Showtime's 'The Affair': Like 'Dawson's Creek' for Grown-Ups
Joshua Jackson is coming back to TV with new Showtime drama "The Affair," and grown-up "Dawson's Creek" fans might be happy to hear that it looks and feels like a very adult relationship drama — not unlike The WB teen drama that made him a heartthrob.
At Thursday's Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., Showtime Entertainment President David Nevins showed a first look of "The Affair," their new drama starring Jackson and Ruth Wilson ("Luther"), Dominic West ("The Wire") and Maura Tierney ("ER") as two married couples whose lives become intertwined when Wilson and West's characters have an affair in a small seaside town.
Beautiful beach scenes, love triangles, cheating scandals, and Joshua Jackson fighting to keep his woman happy? Yep, it's got it all — but this isn't for tweens.
[Related: 'Dawson's Creek': Where Are They Now?]
The trailer was raw and real and emotional, but it also felt like an interesting shift from most of cable's big, exciting premises — there are no CIA missions or groundbreaking sex studies, it's just about the attraction, the affair, and the aftermath. One interesting twist: The one-hour drama series will alternate between the male and female perspectives, and they don't always match up.
Jackson was most recently on Fox's sci-fi drama "Fringe" for five seasons. Are you excited to see him back doing relationship drama?
Here's Showtime's official description of "The Affair":
"The Affair" explores the emotional and psychological effects of an extramarital affair. The provocative, one-hour drama will be told separately from the male and female perspectives – using the distinct memory biases to both misdirect and intrigue. Wilson plays Alison, a young woman waiting tables at a popular Hamptons diner, trying to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragedy. Her husband, Cole (Jackson), struggles to keep it all together, with his wife and with the financially-strained ranch that has been in his family for generations. Their emotionally-charged marriage becomes even more complicated when Alison begins an affair with Noah (West), a New York City public school teacher and aspiring novelist who is spending the summer at his in-laws’ estate out on the island. Tierney plays Helen, Noah's college sweetheart, best friend, mother of his children, lover and wife of 17 years. Award-winning playwright and writer/producer Sarah Treem ("House of Cards," "In Treatment") wrote the original script from a story co-created with Hagai Levi. They first worked together on the American adaption of Levi's show In Treatment. Treem and Levi will both serve as executive producers, along with director Jeffrey Reiner ("Friday Night Lights").