As a less painful alternative to the new At The Movies I took a plastic knife to my eyeballs and poked then until they bleed a little. Next time I just won't watch at all. — Dirty Harry

It's almost insulting. The producers want to beef up the ratings so they hire two youngish guys and stick some "neato" graphics around the screen and viola! Now the hipsters will come! -donner- said it best. It hasn't been the same since Gene died. And Roger, God love him, has been doing his best, but the thrill's been gone. — wh

They should get rid of the "Rent It" verdict. It's a lazy way to judge a movie. Either see it or you don't; this will force their reviews to be more focused. — Rob Grizzly

The only thing I feel good about with this "new direction" is at least they didn't hire Billy Bush (I'm never gonna forgive that ***hat for defecating on the Golden Globes earlier this year, am I? Maybe I should see somebody about that...) — Meier

I'll never have an opinion because I'm never going to watch the show. I prefer to read the comments and reviews of Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips on the Internet. — Jakeem

Don't you worry, "Jakeem": As evidenced by their appearance Sunday on Entourage's season premiere, Roeper and Phillips still have a bright TV future in ironic fake-review cameos:

• At the Movies [Buena Vista TV]
• Does 'At the Movies' work.. [PopWatch]

New York Times

Some things sound simply awful: a family reunion holiday cruise, an all-you-can-eat haggis buffet, a television series set entirely in a psychotherapist's office. In Treatment, however, is hypnotic, mostly because it withholds information as intelligently as it reveals it. Each night a new half-hour episode follows a different patient's session. In every session the patients' words are veined with allusions and elusions, clues to problems or patterns that are invisible to them but absorbing for the viewer.

The series aims for a rawness that depicts the troubled aspects of people in crisis written with intelligence and deft emotional shading. Where In Treatment actually ends up, however, is quite different. The writing is forced and thin, some of the acting stagey, most of the characters unlikable and - the show-killer quality that HBO execs apparently failed to see - profoundly boring... At its worst, In Treatment feels like an Oprah show without the commercials.

It all makes for lots of great soapy intrigue, and Byrne makes you believe he can solve everyone's problems. Except his own.

In Treatment's intensity does build as the weeks progress, but it's never completely absorbing, and you wonder how many viewers will commit to such a demanding regimen even with multiple plays to catch up on missed half-hours..."Don't assume that everybody who comes to see me is miserable," Paul protests at one point. But they are, as well as a bit too nutty to make HBO's latest merit a regular appointment.

At times the construct of two or three people sitting in a room talking for half an hour becomes stagey, and the level of antagonism each patient aims at Paul in almost every episode strains not only believability (surely grown-ups would not waste their money talking about their therapist's failings when they could be talking about themselves) but also the dramatic pitch.

It's hard to imagine anyone sitting through this show in anything close to its entirety outside of Byrne's immediate family, and even some of them would lie about it...Unfortunately, even at its sporadic best, In Treatment comes across as no more than an actor's exercise, one likely to be best remembered for providing future acting students with a large supply of two-character scenes for class projects.

Truth be told, it's a little addictive to hear these deeply intimate secrets revealed. And as the patients tell their stories - or edit their emotional lives to make them appear a certain way - Byrne is asked to do a lot of reacting, which he makes endlessly interesting. He does an impressive job of appearing to be the impassive therapist while indicating Paul's complicated inner life. It's worth seeing the program just for his nuanced, truthful performance, but the other actors are generally quite strong. Wasikowska, in particular, is quite a find.

The series may prove irresistible to a viewer in its fullness. In Treatment has the allure of smart drama spiked with juicy eavesdropping. And as further reward for the devoted viewer, the seemingly distinct daily narratives begin to seep from one to another — collecting in Weston's agitated psyche, where the real story resides.

Four Days, A Therapist; Fifth Day, A Patient [New York Times]
HBO's 'In Treatment' Painfully Boring [San Francisco Chronicle]
In Treatment [Entertainment Weekly]
In Treatment [Variety]
In Treatment [Los Angeles Times]
'In Treatment' Has Some Issues [USA Today]
'In Treatment' 5 Nights A Week? Here's Why That May Not Be A Bad Idea [Chicago Tribune]
HBO Drama Has Interesting Format [Houston Chronicle]