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Show Big Love looks at the Paul Brownfield LOS ANGELES TIMES Henricksons would be outed as polygamists on their street or in the aisles of Home Phis and whether Bill could funnel ' cash from the compound while keeping the compound crazies from showing up in his drive-- ' has treated the re-second season polygamist show ' Big Love like a radiant but overlooked sister-wif: pay- -' ing more promotional attention to the conclusion of"The Sopranos and the launching ' of "John from Cincinnati, a .. bombastic series the network ended up canceling last week. "Big Love," which moved . , back to Sunday nights to replace "John," is about two that TV never finds sexy religion and family, in the ' uncynfcal sense. Inside the Henrickson ' home, there is no separation of church and statethere's a president and his Cabinet Of women, with lobbying, " schoning and in the corrktors of three houses conjoined under a shared God. The idea that God is closely watching the Henricksons Bill, wife No. 1 Barb, Wife No. 2 Nick! and wife No. 3 Mar-gene) bolsters the filiation of the white lies and manipula-tion- s they perpetrate on one another, not to mention the forbiddenearthly sins they can hardly resist. ; "Big Love" began as a show about a polygamist entre-- . preneur frying to juggle three j : wives, three families, three mortgages and one wholesome American superstore called Home Plus. Social conservatives paradoxically in an open marriage, the Henricksons pray wMh a conviction TV usually cant stomach. Of course, God is malleable on "Big Love, produring cult-- . ish terrorists and capital oli--. garchs. The Henricksons more honestly struggle with the contradictions between the lifestyle their faith has produced and a world that considers M ) Huoi ' e, . . . . : aMo-geth- ' . The deal-makin- g sister-wive- s' emergence .. Archie Bunker was trying to keep his household's gender roles frozen in the 1950s on "All in the Family." It might sound perverse to say, but one., reason the family sitcom is all but extinct now is that the networks pave Up onthe okl, credulous idea of a dysfunc-tiondictatorship. . . . SUN IS IN al MY EYES! Anp the $anp is Too SANDY! OOF-T- VE HAP IT V .Arrested Development," the last of the celebrated fam-il- y sit coms, seemed to put a . semi-closet- : period on that long epoch; it was a show on which nobody was the father or the mother. the family unit portrayed as a giant swill of egoneed and ;. baggage. . On "Big Love, the dicta-.- . tor doesn't see he's facing a bloodless coup. The wives are . usually seen at home, cleaning or cooking, one eye barely on the kids. But within this antiquated patriarchal arrangement, they resonate as1 modern and pow- erful . Increasingly, thewomen realize they outnumber Bill three deviant.. And for Bill (Bill Paxton), sister wives tonne vulnerable there'a a heaping tablespoon of patriarch. ; foundation of The rock-solinamely, the self he left behind at Juniper Oeek, faith and family makes "Big Love" oddly refreshing. But the Holy Roller compound from which he was expelled what's truly fun is watching ' at 14. women these outre-modeneck-dee- p in kids, car pods As with the closeted pot V. dealer Nancy Botwin on Show- and God, cell phones attached times broader suburban satire to their waists discover the Weeds," the tease in Season 1 intoxicating power of the of Big Love" was whether the -- self-deni- Arg! it's Too HoTt Too NoiSY ANP THE. !. . , .. sometimes' unMed, some-times at war has made Big Love" also a political satire such as we havent seen since bpck-chann- . ; . . . ! . sub-ejec- ts 1. . threats remain in Season 2, but the show has moved on to something more interest' n ing unfolding inside the home: the awakening of the women, now exerting ; checks and balances on Bill's authority. Here's where the show has gotten truly rich, by making Bill the outrider, Godlike in ration only,, as when he. ; led for a seventh day of rest. banded and the sister-wive- s together to withhold sex Hen-ricksa- .. . . way.':.,.'. All the d . VI o o (9 |