TV Tuesday: Catastrophe

The Amazon Prime original comedy series Catastrophe recently released its second season...and my husband and I devoured its six new episodes in about a week! This is a unique story and one of the funniest comedies we've ever seen.

Rob, played by Rob Delaney, is an American businessman working in the pharmaceutical industry who travels to London for a business trip. Sharon, played by Sharon Horgan, is an elementary teacher living in London and originally from Ireland. The two of them meet during Rob's visit to London and hook up - your classic girl meets boy story. Except that they spend every night together for a week, having wild sex and then Sharon calls Rob a couple of months later in America to tell him she's pregnant.

So, Rob moves to London and the two embark on a real relationship. Of course, they are doing things out of order, dealing with all of the intimacies of having a baby together when they barely know each other. Sharon has Irish parents and a married brother in London, plus some strange-ish friends, and Rob's only friend in London is an obnoxious American party animal named Dave.

In Season 1, they deal with the pregnancy and their impending parenthood, while trying to get to know each other better. In Season 2, the story jumps ahead a few years to see them married and with two young children. Each season is only 6 half-hour episodes, and they go by much too quickly! This show is absolutely hilarious, one of the funniest we have ever seen. In fact, my husband doesn't usually like TV comedies, but this isn't your usual sitcom. For starters, it is seriously R-rated - definitely not one to watch with the kids! The writing is spectacular (the two lead actors also write the show), and the two actors are perfect in their roles, with great chemistry on screen together. The supporting actors are all excellent as well, including Carrie Fisher as Rob's mother. Here's a wonderful interview with the actors/writers.

This has become one of our favorite shows, one that keeps us laughing out loud. Now we have to wait for Season 3 to watch more! I hope Amazon won't make us wait too long.

Since this is an Amazon original program, it is only available on Amazon Prime, for Prime members (though anyone can watch episode 1 for free). I just watched that interview at the link above, which states that you can also watch Catastrophe on Channel 4 in the UK (though it is called an Amazon Original Series, so I'm not sure how that works).