“Take My Wife” is a program on Seeso, a streaming service dedicated to comedies, created by and starring Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher. The show is loosely based on their lives and each episode ends with them discussing what the episode means to them. Recently, Seeso announced that it would be shut down by the end of the year, leaving “Take My Wife” without a home. “Take My Wife” had been renewed for a second season, and all eight episodes have been completed, but with Seeso shutting down, it may never air. Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher have taken to social media to garner support from fans to find the show a new home so that the second season can be aired because they do not own the rights to the show. “Take My Wife” absolutely needs to be saved because it’s talking about stuff that other shows won’t dare to talk about.

In the first season of “Take My Wife,” it opens with them as newlyweds and the rest of the season is a flashback leading up to their engagement. Cameron and Rhea are stand up comediennes who run a comedy show at a theater in Los Angeles and every episode shows them hosting the show and doing a routine. Each episode also tackles an important and relevant issue, such as rape, gender roles, sexual orientation, parenthood, etc. “Take My Wife” offers a unique perspective as the story is told from the eyes of two lesbian women, one of which is genderqueer. In one episode, they discuss LGBT media and point out how the film or TV show always ends tragically, and how they want happy endings to be the new norm. They also discuss if they should include a sex scene in an episode because it would be groundbreaking to see actual lesbian sex on TV, but they didn’t want to just be that show known for a sex scene when they have deep topics to talk about. In another episode, a male stand up comedian makes a rape joke and it shows how uncomfortable some of the female comediennes are with it. Cameron and Rhea do a routine between sets that basically rips that guy’s routine apart. Afterwards, they apologize and he says that he was unaware that one of them was a survivor of sexual assault, and it cuts to show the other comedians featured in the episode saying they are also survivors, including one male. That is a big deal, male rape is often ridiculed or ignored. Hell, rape in general is usually romanticized or joked about in media. It was so refreshing to see an honest portrayal of rape survivors.

Apart from “Take My Wife” tackling super difficult topics, the show has a very diverse group of people behind the scenes as well. All of the writing team for the show were women. Many of the people involved in the show, on screen and behind the scenes, are LGBT or people of color. Cameron and Rhea sought out LGBT artists to provide music, costumes, and art for the show. They also specifically chose experienced actors and writers who needed credits to enter certain guilds, and a large number of them were LGBT or people of color. They wanted to prove how easy it is to be inclusive while making a TV show. Those film and TV producers who say it’s not easy to find diverse people to cast do not have an excuse.

To me, “Take My Wife” is not only the most important show on Seeso, but given its ability and willingness to tackle issues that haven’t been addressed elsewhere, it’s the most important show on TV right now. Seeso is still up and running, so you can still watch “Take My Wife” and you should.

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