{"id":7442,"date":"2011-09-20T10:36:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-20T08:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.breigh.com\/wordpress\/?p=7442"},"modified":"2015-01-25T15:57:51","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T14:57:51","slug":"tv-review-the-big-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/archives\/7442","title":{"rendered":"TV Review: The Big C"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\t
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Hilarious and Touching<\/h4>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t

I love this show and was so sad to see it end. I suppose it had to, though, considering the subject.<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t

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When I first heard about Showtime\u2019s new show The Big C<\/a> last year, I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect.\u00a0 All I knew was that it was a show about Cancer, it sounded like a Reality show that would hit way too close to home for me.\u00a0 Cancer? Really? Do they have to go there?<\/p>\n

Having lost so many people I love to Cancer, I couldn\u2019t stand the thought of it being made light of at all.\u00a0 I had images in my head of these people being exploited for money, possibly doing this Reality TV show to make money to leave their families and it horrified me. But I was too curious to leave it alone, so I downloaded the first episode blindly, ready to face whatever was waiting for me.<\/p>\n

First, a feeling of relief washed over me as I realized it wasn\u2019t Reality TV at all.\u00a0 The fact that it was on Showtime should have been my first clue that rather than reality, it was an edgy, somewhat controversial comedy which looks at Cancer from all different angles.<\/p>\n

Yes, you heard me, I said it!\u00a0 A comedy about Cancer.\u00a0 It can be done!\u00a0 Showtime has proven that with this amazing program that I haven\u2019t been able to stop watching since that first episode.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a preview:<\/p>\n[youtube id=”nfcceO-U2wk” width=”600″ height=”350″]\n

What a wonderful, wonderful show\u2026honestly, I\u2019m completely hooked.<\/p>\n

It also has an amazing cast and I don\u2019t think anyone could have done better when it came to choosing the people to play each of the roles. My hat\u2019s off to the casting department for this one.<\/p>\n

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First there\u2019s Laura Linney<\/a> in the role of The Big C herself, Cathy Jamison.\u00a0 The lead role in the story, Cathy is a teacher, wife and mother who is diagnosed with stage IV melanoma.\u00a0 The story follows her through her mental process after her diagnosis, how it causes her to see life differently, react to her family differently and just generally grab life (and the odd handyman) by the balls!<\/p>\n

There is also a certain humor that comes into play here. Not the kind of humor that I think Cancer patients would be offended by, and obviously that is something I can only assume having not had cancer myself\u2026 but rather, the sort of comedy that would have them shaking their heads and laughing.\u00a0 I think what Linney brings to the character is something a lot of real Cancer patients could relate to and see the humor in it themselves.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure many of them will have gone through the same emotions she has, and I can only imagine many of them have felt like doing the very same thing she does during her journey of trying to come to grips with the hand life has dealt her.<\/p>\n

She is a beautiful woman, an incredibly talented actress and she brings Cathy to life in a way that has us all cheering for her, laughing with and at her and crying for her all at the same time.\u00a0 I am so attached to this character, it almost frightens me where the story is going to take her. That is what tells me that the writing and acting in this show are so great, because I am invested.<\/em><\/p>\n

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As much as I love Laura Linney and the entire premise of this show, I can\u2019t deny that my very favorite part of the show is Oliver Platt<\/a> and his character of Cathy\u2019s husband, Paul Jamison.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s odd, because to me Oliver Platt is<\/em> Paul Jamison, and Paul Jamison is<\/em> Oliver Platt.\u00a0 It\u2019s like this role was created for him, and who knows, maybe it was.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there is a role I haven\u2019t loved him in, but the waves of sadness, joy and insanity that are needed to play Cathy\u2019s husband couldn\u2019t be done this well by anyone else.<\/p>\n

He is a brilliant actor, as is obvious from all his work, but he makes Paul special!\u00a0 Even when he\u2019s doing things that make us groan and smack ourselves in the forehead, even when he\u2019s being completely unreasonable\u2026 we still love him because that\u2019s just the kind of character and actor that he is.\u00a0 He makes it impossible to be angry with him and he is so quirky and loveable that you can\u2019t help but forgive him for all his many, many flaws.\u00a0 What endears me to him most is his undying love for Cathy.\u00a0 No matter what crazy lengths her coping mechanisms cause her to go to, and even though there are times he feels like walking away forever, in the end he stands by her\u00a0 through thick and thin.<\/p>\n

These two particular actors in these two particular roles are what make this show.\u00a0 Without them, it couldn\u2019t possibly be the same.\u00a0 It\u2019s a special combination, and unlikely<\/em> combination when you first look at it\u2026 but somehow it works. That odd looking jigsaw puzzle of characteristics these two actors have come together in a magical way that you\u2019d never expect.<\/p>\n

There is also a pretty phenomenal supporting cast.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a>Phyllis Somerville<\/a>, whom I\u2019d never heard of previously, plays Cathy\u2019s sarcastic, crotchety neighbour, Marlene.<\/p>\n

Living across the street in a run down, unloved house, Marlene is living a solitary and lonely life after the death of her husband (also to Cancer).\u00a0 She initially wants nothing to do with Cathy but\u00a0 over time she gives in and they form a friendship.<\/p>\n

She is the first person Cathy tells about her illness, but only because Marlene figures it out for herself.\u00a0 She has a theory that dogs can smell cancer and\u00a0 after her dog won\u2019t leave Cathy alone, she comes to the conclusion on her own.<\/p>\n

Marlene doesn\u2019t let Cathy get away with anything, she calls her on all her antics and always tells her like it is.\u00a0 I think Cathy appreciates the fact that the Cancer doesn\u2019t make Marlene treat her with kid gloves.\u00a0 She also quickly realizes that Marlene has problems of her own, as she is starting to show signs of memory loss.\u00a0 This leads to other circumstances I won\u2019t mention, as I don\u2019t want to spoil anything for readers who haven\u2019t seen the show yet.<\/p>\n

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Another great addition to the cast is Gabourey Sidibe<\/a> who plays one of Cathy\u2019s high school students.\u00a0 A fighty, smartass student that Cathy takes a special interest in by offering her cash rewards for losing weight.<\/p>\n

I seem to recall Howard Stern<\/a> making comments to the affect that Gabourey would never get any more work after her role in Precious<\/a>, due to her size and there not being any roles out there for her.\u00a0 Well, I think it\u2019s safe to say that she is making him eat those words.
\nThe role she plays in The Big C could not be more different than her character in Precious.\u00a0 Andrea Jackson is bubbly, bright and doesn\u2019t take crap from anyone, which is pretty much the opposite of her role as the sullen, beaten down Precious. She sounds more like a valley girl than a girl from the hood and she has big dreams and a big attitude.<\/p>\n

Much like Marlene, she doesn\u2019t let Cathy get away with anything either.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t pity her for having Cancer and doesn\u2019t allow Cathy to pity her either.\u00a0 While there is a certain amount of insecurity that comes with being young and overweight, her carefree and independent nature is part of what draws Cathy to her.<\/p>\n

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It took me a while to warm up to John Benjamin Hickey<\/a>\u2019s character, Sean Tolkey, Cathy\u2019s bi-polar brother. He\u2019s a hardcore environmentalist who prefers to live on the streets, eat out of garbage cans and preach loudly about all that is wrong in the world.<\/p>\n

In the beginning of the show, Cathy and Sean have a very distant relationship and it is only after her diagnosis that she realizes it and tries to create a stronger bond between them.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t make this easy for her, just by being who he is, but she doesn\u2019t give up easily.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of highs and lows with Sean throughout this story so far, not just in his relationship with Cathy, but in other relationships and their trying to deal with his mental illness.<\/p>\n

We sometimes get glimpses of what Sean could be, and that makes us feel sort of sad.\u00a0 With him not being a fan of his medication he unfortunately never stays on them very long.\u00a0 While we fall in love with him when he is \u2018stable\u2019 Sean, some of that gets ripped away when he goes off his medication and starts behaving in ways that cause his family to worry about him.\u00a0 He can sometimes come across as being very selfish, but you can\u2019t blame him<\/em> for that really\u2026\u00a0 Like with his fellow cast mates, John Benjamin Hickey does a great job with his character.\u00a0 Even when I look at this photo I don\u2019t see the actor, I just see Sean in a suit.<\/p>\n

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Hugh Dancy<\/a> came into the story somewhat later than the rest, after Cathy and Paul hit him with their car on the way to the hospital.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t leave them with the best first impression, coming off somewhat cocky and rude, but when Cathy realizes that he has the same condition and they are in the same clinical trial, they become fast friends.<\/p>\n

He teaches Cathy a lot about herself, that she is more than just her illness and how important it is for he to live her life to the fullest.\u00a0 There is an attraction there on her side, even though she would never do anything about it, but it\u2019s pointless as he turns out to be gay.<\/p>\n

He is a lovely, although sometimes frustrating, character. He had been dealing with Cancer a lot longer than Cathy so while she was still in the stage where she wanted to try everything possible and fight for all she is worth, he had reached a stage of acceptance that she wasn\u2019t ready for yet.\u00a0 So while they had a lot in common in regards to their actual illness, they were in quite different places when it came to dealing with it.\u00a0 Their relationship was a touching example of how two people can become great friends in spite of all their glaring differences.<\/p>\n

There are other smaller roles that people played, for example Idris Elba<\/a> had a short stint as a fling of Cathy\u2019s (remember what I said about grabbing life by the balls??) and Ried Scott<\/a> as Cathy\u2019s first very cute but somewhat inappropriate oncologist. Also Alan Alda<\/a> (our old friend from M*A*S*H<\/a>) joins the cast as the new doctor in charge of Cathy\u2019s clinical trial.<\/p>\n

As much as I love this show, there are a few things I hate about it as well, mostly characters that irritate me.<\/p>\n

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Cynthia Nixon<\/a> came very close to ruining this show for me a number of times.\u00a0 As a huge fan of Sex and the City<\/a>, her role of Miranda Hobbs was one that grated my nerves something fierce.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s possible that I just hate this actress and she is doomed to ruin any role she plays for me, but perhaps that is why she was cast to play Rebecca in the first place.\u00a0\u00a0 I think the character was meant<\/em> to be hated by the masses to some degree, so in that sense, she was cast perfectly.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, she could have played the most wonderful and lovely friend possible and I may still have despised her simply for the actress who played her.\u00a0 I will really never know until I see her in a role where she doesn\u2019t play a whiney, shrill, self-involved pain in the arse.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, her time on the show (at least for now) has come to an end.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping there is a reason for her exit and that the execs realized that she was just too cringe worthy to keep around and we will not see Rebecca anymore in the future.\u00a0 I would happily never see Rebecca, or Cynthia Nixon, ever again\u2026<\/p>\n

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A slightly less irritating example is Gabriel Basso<\/a> as Cathy\u2019s son, Adam.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say I hate<\/em> this character or the actor himself, but I just find myself sighing a lot and wishing he was different.<\/p>\n

Maybe they have the child dealing with Cancer thing down pretty well, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I just find that while there is a fair bit of story given to Adam, that he\u2019s lacking somehow.\u00a0 Yes, he has his moments where he acts out or shows that he\u2019s screwed up by the fact that his mother has cancer, but there\u2019s no real depth there. Even that took a long time to happen, for ages he just did nothing.\u00a0 He was just a space filler, or at least that\u2019s what it felt like.<\/p>\n

Other than the usual teenage boy stuff, like farting all the damn time, and the things he does for attention\u2026 he just feels hollow.
\nThere were a few moments where I saw glimpses of maturity and depth, for example when he was dealing with Marlene or at Poppy\u2019s reunion, but it wasn\u2019t enough somehow. I need more from this character that I\u2019m not getting and it\u2019s not something I can put my finger on.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s the actor who doesn\u2019t bring him to life and make him real in a way I need or maybe it\u2019s the writing, I\u2019m honestly not sure.\u00a0 I don\u2019t dislike him to the point of wanting him killed off\u2026 I just want MORE, somehow, just MORE.<\/p>\n

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Speaking of killing off!!\u00a0 Can we please get some death for Parker Posey<\/a> and her character Poppy?<\/p>\n

Poppy is a girl, no\u2026 a WOMAN, a grown woman, like 38 years old grown\u2026 that Adam meets in a chat room for children of parents with Cancer.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t tell Adam her real age, leaving him to find out when he first meets her face to face.\u00a0 She clearly has issues, which is visible by the way she dresses, the fact that at almost 40 years old she still speaks like a 13 year old boy and just her general demeanor.\u00a0 Not to mention the fact that she is hanging around with a teenage boy!<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see the purpose of this character at all. Is she just there as another example of Adam\u2019s poor decision making?\u00a0 Is the fact that he sympathizes with her after all the lies she\u2019s told supposed to make us see the depth we crave in him? I am at a loss.<\/p>\n

Like with Cynthia Nixon, I am not a Parker Posey fan, so the fact that she is playing a character I can\u2019t stand is not surprising.\u00a0 Again, perhaps she was put in that role for that very reason, maybe the casting execs find Parker Posey annoying too and thought she\u2019d be perfect for this role. In that case, well done!\u00a0 Now please, write her off, I\u2019m begging you.<\/p>\n

Even the fact that a few of the characters make me want to stab knitting needles into my ears does not change the fact that I am completely in love with this show.\u00a0 I love the way they take something so serious and bring light to it without disrespecting it.<\/p>\n

I must warn you though, this is definitely not something you want to watch with your children, as I said\u2026 edgy. By edgy I mean sexual and vulgar at times, which also means it\u2019s full of awesome.<\/p>\n

I love the way they give us a glimpse into what it\u2019s like to have Cancer and deal with it.\u00a0 For example, the times where she does get upset because\u00a0 people don\u2019t get it<\/em>, always makes me think back to the time I was sitting at my grandmother\u2019s kitchen table when an envelope shot under the door.\u00a0 Her neighbour had slipped a get well card under the door with some money in it.\u00a0 It was the first and only time I had seen my grandmother ever break down or show emotion about her situation.\u00a0 She slammed her fist on the table, cried out that MONEY CANNOT BUY MY HEALTH BACK<\/em> and sobbed.\u00a0 It was heartbreaking for me to watch because she was such a strong woman and in my young mind, I was certain that Cancer was no match for her.<\/p>\n

I was wrong.\u00a0 I had no idea what she was up against and until that day never knew how frightened and sad she was behind the brave face she kept putting on for the rest of us.<\/p>\n

I see that in Cathy as well, how she tries to go about her daily life, tries to be strong for herself and her family but with the nagging fear always in the back of her mind.<\/p>\n

Ok, so The Big C is still fiction and not ever Cancer patient is going to have a crazy homeless brother or a funny, bitchy neighbour with Alzheimer’s\u2026 this IS TV after all.\u00a0 But\u2026It\u2019s damn good TV and as long as you can take it for what it is, enjoy Cathy, her situation and the people surrounding her, I think you could love this show just as much as I do.<\/p>\n

Have you been watching The Big C too?\u00a0 If so, what do you think of it?<\/p>\n

If not, what the heck are you waiting for?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I first heard about Showtime\u2019s new show The Big C last year, I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect.\u00a0 All I knew was that it was a show about Cancer, it sounded like a Reality show that would hit way too close to home for me.\u00a0 Cancer? Really? Do they have to go there? Having …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,595],"tags":[882,886,14,598,132,522],"class_list":["post-7442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-entertainment","category-review","tag-entertainment","tag-reviews","tag-tv","tag-tv-reviews","tag-videos","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7442"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13927,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442\/revisions\/13927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}