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Valerie (Michaela Watkins) is a tired therapist divorcing her husband Drew who is going with a younger woman. She and her teenage daughter Laura Meyers (Tara Lynne Barr) are living at her single brother Alex Cole (Tommy Dewey). Alex created a dating app but his own program cannot find him a real match. Valerie decides to have an one night stand with Leon (Nyasha Hatendi). Instead, Alex befriends Leon as his own permanent friend. Leia (Julie Berman) is Valerie's secretary.

I love the humor of Michaela Watkins. The brother is a bit of a hit and miss. His self-destructive jerkiness can be annoying but his lack of a dating profile match is utterly heart-breaking. It's a great poetic surprise reveal. The daughter is doing the rebel teen thing with her deadpan delivery. It's both adorable and frustrating. The whole self-destructive dysfunctional family can be both adorable and frustrating. Maybe my best take is that this is casually humorous.

I loved the first season which I would have rated an 8. The rating had to come down though for the remaining seasons - the decline was slow but real. I loved each of the three main characters to begin with, but Alex just started to drive me crazy and become really unlikeable in the subsequent seasons, esp 3 and 4. I was not rooting for him at all. Talk about an attention seeking narcissist! Similarly the daughter became as dull as dishwater as the series progressed. What made me see it all through until the end was the wonderful Michaela Watkins. I find her performances are always nuanced and her timing is fantastic (I know a lot of comic timing may be down to directors/editors etc, but I'm giving her credit). In conclusion, while I was watching the series finale, I was really itching for the episode to end so that I could leave the series behind me, a series which was only a shadow of its original self.

The first season of this show was pretty funny and I devoured it. Eventually it kinda fades into the typical dysfunctional family drama but I still enjoyed the characters. Decent show.

Casual stars Michaela Watkins and Tommy Dewey as Valerie and Alex, two adult siblings and Tara Lynne Barr as Valarie's daughter. All three actors are excellent in their respective roles and the writing is top notch. What I think is throwing some off, myself included, is the fact that the characters are not that nice. They are selfish, sometimes arrogant, and superficial, but along the way, we learn to forgive them because they are so damaged. Explanation of plot and characters would be irrelevant as it is a multi story-line arc, so just watch the show.

I will never understand what posessed me to stick with a show that starts out with three selfish, neurotically cynical and sexually dysfunctional leads, but I did and it really paid off. Casual is a beautifully written series, aside from great dialog and storytelling, the character arcs, both within each season and overall are masterful. The show's direction is nicely cohesive, with each episode's director clearly chosen for that particular episode according to style, emphasis & content. The cast has teriffic chemistry, particularly between the three principals.

I watched all four seasons of Casual over the course of a few weeks, finishing about a month ago. I've been surprised to find the characters (even the ones I still don't like) and their stories have stuck with me like a beloved novel. I can't say that about many shows or even films. Bravo!