Anybody watching The Leftovers?

[BigTex]

I didn't know anything about the book, but I decided to try this out. Seems pretty well done to me, but I understand there are several major departures from the book.

[Bob Of Burleson]

REVIEW:
HBO’s The Leftovers,
a grim take on the limits
of grief and faith

By Vicki Hyman | Religion News Service

HBO’s “The Leftovers” is the feel-good series of the summer, if your summer revolves around root canals and recreational waterboarding.

Indeed, it’s pretty grim stuff — but quite engrossing and worth your time, thanks to intense performances by Justin Theroux and Christopher Eccleston, and the way creators Tom Perrotta, who wrote the book on which the series is based, and Damon Lindelof, best known for screwing up the end of “Lost,” unflinchingly tackle the nature of grief and the limits of faith.

Can you call it an apocalypse if you can still get a decent bagel afterwards? It’s three years after what has been termed the Sudden Departure, when 2 percent of the world’s population — Christians, Jews, Muslims, straight, gay, white, black, brown, and Gary Busey — suddenly disappeared.

Of the “leftovers,” some are trying to return to normal, some have turned their backs on religion, and others have turned to cults to assign some sort of meaning to the Sudden Departure — because what may be scariest of all is that there was no meaning.

The drama plays out in microcosm in the small town of Mapleton, N.Y. Theroux plays police chief Kevin Garvey, whose wife Laurie (Amy Brenneman) has gone off to live with the Guilty Remnant, a creepy post-Departure cult whose cigarette-smoking members silently stalk other townspeople who seem ready to move on — a tactic seldom appreciated by the stalkees.

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[crocmommy]

I tried watching. Sorry but it's just too grim for me and NOT good for the little eyes and ears in our house.

[BigTex]

Definitely not for children.

Or people with an aversion to smokes with cigarettes.

[bodine]

don't have HBO, Showtime, etc....

[tx3653]

Watched episode one and part of #2. Will finish2 tomorrow but not sure I'll go any further. Too many F words.

[FlashM]

We watched half of the first one and rethought whether or not we REALLY want to get into another "Lost" situation over "The Leftovers". It's still sitting in the DVR, half-watched.

"Lost" left such a bad taste (lol- get it? "Leftovers" sounds like a bad cooking show) in our mouths, we decided to wait until the end of the season and binge watch if the reviews are good.

I hope the network people are paying attention. (This may actually bring traffic to this board, if they monitor cyber media.)

We remember what you all did to us with "Lost" so we're not gonna watch until we know there's a resolution forthcoming in your story arc!