Casual

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!

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.

I stumbled upon this show in a desperate attempt to find something entertaining and exciting to watch but also saw a familiar face, actor Tommy Dewey, who I also recognized as Mindy Lahiri's ex-boyfriend from The Mindy Project, also part of the main cast. I will admit that the pilot initially threw me off, leaving me a bit confused as to what the show was all about. I then followed this with seeing what IMDb had to say and stumbled on a negative review which made me write-off this show... until now. Having watched all five current episodes, it wasn't until I finished the second episode that I immediately disposed of my original thoughts and found out that this show was everything I was hoping it would be...Just needs some time to get used to in my case.

I don't know what its like to be a divorced single mother, or a misogynistic brother, or even a 16 year old high school girl. But what I can relate to is the journey through online dating and all the happenings revolved around it that I find myself smile and laugh when scenes cause flashbacks into my own dating past... of memories I've tucked away into the back of my brain hoping they never resurface. But hey, that's what makes this show special.

The comedy is tasteful and sincere, the actors and story-line are believable, and together the three main characters have a great dynamic together. Simply, an unexpected surprise.

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.

Shows centered around dating are generally problematic because it's hard to empathize with the trials and tribulations of good-looking actors who have highly active sex lives.

This show got my attention in the first two episodes by bucking that trend in a manner I can buy. The protagonist, Valerie (arguably SNL's biggest firing mistake in history in Michaela Watkins) is an attractive divorcée in her late 30's with a sincere lack of confidence in herself. Sure, sex and dating are theoretically easy (her career is a successful psychiatrist proves that point) and obtainable for a woman who's willing to go out to a bar and take the first steps in propositioning a guy but if intimacy is a psychological problem, it can be more difficult in practice. Valerie's discomfort is just visceral which makes her lows relatable and will make her eventual highs (if she gets over her hang-ups) well-earned.

Her adult brother, Alex (Tommy Dewey), is equally filled with psychological hang-ups. He's been more successful in dating than his sister but he has a certain psychological distance from the whole thing. A good move on the show's part is to strip Alex of misogynist vibes: As a guy who wrote the algorithms of the dating site he's using, Alex simply feels that both men and women are overly predictable and that he's gamed the system. The pilot contains a double date (done in secret as Alex and Valerie are carpooling) which contains some relatable and truthful moments while also adding a whiff of comedy (lots of mileage to be mined out of Jill Latiano's fitness freak).

The relationship between Alex and Valerie is one of the stronger sibling portrayals on television at the moment.

Like many Jason Reitman films, this is a film with a blurred line between comedy and drama which isn't so bad considering the show portrays truth to it. One of the few shows centering on romance that's worth watching.

In the pilot episode, he condescendingly a woman for whom dating and sex isn't easy