I am – Hercules!!
“Tell Me You Love Me” is HBO’s explicit and mesmerizing new relationship drama. It is masterminded by writer-producer Cynthia Mort, who is building some kind of interesting career. “Tell” is decidedly no laugh-fest, but Mort began in the TV biz more than a decade ago by scripting the sitcom “Roseanne.” She also had a hand in shaping the screenplay for the new Jodie Foster thriller “The Brave One,” which opens Friday. If one overlooks the new series' copious, graphic nudity and sexual situations (like that’s going to happen!), "Tell" invites favorable comparisons to both the more nuanced chapters of “thirtysomething” and Ingmar Bergman’s Scandi angst-fest “Scenes From A Marriage.” The new series follows three couples in, or apparently headed into, sessions with a couples therapist (Jane Alexander). They are: * Parents Katie (Ally Walker of “Profiler” fame) and Dave (Tim DeKay, who played Jonesy on “Carnivale”) feel themselves growing apart because Dave would rather masturbate secretly than bone Katie, who misses the sex she hasn’t had in nearly a year. * Young marrieds Carolyn (Sonya Walger, who uses her real accent to play Penelope Widmore on “Lost”) and Palek (Adam Scott, who assayed Veronica Mars’ coed-chasing teacher) find their inability to conceive offspring affecting their sex life. * Newly engaged Jamie (Michelle Borth) and Hugo (Canadian import Luke Kirby, “Slings and Arrows”) are vexed by Hugo’s flexibility on the issue of fidelity. There’s a surprising amount of suspense locked within the emotional drama. Some critics speak of the sex scenes’ clinical nature, but I found them hot, teeming often with the realistic urgency of frustration, to say nothing of lead actors more attractive than your typical porn stars. The series is otherwise insightful, alluring, well-considered and fearless in its depiction of intimacy. Golden Globe recipient “Desperate Housewives” will garner 20 times its audience every Sunday night. But what matters Herc’s opinion? The Associated Press says:

… I make no prediction how others will receive "Tell Me," and in what numbers. But I see it as the most important drama HBO has introduced since "The Sopranos."… "Tell Me" gives vivid expression to the plight of characters misreading themselves and the people they're closest to. It charts a struggle viewers will identify with, amid their fascination and unease. (Be careful who you watch this series with, by the way. Any given episode could spark a conversation that goes unexpected, unwanted places.) …

Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B-plus” says:

… Mort, who wrote six of the 10 episodes, absolutely pinpoints marital decay. Sometimes it's with a simple turned shoulder or a chaste kiss. Sometimes it's with a passive-aggressive exchange involving a new suit, and sometimes it's with spiraling, nonsensical arguments over school supplies. Tell Me's only flaw is, in fact, that these couples mostly argue — they're in ruts, they love each other but can't stop their destructive role-playing, they've lost their sense of humor. This is, of course, the point: Like drugs, they return to the same arguments again and again, aggressively screwing or not screwing as a cure. Tell Me is an incisive drama, but it's not an easy commitment.

USA Today gives it two and a half (out of four) stars and says:

… if you can look beyond that barrier or enticement and make your way past the first four or so subpar episodes, there is something worthy here. Despite its flaws, Tell Me tries to explore issues facing real couples with an honesty seldom seen on TV these days. …

The Washington Post and says:

Come for the sex; stay for the stories. … this is high-class filmmaking, not high-gloss porno. … "Tell Me You Love Me" is not only more provocative than any of the broadcast networks' new fall shows, but also more sophisticated -- even than those shows that aspire to be "adult." … rife with subtleties and insight. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… It would be easy to take the low road and pique your interest by saying, "Hey, this is that show you've been hearing about, the one with all the controversial sex and the nakedness and, by the way, did I mention the sex?" But this deeply interesting, occasionally riveting show deserves better than that. Besides, people tuning in to get their salacious kicks might be somewhat disappointed by the sex, which isn't depicted with gauzy frippery but with a measured, documentary aesthetic.…

The Los Angeles Times says:

… "Why don't they ever do a show about what marriage is really like?" Now, thanks to "Tell Me You Love Me," I know. Because it's boring, that's why. To tears. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… "Tell Me You Love Me" is, in many ways, bold and important, a series for adults and the mature-minded, that touches nerves and exposed, complicated emotions. There should be some reward for that. Aggressive character studies, even ones that delve into areas most people don't like to talk about, have a kind of high-minded mission. The trouble is that they are often too real, too painful. There's no getting around this: "Tell Me You Love Me" is not only like eating your vegetables, it's like eating vegetables without grill marks or butter or, depending how many episodes you watch, heat.…

The Denver Post says:

… By the third episode, the viewer is desensitized to the naked bumping parts, and eager to return to the engrossing dialogue. After a few more hours (I've screened seven), the sex verges on boring, but the relationships don't. After still more hours, it's clear certain characters are making progress both in bed and out …

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:

… To contradict those earlier reports that pre-emptively labeled "Tell Me You Love Me" as porn, my understanding is that when watching porn people fast-forward through the dialogue to get to the naked bits. Watch enough of a "Tell Me You Love Me" episode on the DVR or On Demand, and you'll be doing exactly the opposite …

The Boston Globe says:

… That the ambitious ‘‘Tell Me You Love Me’’ turns this emotional redundancy into a TV series is both its great strength and its weakness. This unusual new HBO drama intently focuses on four relationships and their dark struggles, the unsolvable standoffs most series about love miss. …

Variety says:

… As HBO has said, the project is an exploration of intimacy, a soap that should theoretically appeal primarily to women -- provided that many aren't alienated by what occasionally feels like gratuitous writhing and moaning. In short, if you come for the sex, you'll only stay for the characters, and those represent an intriguing but decidedly mixed bag. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… it doesn't really find itself until the second and third episodes. That's when you feel and recognize the beauty and the pain that Cynthia Mort smartly and sensitively portrays in her fiercely honest examination of sex in relationships. … what starts as a modest character study punctuated by holy-cow nudity turns into a brilliant depiction of sexual conflict, frustration and dysfunction. … Yes, the cast is attractive, but the most powerful and beautiful moments occur when everyone has their clothes on.

9 p.m. Sunday. HBO. It’s also playing right now if one has access to HBO On Demand.

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