The Big C

Laura Linney, like her idol Meryl Streep, is just a model of consistent brilliance. If on nothing but the strength of her performance alone, "The Big C" is poised to be a big deal. Solid job of exposition in the pilot episode. All the main characters are immediately up to speed. Anyone whose life has been brushed by cancer (which is to say, everybody) will recognize the issues and identify with one or another of the characters here. From all initial appearances, this looks like it's gonna be a keeper.

Don't take Kreskin to figure that Linney's heading straight back into Emmy consideration for this role. On the basis of the first half-hour, she's delivering another of her patented fully realized performances.

Okay, Showtime. You had me at "hello". Gonna strap myself in and go for a ride with Ms. Linney and company.

Contrary to what others think on this board, the feelings that Cathy goes through and what she sees are too real for me. I am diagnosed with a brain tumour and I see things, hear things and stick my fingers up to the world.... Cancer makes you see all too clearly all that life's about and what its worth living for. This prog has kept me going through my my darker days. This is a series not to be missed and I'd recommend this to anyone who wants a good laugh and a cry at the same time... Ally McBeal with cancer thrown in (Even though Billy did die of a tumour in that series too).. I would also recommend this to carers of people with cancer, cos to me its how I feel all of the time.

THE BIG C started this week as a Showtime series for television opposite the controversial WEEDS in the late evening, subjects for mature audiences time slot. Most viewers will have mixed feelings about this first episode, so loaded with new characters with whom we have little time to understand, all edgy, and yet all surrounded by the unifying theme of how one woman deals with being told she has Stage 4 Malignant Melanoma but who decides to not inform anyone of her diagnosis, instead going after the outrageous way of living that has always been foreign to her obsessive/compulsive teacher personality.

There are few actresses who could pull this off: Laura Linney, one of our finest actresses on the screen today, is the perfect choice for making this unbelievable character credible AND charismatic. As Cathy Jamison, she is married to a bumbling irresponsible joker Paul (Oliver Platt, again an actor in the top echelon) who is currently out of the house over some disagreement with Cathy, and is mother to naughty boy Adam (Gabriel Basso), lives across the street from a elderly curmudgeon Marlene (Phyllis Somerville) with whom Cathy finally agrees to accept and to like, is a sister to a freaky psycho brother Sean (John Benjamin Hickey), is attended by her diagnosing just-fresh-out-of-residency naive physician Dr Todd (Reid Scott), and carries on teaching a classroom with bored students, including one sassy, arrogant and overweight Andrea (Gabourey Sidibe). Life is full of surprises and they pop by so quickly that we barely can tell where the series is going. As for this viewer, though not impressed with the structure of the show, staying around for the pleasure of watching Linney and Platt will be worth it - hopefully!

Grady Harp

"The Big C" walks on the thin line. Comedy and drama, love and lack of love, sweet but in the end has to be bitter. The creators and producers have to be talented if they want to walk that way and till now they really are. Laura Linney is simply great. She always is, but now is more than ever. She makes the situations easy to be watched because the subject is complicated and can hurt a lot. But instead of suffering with it, we enjoy everything what's happening: we smile, we feel. Feeling, being touched by honest emotions, is something you don't get all days, not in shows and either in real life. "The Big C" doesn't deserve only a good chance, it deserves the fidelity you give to big shows and this is one of them. Try it and you won't regret it.

I just finished watching the entire series and have to say I was pulled in from the start and found the show to be incredibly delightful in so many different ways. One minute you're laughing your ass off and the next moment you're fighting back the tears. The character development is phenomenal and the show is so well written as it portrays all sides of life: funny, sad, messy, awkward, raunchy and heart wrenching. Laura Linney's character and her brother were the anchors of the show, they both brilliantly acted their parts and had a strong unbreakable bond you don't fully recognize until the end of the series. It melts your heart. I loved the mix of characters over the course of the series, every character had relevance and depth. I honestly don't have a single bad thing to say about the show. Brilliant!