Say, Darling, Is It Frigid in Here? (NYT)

There is a noticeable shift in emphasis this season, a darkening of mood away from the premarital frolics of blind dates, Manolo Blahniks and Central Perk hookups to closely watched midmarriage malaise. Almost any television drama touches on connubial tension and sexual miscues; it crops up all over, in family melodramas like “Brothers and Sisters” on ABC, police procedurals like “Law & Order: SVU” on NBC and even courtroom thrillers like “Damages” on FX. But until now most series lacked either the interest or the patience to probe those intimacies too closely. The last time television took so unhurried and earnest a look at spousal relations was 20 years ago, on “Thirtysomething.”

Suddenly a renewed fascination with matrimony spans the spectrum from premium cable networks like HBO and Showtime to even the flimsiest of celebrity reality shows on VH1. Colder, unsentimental, almost cruel in their gaze, these shows have replaced the solipsistic pillow talk between Hope and Michael on “Thirtysomething” with tableaus of repression and neurosis.

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Tagged as: marriage, network, r, sex, tes, The Marketplace