Early Look: Laura Linney Makes Quirky 'The Big C' Human

Cancer isn't exactly the best source of comedy in the world. Even if you can make the subject of your movie or sitcom a cancer victim who takes his or her diagnosis with humor, aplomb and resignation, you have to deal with everyone in that person's world falling apart as they see their friend or loved one get sicker and weaker as their time runs out.

But what if your main character is also so uptight that she doesn't want anyone to know? That's how we come up with the formula for 'The Big C,' which begins tonight at 10:30PM ET on Showtime. Laura Linney stars as Cathy Jamison, who's prissy and reserved until she finds out she has stage four melanoma. She then decides to take whatever time she has left and live her life the way she wanted to before marriage, kids and career made her into such a straitlaced adult.

That's all well and good, but here's the rub: she decides not to tell anyone about her illness. Weird, right? Somehow, though, Linney makes us believe that such a situation could exist in real life. The force of her charm makes us like Cathy even though it seems like she's making her friends and family think she's gone off her rocker, while using them to make her last months more amusing for herself.

Cathy's got reasons to not be the most revealing person in the world. Her husband Paul (Oliver Platt) is a guy who's in his mid-forties but still has the maturity of a college student. Her teenage son Adam (Gabriel Brasso) is pretty much a holy terror who has no interest in listening to her. And her brother Sean (John Benjamin Hickey) is homeless on purpose; he'd rather spew invective on overconsumption and environmental waste to passersby rather than actually get a job. Finally, Cathy teaches a bunch of ingrate students, especially during summer school; she's especially irritated by the caustic Andrea (Gabourey Sidibe), whom Cathy chides for being fat and mean at the same time.

The only people she confides in are her young oncologist Dr. Todd (Reid Scott), and -- to a smaller extent -- her reclusive and mean neighbor Marlene (Phyllis Somerville). And therein lies the problem with 'The Big C.' While we know Cathy has cancer, which makes her "embrace life" behavior acceptable, the rest of her world doesn't.

Since each season of the show is designed to take place during a calendar season in Cathy's life -- Season 1 explores the summer after she finds out -- we don't know how long we're going to have to sit there and implore Cathy to "just tell them already!" How many episodes will we see Paul wondering why his wife kicked him out? How many episodes will we see Andrea wonder why Cathy has taken an interest in her life? And how many episodes will we have to see Sean appreciate the fact that his sister is finally "getting her weird back?"



In the hands of most actors, Cathy would become more insufferable as she continued to hide her condition and manipulate her loved ones. But Linney makes Cathy human. In the three episodes Showtime sent out for review, we can see a woman whose circumstances made her the way she was and we can see the reasons why she might want to keep everyone around her from ruining her buzz with sadness while she tried to make her last months count. By the end of the third episode, you find yourself hoping she can keep the maudlin at bay for as long as possible, even if her loved ones are left scratching their heads at how uptight, reliable Cathy became crazy, erratic, fun Cathy.

With a homeless brother and a husband who recreates the beach in their living room, Cathy definitely has a boatload of quirky to deal with, as do viewers. But Linney makes the quirk palatable. Let's hope Cathy goes into remission, so we have 'The Big C' around for a little while.