Casual

Valerie is getting divorced and through necessity moves in with her bachelor brother Alex, played by Tommy Dewey, along with her teenage daughter Laura. As siblings go this pair are incredibly close largely due to the crazy upbringing they endured wth their hippy, and frankly insane parents, which led them to rely heavily on each for any sense of normality or stability. Now all grown up, both must navigate life, love and friendship as well as the ups and downs in their own relationship in this quirky drama.

It's not necessarily a feel good show, it's very much based in reality and while sometimes the characters are their own worst enemies, you can't help but root for them, particularly Alex who is genuinely trying to get his act together. It's a really interesting premise for a show. We have two seemingly well educated, relatively well off but not spoilt people who are smart and funny but who are frequently self-absorbed and almost unaware of how their behaviour and actions affect those around them, ironically the very behaviour they spent years enduring from their own parents who they hate.

But the show is more than surviving a crappy childhood, it's a clever critique and window into today's social norms around parenting, family and especially the dating world if you are single and want love or even single and don't want love just something more casual. The inter-play between the cast is brilliant and they really bounce off each other and with three seasons available it's easy to get to know and really like them. There are frustrating moments when you want to hurl something at the tv but ultimately, I imagine most viewers would love to see a happy ending for them all but Casual doesn't strike me as a show that will wrap it all up in a neat bow and send them sailing off into the sunset. But with Season 4 in the pipeline you'll have to tune in to find out.