This Close

Would you bleep out every other word of an actor? Would you mute and black out their mouth? No to both. Then why is it whenever someone decides to have a deaf character they decide to film their conversation by cutting off their hands in the frame. This is equivalent to silencing the deaf. If you can not see the frame in which deaf individuals speak in you are cutting off their words. I couldn't even watch 10m of this show without shutting it off. Why would they direct something with sign language leading and not honor the language and how it is communicated??? Disappointing!

... Marlee Matlin appeared in Children of a Lesser God along with William Hurt thirty-five years ago... she looks incredible in this production... as does Shoshannah Stern... and she's the real reason to watch This Close... only very good actors can act as naturally on camera as she does

... showing as now being 'on-hiatus'... hope they do decide to bring it back for another season or two.

It's disconcerting that this show isn't getting the attention it deserves. All actions are show so brilliantly and has top notch acting. I'm glad there is season two and it's brilliant as well. Can't wait to keep seing more.

... behind the disability, real life founded on a disability. THIS CLOSE is not about the miracle of overcoming obstacles related to a disability - that would be a mere repeat of what we ve seen so many times before and usually with a more than happy Hollywood style ending. It' s about the real everyday life of the disabled, it's about how they are conceived at work or as lovers, about how their character and their reactions may have been developed because of their disability. The deaf in this series are not portrayed as heroes or supernatural humans or ideal personalities. They do have their limits, their flaws, their weaknesses. They struggle, they succeed, they fail, they misbehave, they make jokes, sometimes bad ones, they make friendships, they have sex, they fall in and out of love just like any other men and women - in one word they live their lives, they do have a life just like everybody else to begin with and they don't want to be seen as deaf and only deaf, they don't need that - it's just an other trait of theirs and not necessarily the defining one in all cases. Watch this series and you will gain a fresh and quite accurate perspective of what living a real life in silence may be!

I first thought this was just a deaf version of Will and Grace but it is so much more. I binged watched the second season (I didn't see the first). At the beginning it really seams like a Will and Grace rip off. Gay best friend with a straight best friend and thier friendship ruining their romantic relationships but as you get deaper into it you realize that these characters have way more depth. As someone who wears hearing aids in both ears and has had hearing problems for 30 years I am happy to see deaf and hard of hearing characters functioning in society. Able to hold down jobs and live on their own. We need to see more "special needs" characters seen on TV and in movies the way they really live and love.