Customer Reviews

The Big C: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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, August 10

Smart, well acted, brilliantly paced and edited 30 minutes. Expert cast strutting their stuff and completely blowing up the big c. some of the first season scenes and episodes - the paint guns, the open kitchen cabinets ("i want that time back"), the saving the giant lobster - brilliant, funny and poignant all at once. Watching Laura Linney and company act with brilliance and humility - hard to find a way to spend a better 28 minutes watching tv than this.

This was great! I missed the first few episodes when I got hooked. Found brand new on amazon. I got it in record time just in time to catch up before the 2nd season started.

The Big C is an amazing show! The actor are great and do an awesome job of bringing the characters to life. Laura Linney is brilliant as always, as are the rest of he cast members. You'll be laughing then crying. An emotional ride, but one well worth the journey. Can't wait for the next season!

This show has everything. Yes its about cancer. And yes, that is obviously something that in and of itself isn't funny. But its life. And humor can be found in the most devastating of circumstances. Laura Linney shines in a role that is perfect for her. She makes the show. I don't think it would work with anyone else in the title role. She is always good in whatever she is in, but she IS this woman. As a woman with Stage 4 melanoma, its easy to interpret her reactions and actions and think that she shouldn't be approaching it this way. But she is able to make the character charming and likeable while not hiding her flaws. That's what I love about this show. The characters are deeply flawed and nothing is glossed over. But this is human nature.

I wasn't sure if I would relate to this storyline or not. I'm a middle-aged woman with terminal cancer (rare kind). I'm also the mother of a 14 yr old child. Based on a couple customer reviews I decided to give it a shot. I LOVED it. I laughed, I cried. And I could very much relate to most of the characters as well as what was happening in their lives. Most cancer patients are not that close to their oncologists, so that relationship's a little different to me. But overall, a wonderful and welcome storyline. Thank you to those who were and are involved in making this tv series. I look forward to watching upcoming seasons.

Some would have you believe that just because this show improved slightly toward its conclusion that it should be forgiven for episode after episode of cartoonish nonsense. I don't agree. Love Linney, but the show is a real head-ache inducing mess. I could barely make it to the finish line.

I loved and 100% agree with Peter Swanson of Slant who, in just a few words, captures everything false about this show.

"The comedy might work better if it were situated within a realistic context; almost everything Jamison does rings false, as do the reactions of the people around her."

"And Jamison herself is pretty one-note: We don't see the fear, the depression, the disbelief, nor are we let in on the details of her diagnosis or her treatment options, all the minutiae that terminal patients face. Instead, all we get is indulgent self-absorption: I am cancerous, hear me roar. "

" In The Big C, cancer is simply an excuse to sell the vicarious thrill of on-screen narcissism."

Wanted to like it, but it is practically unwatchable.

There is no show that I thought had more promise than "The Big C." The premise is spot-on compelling, the cast impressive, and Laura Linney is one of the greats! And while I found the first episodes a bit chaotic, I held out hope. With Linney as the centerpiece, there was no way "The Big C" could fail. As the show progressed, however, there became less and less consistency, more and more lunacy, and a complete lack of believability that chilled my goodwill beyond reason. I expect I'll get all kinds of negative feedback for this commentary, but I watch and enjoy all of Showtime's female centric comedies--"Weeds" (once great, but struggling creatively), "Nurse Jackie" (solid, if somewhat overpraised), and "The United States of Tara" (uneven, but improving)--and "The Big C" definitely stands out in comparison, but not in a good way. Contrived for maximum "hilarity," its over-the-top antics were almost unbearable in their preciousness.

It's difficult to be critical of "The Big C" because there are some viewers that will inherently embrace its very real emotional core. However, I contend that the show uses the concept but doesn't develop it beyond slapstick shenanigans. That might even be fine if the show was humorous (it tries more often than not for shock) and the characters were likable or even remotely believable. Not so. Linney plays a uptight wife and mother who discovers she has cancer. Her decision, initially, is to keep the secret, resist treatment, and live out her remaining time embracing life. This has the potential to be so funny and so moving--neither word would I use to describe "The Big C."

As control-freak Linney, from episode one, starts behaving completely against type (so we're told)--no one really even notices. Her husband, son, and brother continuously reference this straight laced character she was, but don't seem to acknowledge that she's flipped her lid. Maybe they're too busy playing over-the-top quirk (as every character hails from the planet of Quirk) to notice. Oliver Platt, as her husband, is fun--but his character is so inconsistent that you never identify him as real or their relationship as sustainable. There is also a sassy student (Gabourey Sidibe) and a wacky neighbor (Phyllis Somerville) on hand to spar with Linney. They don't ground the action--they just increase the nuttiness. Somerville, a great actress, is particularly stranded. Some weeks she is emotional support, other times crazy as a loon (she went from being violently racist one week to hugging a homeless person the next). Which leaves the most obnoxious and unbelievable character yet--Linney's brother (John Benjamin Hickey, another good actor) as a homeless activist. Hickey may just be saddled with one of the most patently ridiculous characters on TV.

This leaves Linney. As the heart and soul of the show, she starts out as the solid center. But as the episodes progress, she devolves like everyone else. I wanted to be a part of her journey but I was consistently alienated by the show's overdrive lunacy. "The Big C" needs to be grounded. I understand it's goal is to be somewhat controversial in presenting this subject matter in a different way--but we need characters that we can believe in if there is to be any real emotional payoff. At the end, many people think the season's final revelations are enough to forgive the entire series of its inconsistencies, but I'm not a believer. The single biggest disappointment of my TV season--but I'll look forward to Linney in the next big project! KGHarris, 10/10.

I received this DVD of The Big C in a very timely manner and in the condition that was advertised for a Christmas gift.

What can you say,great show. Nice value from amazon. Would recommend to everyone who likes to be entertained. Buy it.