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Show BIZARRO Run - for your life! Here dome &ome Perlect 'Treatment' for the TV rerun blues CLOSE TO HOME drestioniittl Mary McNamara LOS ANGELES of subconscious plea for help. But "In Treatment" writer-direct- TIMES Rodrigo Garcia refuses to apologize or equivocate. He just puts troubled people in a (very lovely, evocatively lighted) room and writes the hell out of it. Which doesn't mean "In Treatment" is perfect. At times the construct of two or three people sitting in a room talking for half an hour becomes stagey, and the level of antagonism each patient amis at Paul in almost every episode strains not only believability (surely grownups would not waste their money talking about their therapist's failings when they could be talking about themselves) but also the dramatic pitch. Nor are all of the characters or storylines as compelling as the others. That said, I watched all seven weeks that HBO sent me (that's 35 episodes, people), one after the other, as fast as I could clear the room of my young childrenrl stayedaip , -past midnight, grew hollow- eyed and pale, missed meals and refused to answer my cell phone or check my email just so I could squeeze in another episode. It wasn't pretty, but it sure was fun. Byrne is at the top of his fretful haunted game, portraying a man truly devoted to his clients and his science and yet depressed, repressed, narcissised suicide. On Thursday, itX tic and occasionally downright Jake and Amy (Josh Charles whiny. Having now officially and Embeth Davidtz), a couple turned the noncommittal murmur into an art form, Byrne fighting over what to do now that their five-yea-r attempt to uses his craggy brow and get pregnant has worked (she tragic Irish eyes to their best wants to abort, he doesn't). Fri- advantage, making Paul, at the base of it, noble enough, a man day is the best, because that's when Paul takes himself, his seeking to correct his failings even if he can't quite bring fraying marriage and various himself to admit them. midlife anxieties to the home of his former mentor, retired When he first turns to Gina, the mentor he broke with therapist Gina (Wiest). If you've ever been in years ago, he tells her it is because he has become so imtherapy, thought about going into therapy, known anyone in patient with his patients. That isn't what the real problem is, therapy or just really like Gaof course, and his and Gina's briel Byrne andor Dianne Wiest (and I think I have covered attempt to get at the root of his the vast majority of Americans irritation forms the spine of the narrative. here), "In Treatment" is televiAnd the best part of "In sion as controlled substance Treatment" is that if, for highly addictive. The therasome reason, you really can't pist's office may be in danger stand one of the patients or of being worn ragged as a the stories, you can just skip dramatic construct indeed, that night. Though I wouldn't between "The Sopranos" and recommend it. Even without "Tell Me You Love Me," it is tempting to wonder if HBO ex- a strike, television like this ecutives are making some kind doesn't come along every day. d these days endless reruns and empty, TiVo queues, just about anything new from HBO would be cause for rejoicing. But "InTreatment," a half-hodrama that debuted Monday, is the proverbial manna in the desert. And not just because it's based on a popular, Israeli television show. Cleverly conceived, it boasts cast (Gabriel Bya rne, Dianne Wiest, Blair Underwood) who achieve, at times, theatrical transcendence. And perhaps most important con- sidering these troubled times, it airs five days a week! Yes, that's right, every weeknight ' for nine weeks. Your TiVo will never go hungry again. Here's the setup: Paul (Byrne) is a therapist who sees patients in his home. Each episode is devoted to one patient's session: Monday, it's Laura (Melissa George), a young doctor with the hots for Paul and some fairly obvious father issues. Tuesday, it's Alex (Underwood), a cocky fighter pilot who completed a mission that 0 left 16 Iraqi boys dead, not that this is a problem for him or anything. Wednesday brings Sophie (Mia Wasikowska), a troubled teenage gymnast who may or may not have attemptstrike-plague- In p ur star-studd- For workers who are in need of a discreet spot to catch some Z's comes Napquest. I DO APPRECIATE Fl S I TOR OSiR COME HCM BUTI RDMmHHTlRXDIT HRRDTDSEEHOUTHE I WHfrryooDp OjvII WPPK1VIN&PRV1L5ES BNPNCESX- - LV WHAT MOO I MKSEP I ten i 7 ftiairt THAriUW1D0aD..H LIKE SUCH A I SEEMED VJXCBTT SOftT... A u DOGBERT THE FINANCIAL PLANNER INVESTING IS FAR TOO COMPLICATED FOR YOUR TINY BRAIN. DO YOU ARE A FINANCIAL TROGLODYTE! jQ I NO. OUR GET SOfAE ' ADVICE NOW? FIRST tAEETTNG IS JUST TO SOFTEN YOU UP. . |