'In Treatment' recreates an Israeli original, called Betipul. They ran it with the same format - one patient each day of the week.
When it was launched here, a Ha'aretz review seemed dubious that it will succeed because of Americans' "familiar and inflexible viewing habits." I love it!
Has anyone seen the Israeli version or know where I can watch it?
Showing posts with label therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label therapy. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2008
In Treatment - Watch Online
In Treatment is a new show that launched this week on HBO. I'm really into the format - there are episodes every day where Paul sees different patients. Then on Friday, we'll see his own session with his therapist, Gina (Dianne Wiest). Produced by M&M (marky-mark?) Wahlberg, it's an American version of an Israeli show (Think of pitch people saying 'Well, The Office crossed the Atlantic just fine...).
Each episode uses a single session as it's narrative structure. It's like the ultimate psycho-drama. Character-arc is everything here and it works because the writing is tight and the acting is great. Gabriel Byrne, in particular, is a totally convincing therapist. Not only that, but he's a good therapist - he's making the connections for his patients and helping them uncover them for themselves whenever possible.
The first week had a few first visits and just one long-time customer (Laura). You get the raw feeling of a duel from a few of the sessions which feels authentic. Everyone approaches him with so many defenses (or by going on the offensive). In the end, when he sits down with Gina, he gives what he gets. They do such a good job of showing how engaging with the process of therapy is engaging the therapist.
Maybe the fun here is the fact that we get to play both shrink and patient. We're getting Paul's help but we're also yelling at the screen like "don't go up the stairs" when we see something before he does. Then on Friday there's the big reveal of what he thinks.
While they're not archetypes, each of the four patients is likely to appeal to different audiences to varying degrees. I wonder if different people will watch on different nights - or if HBO is trying to hit different demographics this way.
It could be vicarious therapy for people who can't/don't want to go to therapy themselves. They can pick their character and transfer the process of exploration onto themselves. But then, everyone should watch Friday's episode to see what Paul thinks of them.
Worth noting is that HBO has allowed us to watch the full streaming episodes for this first week online. (This is what execs would tell screen writers is a 'promotion'). I'm not sure if they'll keep that up, but I hope so. HBO's online viewer has no full-screen, but it's totally uninterupted by commercials.
Each episode uses a single session as it's narrative structure. It's like the ultimate psycho-drama. Character-arc is everything here and it works because the writing is tight and the acting is great. Gabriel Byrne, in particular, is a totally convincing therapist. Not only that, but he's a good therapist - he's making the connections for his patients and helping them uncover them for themselves whenever possible.
The first week had a few first visits and just one long-time customer (Laura). You get the raw feeling of a duel from a few of the sessions which feels authentic. Everyone approaches him with so many defenses (or by going on the offensive). In the end, when he sits down with Gina, he gives what he gets. They do such a good job of showing how engaging with the process of therapy is engaging the therapist.
Maybe the fun here is the fact that we get to play both shrink and patient. We're getting Paul's help but we're also yelling at the screen like "don't go up the stairs" when we see something before he does. Then on Friday there's the big reveal of what he thinks.
While they're not archetypes, each of the four patients is likely to appeal to different audiences to varying degrees. I wonder if different people will watch on different nights - or if HBO is trying to hit different demographics this way.
It could be vicarious therapy for people who can't/don't want to go to therapy themselves. They can pick their character and transfer the process of exploration onto themselves. But then, everyone should watch Friday's episode to see what Paul thinks of them.
Worth noting is that HBO has allowed us to watch the full streaming episodes for this first week online. (This is what execs would tell screen writers is a 'promotion'). I'm not sure if they'll keep that up, but I hope so. HBO's online viewer has no full-screen, but it's totally uninterupted by commercials.
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