, food and healthcare and everything else we need because we can pay for it, without money we don't have much of a life, without money, we'd be homeless, sick and suicidal.

Most people are taught that from children, be a good student, get a good education and then a good job. What's the first thing you hear the average person say, "I wish I won the Lottery!" People never seem to have enough money.

Ramon’s trick.

After tonight's episode, the preview of the next episode stated it will be the Season Finale, which means the series has been renewed. Then again, the same was said about VINYL, that it was renewed, then a month later, it was announced it was cancelled.

I hate how tv shows have people getting kicked and punched over and over again and walk away with bruises. And all of their teeth.

IRL, if you got beaten like that, you might have brain damage and internal bleeding. And you'd be in so much pain and have such difficulty moving that you'd have to call 911 and go to a hospital.

On TV, after a shit-kicking like that, they get up with a cut and black eyes ...and go to a party.

This show is so frustrating, but I like it enough to want a season 2.

And more dong.

No one thought to ask why the teens were beat up, or call the cops, or get the boy's injuries checked out. Let's party. I guess it's key to the dynamic that the mother, who can't even let her grown son have diarrhea in peace, basically always ignores her "non-special" teen, even when the girl and the friend show up bloody and bruised.

Holly Hunter, as she's playing this character, is like a disturbing squirrel with beady, bright eyes always fixed madly on you. Her sex scene was unsettling--like catching a man having sex with a scrawny bantam chicken.

I think Duc's episode where he was depicted chatting up and hate-banging hot women was all his fantasy. Asian-American guys are about as popular with hot white women as they are with gay men. And then he can't talk to the empath/psychic woman without sounding like a 13-year-old virgin.

And how do all these people have such nice houses? Is "professional empath" really that well-paying a job?

[quote]Even though it kills me to agree…his hair is pretty bad. It would be easier to overlook if his character wasn’t such a whiny twat tho.

[quote]The entire family is comprised of bunch of "whiny twats", why call out only Ramon?

Because it was a response to a post about RAMON’S HAIR--not the the entire family? Are you THAT desperate to jump on a soapbox?

I sorry but after watching those two strut down the school hallway, I wanted to beat them up. I love how suddenly Ashley is worried that her daughter doesn't love her as much as her husband and then the daughter just happens to draw a picture with her mom in the corner that day. Bad writing. That aside, I hope it gets renewed because I actually enjoyed watching it in all it's absurdity.

I still don't see how Ramon's game is a game at all, and why people praise it like a DaVinci or something. Glowing butterflies, guys with scarred backs and a fire person are not so extraordinary with today's technology.

I'm still hate watching this thing. The writing is sooo awful. Agree with the other poster that Holly Hunter is taking her acting notes from a squirrel on meth. How to get Holly and Robbins back together? A Phillipine sweatshop! That's the ticket! Then we get to rail against cheap foreign labor too! Win Win!

The teenage girl deserves a good beating. And that whole beat down was really silly with the insufferable party afterwards. Ucch that was embarassing.

Watching the shrink meltdown over his mother is cringeworthy too.

Also wonder how a life coach is so rich, I mean life coach is something people do, because they can't get any "massage therapist" clients. For a while they were making Duc kind of interesting, but he went back to insufferable.

I like the black chick's story line. She's a compelling likeable character, but they are slowly chipping away at anything likeable about any other characters

Was there a real fire? The ending happened so quickly it was hard to tell.

It appeared to be a real fire, next week the black daughter's husband is shown punching Ramon, blaming him for his child getting injured. Then he screams something about his wife's "weirdo family".

I would imagine the husband would be even more upset if Ramon dropped the daughter out of the treehouse because of an imagined fire.

Didn't the niece say she smelled somthing burning, too?

The "black chick's" name on this show is Ashley. Not hard to remember.

[quote]The "black chick's" name on this show is Ashley. Not hard to remember.

I don't care what anyone's name is, the only name I care to remember is Ramon's, his storyline and how it's connected to the Iranian shrink's storyline.

Isn’t it strange that a family would adopt a Liberian girl, bring her up giving her African themed parties and teaching her about African culture, but named her Ashley?

She legally changed her name to Ashley at 18 R296

Aha! Thanks, R297

[quote] I still don't see how Ramon's game is a game at all, and why people praise it like a DaVinci or something. Glowing butterflies, guys with scarred backs and a fire person are not so extraordinary with today's technology.

There is a new game genre where you pretty much walk around and do very little exploring or interacting. You just move around in some virtual reality.

Here's an article from 2016 about the genre.

The ending of this episode/preview of next week's was a bit confusing. Ashley's daughter did say she smelled smoke. But when they showed her falling out of the tree, there was no fire on the steps or anywhere else. Also, the fact that Ashely and her husband do go running outside until they saw their daughter fall, leads me to believe there was no real fire. If there was, wouldn't they have run out screaming?

I’ll have to wait until they repeat it 500 times this week to watch the ending again.

What happened to the hot homeless gay boyfriend? He was the only interesting story line on the show and they got rid of him.

I've had a hard time finding this show because my DVR search seems to find another show called "Here and Now" from 10 years ago that seems like a cult leader talking about aliens. I have to watch it on HBO Go now.

Gay men can't have stable relationships, so he was dropped R303

[quote]The ending of this episode/preview of next week's was a bit confusing. Ashley's daughter did say she smelled smoke. But when they showed her falling out of the tree, there was no fire on the steps or anywhere else. Also, the fact that Ashely and her husband do go running outside until they saw their daughter fall, leads me to believe there was no real fire. If there was, wouldn't they have run out screaming?

I watched the episode again last night. I did notice there didn't seem to be a fire as Ramon dropped his niece from the treehouse. Ashley's daughter did say she smelled smoke, but the seconds long ending showing Ramon dropping his niece out of the treehouse, didn't show any flames. Ramon is messed up, now he's imagining fires?! Even his own psychiatrist is messed up mentally.

Why does Holly Hunter's character keep mentioning her brother's mental illness, Ramon isn't her biological son, he wouldn't have inherited any mental illness gene?! WTF?

I love Ramon’s hair. Almost as nice as his ass, which he needs to show every episode.

[quote] Why does Holly Hunter's character keep mentioning her brother's mental illness, Ramon isn't her biological son, he wouldn't have inherited any mental illness gene?! WTF?

. She thinks she’s an expert on mental health issues because of her brother. She’s taking over his case, like she does to all of her children. She believes Ramon has some of the same symptoms as her brother, therefore she’s diagnosing him with the same illness as her brother.

Alan Ball shot his load creatively a long time ago.

If Farid's wife is a "Palestinian-American" why does she seem to speak better Farsi (i.e. Persian) than he does, when he grew up in Iran (Pesia?) Palestinians speak Arabic and she didn't even grow up there.

I wondered about the language thing last week. And why would they get married anyway, if she’s so religious and he hates religion?

r309. That's how dedicated she is about her religion.

Same thing about being able to go through with some little alternative bar mitzvah ritual after you've been beaten. Your dedication to religious faith gives you extra strength.

The show is really strong in the message of how powerful one's beliefs can be (to alter their reality).

[quote][R309]. That's how dedicated she is about her religion.

Farsi (Persian language) has nothing to do with being Muslim. She would learn Arabic becasue of her faith, not Farsi.

But is it not part of her cultural heritage? Isn't that what the character is all about?

Farsi is Persian, the language of Iran. . The Koran is in Arabic. There’s no reason why a Palestinian American would speak Farsi, let alone speak it better than her Iranian husband.

^^^ That! Maybe Alan Ball is too lazy to look up what languages people speak in various countries??

WTF did I just watch?! Will we see Ramon next season? Will we see Navid and his mom?

Will there be a next season? If you recall, HBO announced a second season of VINYL, then within a few weeks, HBO announced it was cancelled.

It’s criminal that Ramon hasn’t been committed. That mo is crazy and a danger to others.

r288 Ramon's game is sought after because there's a huge indie market for that sort of game they call exploratory games like Dear Esther, The vanishing of Ethan Carter and Everybody's gone to the Rapture. Actually the butterfly reference might be taken directly off the latter. That is by far the most true to life part of this show as art students would usually make their first game like that.

Actually now that I'm thinking about it Ramon's visions and game look lifted out of Ethan Carter. Take a look at a walk-through on YouTube and you'll see how similar they are.

I'm trying to figure out the significance of the blue hands...when Ashley visited her friend's mother in the hospital, the camera lingered on the woman's hands, which were stained with blue...paint? Dye? Then in last week's episode, Ashley was looking at the picture Hailey drew of herself and her parents. The Hailey figure had blue hands.

That was it?

11 11 is the volcano?

They have to have a 2nd season because we need to find out why the hot homeless boyfriend lied about his name! At least I think that's what happened when Ramon got his bike stolen. And how did he get a mask all of a sudden when the Volcano erupted?

I hope there’ll be another season even though it’s sooo slow. At least finally something happened, and why did that homeless guy just happen to have the boyfriends name? That was random. Is Ramon really Jesus?

Seems Ramon's boyfriend lied about his name.

Why did the psychiatrist still have those torture devices? Wouldn't they have been left back in Iran?

This thing thing has turned into LOST: SJW ISLAND

Hopefully because of their relationship with Alan Ball, HBO will agree to one more season to wrap up the story.

This is the most pointless show I've ever watched. I hate all characters and I still don't know what I'm supposed to understand now that the season is over. Fucking waste of time.

Haha, thanks for letting me know not to waste my time r327. Figured I'd check in and see what the feelings about this show were.

"Comforting women", God I wanted that car to crash

Great show. Is Ramon the new Jon Snow type of misunderstood hero? Love the mind fuck with the shadows behind, or besides, Ramon at the end.

This series defines the term shitshow.

R331 you're right but I couldn't stop watching. I don't understand it.

Hope Ramon gets a new hairstyle next season! He's got one of the worst hairstyles on any TV series. He doesn't have dreads, he doesn't have braids, his hair just looks like a dirty uncombed matted mess.

This show is mostly unbearable. Record when it airs to speed through all the Muslin/psychiatrist scenes, for sure. Half interested in most of the rest, really only watching for Ramon story. Holly Hunter is insufferable. Her boss/college boyfriend should have fired her on air in the last episode. What a SJW douche she is. In real life her kids were have cut her off.

All of Ramon’s visions, angst & craziness was because a volcano was going to erupt...yet his visions, angst & craziness didn’t tell him a volcano was going to erupt. So it’s not like he has any kind of useful reason for his hallucinations & craziness. If the family lived near the volcano, needed to be evacuated before it blew and Ramon’s visions showed him the volcano was about to blow, then he could have gotten his family out of a path of destruction.

But they didn’t live right near the volcano, they weren’t in danger from it, they didn’t need to be warned ahead of time and they couldn’t anyway because the visions didn’t tell Ramon there was going to be a volcanic eruption.

So......Ramon’s visions were needlessly anxiety-provoking. In the end, they were meaningless.

I think there's more to Mount Hood erupting, if there wasn't, why was Ramon continuing to walk towards it. He saw the eruption, yet was still drawn to getting closer. It made little sense, unless there's something else going on.

Maybe the volcano will burn off Ramon’s clothes. I’d like to see his dong.

[quote] Maybe the volcano will burn off Ramon’s clothes. I’d like to see his dong.

Both Ramon and Duc

Can't find any info about Daniel's sexuality. I first saw him in the horror film, "It Follows".

He's played gay multiple times, so who knows R339

Anyone else totally bored and annoyed by the shrink’s story? Who smuggles a cat o nine tails out of Iran?

Alan Ball loves giving his partner a lot of screen time.

[quote] Anyone else totally bored and annoyed by the shrink’s story?

YES! I find my mind wandering whenever he comes on the screen. I did not realize he was Alan Ball's partner

OTOH, I loved the morning TV segment where Audrey went off on Steven and the vapid hosts didn't know what to do.

I hope they haven't written out Navid. I find his character one of the more interesting ones.

I bet Ramon has a big bush.

Let’s recast the leads. How about Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney?

So what were all those shadowy human forms at the volcano? Is this some kind of Scientology parallel, with the Thetans released near the volcano? Ruh roh.

Now we've learned that women can't resist a weepy Asian man with explosive diarrhea.

It was mentioned in an early episode that the crazy therapist's wife is an attorney who speaks four or five languages. So Farsi.

Nobody but the black woman ever seems to go to work anymore. I feel sorry for her. Imagine being a black girl raised by the whitest, most self-righteous people on earth.

I like Farid's story. At first he looks like a run-of-the mill shrink and then a little off hand remark of a patient of his, Ramon, sends him on a downward spiral. What I find so interesting is that we all have, in one way or the other, some trauma we avoid dealing with in our past and it just waits to come to the surface, through a harmless or not so harmless trigger, and sends us into chaos.

[quote]It was mentioned in an early episode that the crazy therapist's wife is an attorney who speaks four or five languages. So Farsi.

Doesn't she have clients? She just up and moves to San Francisco with Navid?! What about her sons finals at school?!

School's out in two weeks. They must have already had finals. Though they don't seem to go to school much, do they. Work and school attendance seem to be optional in Portland. Maybe she's planning to telework or take time off.

But the big volcano full o' Thetans has erupted, so maybe they'll stick around. Or maybe they have to leave because they are the only two likable characters.

It’s pretty ridiculous that someone is a shrink and never dealt with his childhood trauma. Shrinks have to see therapists. It’s a requirement. Maybe not 30 years down the line, but in school and after. Plus, he’s already done this before, according to his wife. He lost his shit before. Any real shrink would have gotten his ass to a therapist, not scourged himself with a metal cat o nine tails. The whole idea is just retarded. Farid should lose his license

[quote] Any real shrink would have gotten his ass to a therapist, not scourged himself with a metal cat o nine tails. The whole idea is just retarded.

That's why it's fiction and not part of a documentary. Of course there must be some over the top drama or else it would be just too boring.

Let’s speculate about Ramon’s dong.

[quote] there must be some over the top drama or else it would be just too boring

It’s still too boring. It took all season for something to happen and it wasn’t much.

Too boring, too unrealistic. Geez. Some Farids you are torturing yourself watching a show you don't like.

No more torture. It’s over.

r355, not for you, apparently.

[quote]Let’s speculate about Ramon’s dong.

There was something brewing in his baggy pants.

It must be tough for HBO. The show was not a critical success and didn’t find much of an audience. But big names are involved. It would be embarrassing to Ball, Robbins and Hunter to have the show cancelled after one season. But I doubt HBO wants to pour any more money into it. They may have to though, in order to be able to attract big names in the future. Stars don’t want to do a one season tv show.

Its collapse is complete

That is a shame. I really liked it.

This was same exact situation with VINYL, the second season was announced, then weeks later HBO announced VINYL's cancellation.

Fuck HBO. Guess they're too busy throwing money at all the other hacks they employ. They seem to forget Alan Ball had an extremely successful series on their channel for many years.

Now we’ll never see Ramon dong.

Hope HBO manages to put Daniel Zovatto in another series. He's so adorable and sexy.

Or find out what the whole fucking thing meant!

Hopefully Alan Ball will explain what the fuck was going on. I really wanted another sex scene of Ramon and Henry, they were hot together

R314 Many different people choose to learn Farsi. I've known several upper class well educated Indian fellows (non-muslim) who have been fluent in Farsi. I'm not at all sure how common it is, but am aware of Persia's ancient cultural interactions with Indian people, as well as a small Persian minority still living in India. Would be interesting if they say whether or not she merely learned it for her husband. Could just be a popular second language choice for Arabs.

I am hoping they go the route of Looking, and do a wrap it up movie. I think it would add closure and explain a lot for the fans.

[quote] I've known several upper class well educated Indian fellows (non-muslim) who have been fluent in Farsi

Maybe they are Parsis.

No R368, They're London born Indian Hindus; one second generation, the other third.. I'm familiar with Parsis, though I haven't known any personally. Fascinating history there.

Freddie Mercury = Parsi

Lots of Bollywood actors and actresses too R370.

[quote] This was same exact situation with VINYL, the second season was announced, then weeks later HBO announced VINYL's cancellation.

How is this the exact same situation of Vinyl? Vinyl announced there would be a second season, then it got cancelled. Here & Now never announced a second season. So...not like Vinyl at all.

HBO actually did announce that Here & Now was getting a second season.

WTF? So many of you DL bitches are damn fucking annoying!

Tim Robbins + HBO = 1 season wonder

There was never an official season 2 announcement before the cancellation.

Any chance Netflix, Hulu or some other pay channel will pick this up? After all, BET picked up Hit The Floor for a 4th season after VH1 cancelled it.

If Ball has the rights, he could always shop it around if he wants to.

He should let it go. There’s a reason people didn’t respond to it.

Netflix is not going to pick up HBO's rejects. They are beyond that at this point.

And who would pick it up? No ratings, buzz or critical acclaim.

Too bad for Robbins. Two flops in a row on a premiere network.

[quote][R314] Many different people choose to learn Farsi. I've known several upper class well educated Indian fellows (non-muslim) who have been fluent in Farsi. I'm not at all sure how common it is, but am aware of Persia's ancient cultural interactions with Indian people, as well as a small Persian minority still living in India. Would be interesting if they say whether or not she merely learned it for her husband. Could just be a popular second language choice for Arabs.

Except that they made a point of saying the wife was "Palestininan" and born in America.

Even if she learned Farsi for her job (somewhat more believable), is it likely that she would know it better than someone who was born in Iran and it was his mother tongue? That she would need to "Help him translate?"

And no, Farsi is not spoken in the Arab world outside of Iran or by ethnic Iranians living in other countries.

This was just poor/lazy writing.

They should have just made the wife Iranian too, it would've made more sense. It was probably more tokenism to put a Palestininan character on TV>

[quote] HBO actually did announce that Here & Now was getting a second season.

No. They didn't.

Fuck HBO for cancelling this show. They could have at least had the decency to give it a shorter second season and wrap things up. They gave Looking two seasons, and that show had abysmal ratings and was boring as fuck. Ugh. Once again we lose a gay character. There are so many shows on tv with lesbian characters, but hardly any with gay male characters. It fucking sucks.

[Quote]I really wanted another sex scene of Ramon and Henry, they were hot together

Same.

[quote]I like Farid's story. At first he looks like a run-of-the mill shrink and then a little off hand remark of a patient of his, Ramon, sends him on a downward spiral. What I find so interesting is that we all have, in one way or the other, some trauma we avoid dealing with in our past and it just waits to come to the surface, through a harmless or not so harmless trigger, and sends us into chaos.

Agree. At first I was not interested in his story, but I thought they did a good job of showing how a person can start disconnecting from reality. Even a very smart person. It felt real.

Watched the first episode based on this thread and really enjoyed it.

Is the guy who played Ramon on a new series? He's so hot. Terrible hair, but a very nice face.

I see man bun...I will also pass.

I need more Ramon! He's adorable.