March 26, 2018

Take My Wife: Season 2


Perhaps the biggest casualty of the great Seeso collapse of 2017 was Take My Wife, a scripted comedy series about barely-fictionalized versions of real-life married comedians Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher. The second season had finished production but not yet started airing when Seeso shut down operations, which meant there was this sad little orphan season of television - completely ready to be seen, but stuck without a home.

The good news is that about a month ago the season was made available on iTunes and Google Play, and apparently later this year it will make its way to Starz. Good! I was always rooting for it to find a home; I didn't absolutely love the first season, but it was a cute enough show, an easy and enjoyable watch, and above all it was a show worth rooting for - not just about two gay women, but largely and substantially made by members of the LGBTQ community. That's a concept I can get behind, and I happily threw down ten bucks for this season of television.

But man, here comes the bad part. And I don't know how to say it without just saying it, so I'll just say it. Okay. This was not great television. This was, at worst, almost impossibly unfunny. The best thing I can say about it - and this is earnest, not sarcastic or cutting - is that it seemed like everyone involved had a great time making it.

But I don't want to dwell. Besides, throw every caveat and grain of salt you can think of on my own assessment - I'm straight, white, male, cisgender, and there's an assload of TV and other content out there "for me," and maybe this is not "for me," and you should disregard the way I feel about it entirely. (But... I did like the first season, and I do like Esposito's comedy, and I do like Butcher's comedy, and I support everything this show is doing, and so forth, and so on. So, you know, maybe this just wasn't very good.)

Regardless! I'm glad this found a home, I'm glad I bought it, and I'm glad to have seen it.

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