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Big Love
Produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Screenplay by Mark V. Olsen
Screenplay by Will Scheffer
Production Company: HBO
Premiere Date: March 12, 2006
Length: series of one-hour episodes
 

Genre:   Film
Production Type:
Non-Mormon Production
Content Types:
Narrative Film
Significant Mormon Elements
Distribution Types:
Television

Subjects: polygamy;
Summary:
Bill Henrickson leads a quiet suburban life in modern Salt Lake City, Utah, typical by virtually all standards except he has three wives and three families living in continguous households. Bill is attempting to live the American dream times three, fulfill his religious and familial obligations (including an emphasis of those in the bedroom), and establish his identity in a test of wills against his second father-in-law, the prophet Roman. Much of the show's interest lies in the domestic dynamic between his wives Barb (#1), Nicki (#2), and Margene (#3).

Annotations:
See Mormon Film: Key Films of the Fifth Wave

This HBO series received a lion's share of publicity and generally raving national reviews before its premiere in early 2006. Essentially serving as a replacement to the series "Sex and the City" and premiering after the highly popular "The Sopranos," "Big Love" is a slightly veiled platform in favor of deconstructing traditional monogamous definitions of marriage, as the show's creators themselves have stated.

The main characters are overtly not members of the LDS Church, though the show never identifies them as officially Fundamentalist LDS or any other denomination; there are secondary characters who are identified as mainstream Mormons; though some are stereotypical and flat, they are generally sympathetic, as with Heather Tuttle, a friend of the family's teenage daughter, played by Tina Majorino ("Napoleon Dynamite").

The series has been extended to a second season. It was created by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer and is executive produced by the actor Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman of Playtone.

Quotes:
Polygamy loves company.


Additional details at Internet Movie Database
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421030/

Medium: Originated on 35mm, distributed video
Cast Members: Bill Paxton - Bill Henrickson; Jeanne Tripplehorn - Barb Henrickson; Chloe Sevigny - Nicki Henrickson; Ginnifer Goodwin - Margene Henrickson; Harry Dean Stanton - Roman; Amanda Seyfried - Sarah Henrickson; Douglas Smith - Ben Henrickson; Bruce Dern - Franklin Henrickson; Tina Majorino - Heather Tuttle
Country: USA
Language: English
Certification: TV: MA
Distributor: HBO


Reviewed In:
Four's company : Bill Paxton is one good man married to a few good women in HBO's controversial new drama "Big Love" by Cody Clark
'Big Love' has big plans by Scott D. Pierce
The love flows for 'Big Love' at Sunstone session by Scott D. Pierce
HBO to debut series on Utah polygamists by Scott D. Pierce
Polygamist response to 'Big' mixed by Lee Benson
Series on polygamy elicits worry in Utah by Ben Winslow
The polygamists next door by Scott D. Pierce
'Big Love' looks at the politics of polygamy by Paul Brownfield
3 actresses share married life on HBO's polygamy drama 'Big Love' by Frazier Moore
'Big Love' fails to deliver
[Review of] Big Love by Brian Lowry
One Man, Three Wives and Many Troubles by Alessandra Stanley
Sex, wives and religion: HBO tries polygamy by Tim Goodman






Total Queries: 29. Total Execution Time: 0.018 sec.
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