Enlightened

Enlightened is about a woman who was unable to cope with a series of accumulated stresses in her life and decided to seek treatment. She returns to her life with a new awareness and feels compelled to share and engage people in that awareness to effect positive change around her, but she finds herself running up against resistance due to fear of change. The people around her are all coping with stress in their lives in various other ways. It's about confronting the loneliness and isolation that you can feel when your perspective differs from those around you, and how that loneliness is at odds with your desire to connect, help, and heal those around you. At the end of the day it's about the serenity prayer, about Amy learning the wisdom to know the difference between what she can change, and what she can't. A lot of mistakes are made in the process, but her heart is in the right place, and any introspective viewer will be able to relate to the struggle. I highly recommend it.

I read somewhere that this show was one of the best new shows of the year, so I started watching it on demand. I find it to be a very interesting mix of humor, drama, and intrigue. Laura Dern is great as an almost completely unpredictable person. It's almost scary to say that her character is like more than a few people I've met in my life.

This show covers work, home, friends, and life matters in a pretty realistic way. As in life, sometimes it's the verbal and sometimes it's the nonverbal communication that conveys the best message. The actors are doing a great job with the material, and I'm now on episode 7 and the show feels like it's getting even more interesting. I have to say, I'm pretty addicted to wanting to get to know these people more...and seeing where it all goes.

This show was not advertised in the UK, so I stumbled on this by accident and I'm so glad that I did. It is up there as a favourite now.

This show reminds me of Nurse Jackie, another great show, where it allows you to judge whether you think the characters are right/wrong or good/bad - they are not telling you what to think of the characters.

The cast is also great, both Laura Dern and Diane Ladd are fantastic as usual. I'm so pleased they have chosen to do TV because in recent years films have not taken notice of their great talents. Luke Wilson is the best I've ever seen him act. I love the motley crew of people she works with - great acting all round.

Also a TV show where a person actually does a full time job without the job being the main premise of the show.

The show is about one very flawed woman's struggle to become a better and healthier person. She's clearly lost, but dedicated and passionate in a way which makes you admire her and be annoyed by her at the same time. The show does a neat trick of manipulating the viewer into alternatively mocking her because of her naivete and flakiness, and cheering for her out of empathy, both back and forth within single episodes. You come to expect her to crash and burn in a tragic and comedic fashion. Yet in the end, she claims small victories of enlightenment that put all of us in touch with our humanity and teach us a little bit about growth. The show is not preachy, yet makes its points poignantly and powerfully.

I'm excited with anticipation as to where the show may go and hope it is renewed despite the poor ratings so far. Definitely my favorite new show of the season.

I'm hoping I'm not the only one out here who loves HBO's Enlightened. While still a bit uneven script to script, Laura Dern and Mike White's show is quirky, funny, irritating, raw, and human - bringing to mind Michael Tolkin's 1994 film, The New Age, minus the corrosive cynicism.

Dern portrays 'seeker' Amy Jellicoe straight up, with all her foibles: unvarnished, selfish, pretentious and trying hard to change. I'm pretty sure most of us get Amy's brand of supercilious self-righteousness, the kind we get when we want so much to change others, while avoiding the change that begins with ourselves. Co-creator Mike White is heartbreakingly sympathetic, hilarious and a great foil for Dern.

Unfortunately Enlightened brings to mind a few other wonderful shows where our imaginary friends disappeared within a season or so: My So Called Life, Beggars and Choosers, Canada's Intelligence, among them. Sometimes the grit is just a little too real, the subject a little too off-beat for mass consumption, with broadcasters not giving a show enough time to find its feet, and audiences robbed of the chance to bond with character.

With apologies to Jimi Hendrix, a toast to Enlightened, 'Let your freak flag fly.'