Here’s a YouTube edited version of Showtime’s The Big C, officially premiering tonight at 10:30 PM ET.  The show stars Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison, a wife (actually estranged from her husband), mother and school teacher who, after being diagnosed with stage IV melanoma decides to spend whatever time she has left (she’s uninterested in seeking treatment or even a second opinion) engaging in as much allegedly witty and snarky repartee as possible.

Remarkably, despite her late stage diagnosis, her character seems virtually symptom free.

While seeming to be intended as Emmy bait for Showtime, the whole exercise leaves me cold. The dialogue seems forced and any real sense of emotion kept at arm’s length. The physical side of the disease is virtually ignored yet we’re apparently supposed to consider the the show to be honest. 

At one point, Linney’s character  makes reference to the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot and describes the film as being at best about 20% accurate in its depiction of the American Revolution. I think that percentage would be generous regarding this show’s relationship to what real cancer patients actually go through.  

Who knows where The Big C is going (perhaps the smug writing will improve) but, for what it’s worth, my advice to the creative people at work here would be tone down the clever and tone up the real. Some snark-free depictions of honest human-to-human kindness and forgiveness might be a good start.

Am I being too hard on the show? What’s your opinion?