There are several tremendous scenes with Tom and Mary in their bedroom as their marriage slowly disintegrates. Zero comedy involved. They are as good or better than many I've seen on soaps. The closest comparison is the lengthy conversations Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer would put together in the first 3-4 years of Ryan's Hope.
There are also a few tender moments with Ed and Howard that I appreciated, even as most of the story was unsurprisingly about the reactions of the straight characters. I especially appreciated that they spoke about getting married and their last scene on the show was them agreeing to marry.
Initially, the parody aspect of the show shines, and I think their skewering of the media continues that way for a while (from Loretta's Dinah Shore fiasco to the skewing and pseudo-intellectual questions the David Susskind panel throw at Mary - her outburst about what makes her an American is so fitting for today), but otherwise, the comedic/parodic aspects of the show start to get worse. So many of Cathy's stories...and so many of the Loretta and Charlie stories, which I struggle with in spite of thinking highly of the actors (and of Dabney Coleman, who is incredibly magnetic from the first time he appears).
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DRW50 ·
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