Notes on Pop Culture: Media Expectations of Women, 'In Treatment' & Deeply Written TV Characters Wreck My Enjoyment of Films

Image credit: CBS

Media Expectations of Women

Did you hear about the recent controversy involving two twentysomething Glee actresses posing provocatively for GQ while wearing their panties and sucking on lollipops? Or about a Marie Claire writer’s hateful attack on CBS’ Mike & Molly in which the writer said she doesn’t want to watch overweight people walk across the room never mind kiss one another on a primetime television sitcom. Or did you happen to read the New York Times’ hard-hitting analysis of female politicians’ choice of attire?

My pop culture and politics column this week took on all three of those issues and concluded that, collectively, they send a pretty lousy message: That young female celebrities have to debase themselves sexually in order to get media attention and then suffer the intense criticism for doing so (no such requirement for young male celebs), that having overweight men in leading roles on TV shows doesn’t prompt ugly attacks though a leading overweight woman does, and that no matter how a female politician dresses she’s going to be attacked by fashion writers as either dressing too “mannishly” or too sexy in “rump-hugging” skirts. It’s a fairly grumpy piece, if I do say so myself.

Season 3 - Week 2 Preview

In Treatment

HBO’s In Treatment . . . we’re now in week two, eight sessions into Paul Weston’s third season. And I’m just as enthralled as I was in the first.

Of the new patients, I’m most intrigued by Frances, played by Debra Winger, and by Paul himself facing off against his new therapist Adele as he’s increasingly fearful that he has Parkinson’s, like his father.

This is becoming my favorite indulgence of the week, watching Paul and his patients. I find that I do absolutely no multi-tasking (no BlackBerry, no laptop, etc.) while this is on because I want to catch every glance and gesture.

Deeply Written TV Characters Wreck My Enjoyment of Films

After reading a Boston Globe article published the weekend Mad Men’s season finale aired, I realized the truth in what the writer, Matthew Gilbert, was saying: All of these complicated, anti-hero characters on cable dramas -- Don Draper from Mad Men, Tommy Gavin from Rescue Me, Paul from In Treatment, Tony Soprano from The Sopranos, Walter White from Breaking Bad, etc. -- have been so nuanced and deep that movie characters, by comparison, seem pretty shallow. I then proceeded to wonder how much better, say, The Town, would’ve been had it been a cable TV drama (instead of a film) on my recent CliqueClack TV post. And I was really entertained by The Town.

Image credit: CBS.

The Cure for the 'Mad Men' Void: 'In Treatment'

The secrets we keep

The lies we tell

The truth we hide

It all comes out.

Season 3 Trailer

The intense, almost claustrophobic HBO therapy drama, In Treatment returns for its third season on Monday October 25 at 9 p.m., and just in time, as far as I'm concerned, because I’ll be anxiously using sessions with Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) to fill the philosophical/intellectual entertainment void that Mad Men left behind in the wake of the conclusion of its too brief fourth season. (Ironically, the advertising copy for this season's In Treatment -- listed above -- sounds like it could also be applied to Mad Men.)

For the uninitiated, In Treatment is a series of regular “appointments” for each character. There are new characters each season, with the exception of Paul who has been in all the episodes. You watch that character’s session on his/her day/time each week, watching all the patients' sessions or just the ones that happen to interest you. At the end of the “week,” Paul visits his own therapist and reflects on what’s been happening.

Here’s the schedule for the sessions/installments:

Monday

9 p.m., Sunil: A retired math professor from Bengal, who moved in with his son and his son’s American wife in New York City, is struggling with the recent death of his wife.

9:30 p.m. Frances (Debra Winger!): A recently divorced actress can’t seem to remember her lines and has been experiencing anxiety because her sister, like their mother, is dying of breast cancer.

Tuesday

9 p.m. Jesse: The HBO write-up for Jesse says he’s “a gay teen, full of creativity and angst” who “wrestles with his identity and his relationship with his adoptive parents.”

9:30 p.m. Paul: The therapist himself submits to his own therapy from Adele (Amy Ryan from The Office) because he wants her to give him a prescription for sleeping pills, only Adele makes him confront the skeletons in his closet.

Season 3 Preview

HBO Teases with 'In Treatment' Promo

Season 3 Tease

The new promo from HBO for the third season of the intimate talk therapy drama In Treatment gives us no insight into what the new season may bring, other than a tan sofa with four red toss pillows artfully perched on either side.

The third season of the series, filming now, is supposed to star not only the wonderful Gabriel Byrne as the main character, Dr. Paul Weston, but also Amy Ryan (from The Office) who'll be Paul's therapist, replacing Dianne Wiest who won an Emmy for her role as Paul’s therapist Gina. Additionally, Debra Winger will be one of Paul’s patients.

No formal air date has been announced.