![Alby gets a love interest in season four of "Big Love"](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/hash/11/bc/11bc38a7d9c5f0bf8a4f0b7f3f5a0530.jpg "Alby gets a love interest in season four of "Big Love"")
Big Love, HBO's controversial show about a Mormon polygamist, Bill (Bill Paxton) attempting to fit into mainstream society while trying to extricate himself from the family business, led by evil fundamentalist prophet Roman (Harry Dean Stanton), has added a new twist this season by giving it's one gay character, reluctant villain Alby (Matt Ross) a love interest named Dale (Benjamin Koldyke).
Dale and Alby have both been going through "ex-gay therapy" (unsuccessfully) for years, according to Entertainment Weekly. Co-creator/executive producer Will Scheffer teases that Alby is “being groomed for an incredible season. But attempts to 'pray the gay away' are just the tip of the iceberg," he adds.
“There’s a provocative nature to what we’re doing,” executive producer Will Olsen suggests. “It’s more than just the Mormon culture. We’re highlighting certain aspects of the church’s relationship with its gay members that I think, as the story unfolds, is going to cause no [small] amount of controversy.:"
The show's producers say fans should prepare to be "astonished, shocked, and scandalized." and promises what happens between Alby and Dale will put Adam Lambert's infamous AMA performance to shame.
Big Love is now in its fourth season on HBO. The three-time Emmy-winning show mainly focuses on Bill and his wives, Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn), Nicki (Chloe Sevigny), who happens to be Roman's daughter, and Margine (Gennifer Goodwin). Last season, Bill wanted to add a fourth wife, igniting a power struggle between his existing wives that will continue into season four.
Click here to see the trailer for the new season, titled "Hold Tight".
The new season of Big Love premieres January 10th on HBO (check local listings)
For more information:
- Visit the Big Love website to learn everything about the show
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Comments
This is one of my fave shows. Alby is an incredibly cruel and screwed up individual. There was a scene in an earlier season where he picks a man up and goes to a motel room with him but just can't handle it. He flips out, starts making strange noises, and the guy leaves. The scene gave me the sense that Alby has these desires but is so conflicted, he's never allowed himself to act on them. This show does a nice job with some pretty extreme material. I expect I might feel more sympathetic toward Alby by the end of this next season. Big Love boasts an incredible ensemble cast, and Matt Ross as Alby is outstanding. He may be the most "evil" character on the show, but I still feel a great deal of sympathy for him.
FWIW, there was also a hint of a lesbian relationship among sister wives of another family. I never saw it come up again in the show, but it was unmistakable.
I never thought I'd see a show that would soften me on polygamy, but this one did that for me.
These aren't mainstream Mormons. They are fictitious characters by those who would harm and discredit the faith.
Mormons like to say "these aren't mainstream Mormons," but they certainly *would* have been 100 years ago.
The amazing thing about Mormonism is the way it has morphed and changed to the point that its earlier prophets wouldn't even recognize it today. The "Fundamentalist Mormons" practice Mormonism the way Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught it. Today's Mormons practice an opportunistic, politicized, hybridized mix of Mormonism and fundamental Christianity.
Duwayne Anderson
Author of “Farewell to Eden: Coming to terms with Mormonism and science”
Dwayne: (2)
The TRUE Church of Jesus Christ does not worship plural marriage. Fundamentalist Mormons or even those portrayed on Big Love worship plural marriage above all. Joseph Smith nor Brigham Young taught that we must worship polygamy. The overriding authority in Mormonism is priesthood key, not plural marriage. Authorized plural marriages are impossible without priesthood keys.
In fact, an overriding tenet of the faith is found in Article of Faith number 9:
We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
The seeds of change in Mormonism are ever present and therefore “morphing” or change is a facet of Mormonism. It is SUPPOSED to be that way.
By the way, I read your book Dwayne. Your assertions and conclusions are absurd.
Dwayne: (1)
You wrote:
"The "Fundamentalist Mormons" practice Mormonism the way Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught it. Today's Mormons practice an opportunistic, politicized, hybridized mix of Mormonism and fundamental Christianity."
This is a sweeping generalization that is not accurate. There have been very few changes in the "practice" of Mormonism apart from polygamy and the priesthood ban.
You also identify cultural practices as doctrinal practices which is also incorrect.
Oh brother... talk about a desperate attempt to be trendy and garner viewers. There's no limit to the trash TV people are willing to produce. What's next? Bestiality? These people make me sick. What a bunch of lowlifes.
Any sane and reasonable person would easily characterize this show as smut...pure and simple.
The presumption that these fiction-producers have any clue how the church deals with anything is a joke! They only have room in their minds for perversion, which of course lines their pockets.
No virtue in this, whatsoever.
I started my boycott of HBO back when Mr. Brillance, Tom Hanks, said the Mormon Church was unAmerican. Yeah, he apologized later, but he said it. Once you say something like that, you reveal your true character. I'm not supporting an organization that has lousy character. Same goes for Huckabee. He's even worse because he portends to be a Christian.
I began my boycott of HBO back when Tom Hanks called Mormons un American. Yes, he later apologized, but once you say something like that, your true character has been revealed. I do not support individuals, or organizations run by individuals, who demonstrate this kind of poor character. Sad, since I used to think of him as a decent actor. By the way, the same goes for Huckabee, only he's worse as he portends to be a Christian. Christians don't go around calling other Christians an evil cult, and that is exactly what he has done. No Huckster in 2012.
TomH - You call Mr. Anderson's ideas absurd, yet your religion has worked actively and on a very large public scale with Fundamentalist Christians to dictate political policy in both California with Prop 8, and in Maine with Question 1.
Fundamentalism, no matter what form it takes, has done more to legislate its own morality into American politics than any other form of religion. The drafters of the Constitution wrote it to create a Republic, free from the tyranny of religion. Remember separation of church and state? That was the bedrock on which the founding fathers stood. Religious tyranny was rampant in this country before the Constitution was written - remember the Salem witch trials? Mormonism was created 50 years after the Constitution was written, and seems to have absolutely no respect for it whatsoever. Mormons use gay marriage to draw in Christians, using scare tactics, false information, and unfathomable speculation.
Now who's absurd?
Really, we're going to be "astonished, shocked, and scandalized?" Sounds like a snake oil sales pitch. The producers must be desperate to prop up the show amid falling ratings.
Bringing LGBT’s into the show is the producer’s way to dig at the Mormons (since they are still sore over prop 8). Why don’t they come up with something creative and let the viewers decide if they are "astonished, shocked, and scandalized"?
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