# Here and Now (2018)

> A darkly comic HBO drama follows a progressive multi-ethnic family and a Muslim family whose lives intersect as American culture polarizes around them.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/65483

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: comedy, drama
- Created by: Alan Ball
- Network: HBO
- Cast: Tim Robbins, Holly Hunter, Jerrika Hinton, Daniel Zovatto, Raymond Lee, Peter Macdissi, Sosie Bacon, Andy Bean
- TMDB rating: 6.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5923012/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: darkly comic, provocative, sardonic, uneasy, bleak

## What critics say

Audience reception is mixed, with viewers split between admiring its bold, provocative satire of American identity politics and finding its tone uneven and its dark comedy overwrought.

## Synopsis

Here and Now (2018) is a American prestige cable dark comedy drama created by Alan Ball for HBO. Philosophy professor Greg (Tim Robbins) and his wife Audrey Bayer-Boatwright (Holly Hunter) raise three adopted children from Vietnam, Liberia and Colombia alongside their sole biological child, Kristen (Sosie Bacon). Their progressive ideals are tested as the household strains against the social and political divisions of present-day America. Their story crosses paths with a contemporary Muslim family headed by psychiatrist Dr. Farid Shokrani (Peter Macdissi), who is treating one of the Bayer-Boatwright children, and his wife Layla (Necar Zadegan). The engine of the series is the friction between good intentions and everyday compromise, played out across ten hour-long episodes in a single season of domestic confrontations, uneasy friendships and generational clashes. The tone is provocative and sardonic, with a bleak edge beneath the jokes, and the atmosphere is one of unease in a country pulling apart. Set in contemporary American suburbia, it is a serialized portrait of identity, race and belonging. Fans of Six Feet Under, Transparent and Divorce will find resonance in its blend of family drama, biting social satire and cringe-inducing honesty.

## Shows like Here and Now

- [Blindspotting (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/91316)
- [Kidding (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/64309)
- [Sorry For Your Loss (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/70096)
- [Hung (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/17228)
- [The Brink (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/14805)
- [Shining Vale (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/112960)
- [Six Feet Under (2001)](https://ember.film/tv/1194)
- [United States of Tara (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/6607)
- [American Housewife (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/59081)
- [Room 104 (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/63275)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt