# The Curse (2023)

> A newly married couple's fertility struggles and an alleged curse collide with the troubled production of their HGTV show in New Mexico.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/95544

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 54 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, drama
- Created by: Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie
- Network: Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime
- Cast: Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie, Constance Shulman, Corbin Bernsen, Barkhad Abdi, Gary Farmer, Oscar Avila
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13623608/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: cringe comedy, deadpan, uneasy, satirical, awkward

## What critics say

Critics widely admire the show's ambitious, uncomfortable satire of reality television and gentrification, and its lead performances, though many find its tone divisive and its pacing uneven.

## Synopsis

The Curse is a dark comedy satire created by Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie for Showtime. Emma Stone plays Whitney Siegel, a newly married woman who, with her husband Asher, played by Nathan Fielder, tries to conceive a child while co-starring on a struggling HGTV renovation show set in a small New Mexico town. Benny Safdie plays Dougie Schecter, a producer caught between the couple's ambitions and the cameras that follow them. The engine of the series is the widening gap between private longing and the public image the production demands. An alleged curse seems to unsettle the marriage and the renovation work, while community tensions over gentrification and the local Indigenous population simmer beneath the project. Across one season of ten episodes, the story holds a single continuing arc with escalating discomfort. Its tone is cringe-inducing, deadpan and uneasy, with flashes of tenderness beneath the satire. Viewers who enjoy the awkward humor and sharp observation of Nathan for You, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office will find much to appreciate in its portrait of self-absorbed people reaching for happiness.

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- [On Becoming a God in Central Florida (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/69164)
- [The Trial (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/1105206)
- [How To with John Wilson (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/92581)
- [Sorry For Your Loss (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/70096)
- [What We Do in the Shadows (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/71326)
- [I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/75310)
- [Nathan for You (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/52734)

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