Despite less-than-stellar ratings for its maiden season, HBO recently announced that it plans to renew its daily drama In Treatment for another round.  The series revolving around psychotherapist Paul Weston, played by Gabriel Byrne, premiered early this year as a five-night-a-week series.  The show follows the Washington-based doctor with his weekly sessions with patients, plus his sessions with his own therapist Gina Toll, played by Dianne West.

Upon the announcement, HBO added that “additional cast members will be announced as they are confirmed,” implying that it will do away with some season 1 characters.  The series will also have a new writer in the person of Tony-winning playwright Warren Leight, a veteran of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He joins Rodrigo Garcia, Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson and Hagai Levi as an executive producer.

Other changes in the second season of In Treatment include shifting the filming location from Los Angeles to New York, to take advantage of tax breaks and to make shooting more convenient for Byrne, who lives in New York.  The new season, which is set to debut in 2009, will start filming this fall.

While In Treatment received mediocre ratings, it generally had positive reviews from critics, its format, script, and theme music based on the critically acclaimed Israeli show called Betipul.  Other than the original Monday to Friday run, the show scheduled reruns throughout the weekend, and episodes are readily available on several media, such as VOD, HBO.com, and even iTunes.

Other than Byrne and West, the rest of the In Treatment cast includes Melissa George, Blair Underwood, Mia Wasikowska, Michelle Forbes, and Jake Richardson.  Underwood’s character, Alex, a fighter pilot, will not be returning for the second installment as his character died near the end of season one. In this regard, a new patient is definitely at hand.

-Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Zap2it
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Glenn Diaz

Staff Writer, BuddyTV