HBO and Laura Dern Get "Enlightened" with New Series

HBO and Laura Dern Get "Enlightened" with New Series

: Published on Monday, October 10 2011; Written by Katie Marzullo

You know how they always say “It’s always darkest before dawn” and “It gets worse before it gets better”? Or how, when you get a stomach ache and feel nauseous, you try to avoid throwing up with every ounce of your being, but once you finally do, you feel soooo much better?

Okay, kind of a gruesome analogy, but you get my point. That point being, the longer we keep something icky inside, the more it just kind of festers and gets worse until we finally let it all out... and then it’s such a relief! That seems to be the running theme of HBO’s new dramedy series, “Enlightened”, which premieres tonight at 9pm.

From the mind of Mike White (whom you might recognize as the Real Ned Schneebly from School of Rock) comes a show about a woman that I personally can relate to, and probably many others can as well – someone who’s reached a breaking point in their life where they know the only way they can survive in this world is to be a better person and serve the “greater good”... but is still held back by all those pesky, self-destructive human impulses. It reminds me of another classic (albeit true) cliché: “It’s not about the end; it’s about the journey.”

The show stars Laura Dern, whom we haven’t seen too much of as of late (unless you count last night when we all saw her on AMC in Jurassic Park), as Amy Jellicoe, a career-minded corporate gal whose affair with a married superior sets off a series of consequences both at work and her personal life and lands her at a treatment center in Hawaii after a mental breakdown. Following a spiritual “awakening”, she returns home to try and put her new-found outlook on life into practical use, but, as expected, experiences some significant challenges on her road to enlightenment. Which only stands to reason – if it were that easy, we’d all do it, right? The real struggle comes when Life throws all kinds of stuff at you to see if you really are ready to change or if you’re just all talk. That is the crux of Amy’s story.

Well, sounds good to me! Now, if only I had HBO (sigh)...

Anyway, for the rest of you who do, check out the trailer for “Enlightened” below, and watch the pilot tonight: