4) Tell Me You Love Me
2007 seems like forever ago. That was the year Tell Me You Love Me aired on HBO, and even by today’s standards it would have been pretty daring in its depictions of sex. Its premise was fairly straightforward, even somewhat overused: the show told the stories of three separate but sort of linked couples who all see the same relationship therapist, whose life and relationship is also explored a little bit.
Much of the attention paid to the series centered on its depiction of sex, but in the most literal sense. There were rumors that the sex was unsimulated, which was of course in all likelihood untrue. What was far more interesting about the show was the realism with which it presented sex in relationships, not just graphically but emotionally, physically, and tonally. I don’t know of another show or movie that has captured the role of sex in a romantic relationship quite in this way before or since. Though only having one season to do it, the show had some smart and important things to say, and was gathering momentum when its creator Cynthia Mort and HBO decided together that the agreed upon second season would not go forward.