Singnificant Others: The Complete Series DVD Review:

The sitcom is dead. This may sound like an extreme statement, or at least a little premature, but if nothing else sitcoms will be forced to change in the coming years or they will be fruitless. Gone are the days of fixed sets and live audience tapings. Four cameras are no longer necessary in order to film a television show. Television has become more like film, but with the freedom of time constraints. As long as audiences will watch a show it can continue to develop characters and plots in ways that film can’t. The hour drama can now be an action show like 24 or Lost, and the half hour comedy has much more freedom. Shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development are appreciated by few because it is still a new concept, and many people are still uncomfortable with it, but this is the future of television. Significant Others is definitely not as create or ingenious as Arrested Development, but it is along the same lines, and was ages ahead of any other sitcom on television. It was cancelled and that is proof enough.

Significant Others follows four couples at different stages in their marriage, but all have one thing in common. They don’t know each other at all, but all four couples share a marriage counselor. The counselor is never seen, but we watch as these couples rant, rave and complain to their therapist. James and Chelsea have been married only a few months and they are finding that they don’t know each other as well as they thought. After one great weekend they were sure that they were soul mates, but James is shocked to find out that Chelsea has had many torrid relationships with men in her past. Eleanor and Ethan are a young couple that have been married a short while but both have refused to face responsibilities of married life, until Eleanor gets pregnant. Suddenly they are faced with all sorts of new problems. Bill and Connie have been married for fifteen years, but when Bill loses his job the marriage begins to fall apart. When he begins an affair with Connie’s sister it doesn’t help matters any. Alex and Devon just want to be good parents to their son, but they find that they have a tendency to argue, and they argue a lot.

Both of the two seasons which were aired on Bravo are here in this two-disc set.
There are twelve episodes, which will seem like more than enough after the pilot episode. The constant bickering of the show can be a bit much at first, especially for anyone who has ever been in a difficult relationship, but after time it becomes easier to bear. Once the setup of the show is able to sink in, the humor becomes more apparent. The show is almost entirely improvised by the extremely talented cast, which includes a member of the Curb Your Enthusiasm cast. It feels real at one moment, but absolutely absurd at the next, which is why it can take some time getting used to. It’s a fast paced show that moves quickly from one fight to the next, breaking up events with counseling sessions. There are a number of episodes with commentaries by the show’s creators as well.



Ryan Izay