Triple take

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This article was published 06/07/2016 (3743 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

From the title alone, it’s obvious this isn’t a standard-issue romantic comedy:

You Me Her.

This new made-for-cable sitcom, which premières Sunday on HBO Canada (check listings for time), puts a rather unexpected spin on the conventional TV rom-com and, in so doing, challenges a few of the commonly held assumptions about what love and marriage — in the scripted-TV context — are all about.

You Me Her is an odd amalgam of cross-border elements — produced by Toronto-based Entertainment One and shot in Vancouver, with Canadians in two of its three lead roles, the series is nonetheless set in Portland, Ore., and feels like a show produced with the export market as its top priority.

You Me Her was unveiled in March at this year’s SXSW in Austin, Texas, and is available to U.S. viewers on the DirecTV satellite service’s Audience channel. Sunday is its Canadian debut.

The series focuses on the odd relationship that develops when long-married Jack and Emma (Greg Poehler, Rachel Blanchard) find themselves at a marital crossroads after they come to the shared realization that all the romantic passion has been drained from their lives.

Years of grappling with fertility issues, a subsequent lengthy “break” from the frustrations of trying but failing to conceive, pressures in their respective careers and general maturing-relationship entropy are the causes of their mid-life malaise. It’s a bit of unsolicited advice from Jack’s brother — who reveals that his own attempt to break through the bedroom-boredom barrier involved enlisting the services of an escort — that sets the Jack/Emma relationship off in a direction that neither could have imagined.

Jack makes a date with a young woman from an escort service — he tells Emma he’s got a happy-hour commitment with the boys — and meets Izzy (Priscilla Faia), an attractive grad student who moonlights as a for-hire date, at a local hotel. Jack is so nervous and guilt-ridden about what he’s doing that he actually tries to cancel the meeting just as he hears the fateful knock on the hotel-room door.

Awkward small-talk follows, but as the mini-bar booze flows and Jack realizes that Izzy is as friendly and interesting as she is pretty, before long he finds himself in the most genuine and heartfelt conversation he’s had in a long time. But a momentary and deeply uncomfortable make-out session snaps Jack back into reality, and he rushes home to confess his mis-step to Emma.

She’s understandably angry and hurt, but also slightly intrigued — not by the near-miss physical encounter, but by what it was that made Jack “like” this anonymous woman. So the next day, she does something quite unexpected — she logs onto the same escort-service site and books an appointment with the same for-hire date. And when Emma and Izzy meet at a nearby restaurant, there’s an immediate attraction.

When she reveals to Jack that she and Izzy have met, there’s disbelief followed by anger followed by curiosity and relief and unexpectedly re-fired passion. What’s clear in the aftermath is that while neither of them knows what to do next, both of them are sure that whatever it is will involve Izzy.

There are several direct and obvious ways in which You Me Her could unfold from there, but series creator/writer John Scott Shepherd chooses none of them, sending his characters instead on a more circuitous emotional journey. You Me Her’s first three episodes are filled with scenes that feel fresh and authentic as they delve into a romantic relationship that has not been explored in the TV rom-com realm before.

All three lead actors — Canadians Blanchard and Faia and U.S. performer Poehler (brother of SNL/Parks and Recreation alumna Amy) — bring a jittery but joyful energy to their characters’ exploration of something none of them saw coming, and with the help of an able supporting cast, they deliver a steady stream of laugh-out-loud moments in the trio of episodes previewed.

You Me Her is a show that might be better suited to streaming-service delivery rather than a weekly dole-out of episodes, because each instalment’s ending will leave viewers wishing they could jump immediately into the next. But it’s worth the delayed couch-bound gratification, and if you’re in search of an addictive summer-TV viewing option, this likable comedy might be the one that gets you hooked.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @BradOswald