Would you watch a show about a woman dying from terminal cancer? Showtime bets you will, as the cable network gets ready to launch “The Big C.” Producers say the show focuses on living, not dying and is about the choices we make with the time that we have.
Billed as a comedy-drama, the series stars Oscar nominee Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison, a reserved, stifled, Minneapolis schoolteacher who learns she has stage-four melanoma, which has a low survival rate. She decides to make drastic, long-overdue adjustments to the way she is living her life.
“You can feel it’s something special, that they’re breaking barriers down, doing something quite new and quite fresh. It’s going to be great,” actor Reid Scott, who plays Linney’s oncologist, told HollywoodNews.com. “It’s pretty edgy. It definitely pushes the envelope, but it’s not incendiary. People are going to be surprised by how much they’re going to laugh at this kind of material."
“They don’t make cancer funny,” he added. “They show how funny some people can behave when they’re going through such a tragedy, but at no point do they make light of it. Laura’s character has a sardonic sense of humor that she applies to everything she encounters. I would venture to say that 90 percent of the people who’ll watch have gone through it or had a loved one go through it. They’re going to recognize the humor. It’s very universal. There are great surprises I’m not going to give away.”
Linney says she was drawn to the script not because of the theme of disease but rather that of time--the choices people make and how they spend their time. “The fact that we all have a limited amount of time and that it’s a privilege to grow old, that’s something that a lot of people have forgotten in this fast-paced world where youth is overly celebrated," said Linney at the Television Critics Association press tour.
Showtime’s promotional material says “Cathy has always been conservative and structured – the perfect suburban wife and mother. Receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis becomes not only a challenge, but a catalyst for change. Cathy is tired of being “the sensible one” — now she wants to let her freak flag fly. For the first time in her life, she is going to make choices that suit her needs. Who says you can't eat dessert as an appetizer? Time is precious, and Cathy is grabbing life by the balls...
What do you think about this?
You can preview the first episode free at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ppgVWTYex8 We invite you to do so and then come back and share your thoughts in the Comments section or discuss this in our EmpowHER Group: Cancer Survivors: Addressing ongoing needs
The show premieres Monday, August 16. Co-stars include Oliver Platt and Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe. Cynthia Nixon and Liam Neeson also appear in one or more episodes.