Web Therapy

Showtime has a new show with Lisa Kudrow that is based on some popular web shorts she did. The shorts have been compiled and turned into a show. In addition to Lisa, plenty of other good actors appear on this Web Therapy, so that alone is a reason to tune in. Meryl Streep was in the web shorts a few times, so she might turn up again. Jane Lynch and Rashida Jones have guest starred as patients already.

This show would be good on a marathon, because it’s so short. Quite a few have aired already. It gets funnier as it goes along, and it’s a lot funnier than the other Showtime offering starting a former Friends actor (Episodes), and we liked that show. This show is improvised too. Impressive.

Web Therapy is about a therapist who got tired of listening to people for 50 minutes, so she started doing “a new modality” of three-minute sessions over the internet. It’s a dark, sometimes dry comedy.

Kudrow’s character, Dr. Fiona Wallace, might actually give good advice if she weren’t so obsessed with herself during the three minutes. She has a real gift for catching people’s interests quickly, which is good, because a therapist who is always bad isn’t as interesting as a therapist who is sometimes good.

Fiona Wallace has a horrible (and funny) marriage to a lawyer (Victor Garber - we love him SO MUCH), and bad relationship with her mother, who clearly hates her. It’s a good summer show on Tuesday nights. It makes us chuckle. You can watch the web version here and get a taste for free. We are going to wait for the episodes, because the TV series includes extra scenes that were filmed for Showtime, and we want to watch it all in its cohesive order.

Overall, this show was a pleasant surprise. We almost skipped it, but we’re really glad we didn’t.

Show Grade: A-