''Work in Progress'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series produced by

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

that premiered on December 8, 2019. The series was created by Abby McEnany and Tim Mason, written and executive produced by McEnany, Mason, and

Lilly Wachowski Lana Wachowski (born Larry Wachowski, June 21, 1965) and Lilly Wachowski (born Andy Wachowski, December 29, 1967) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women. Together known as the Wacho ...

, and directed by Mason. ''Work in Progress'' stars McEnany in a semi-autobiographical role alongside Karin Anglin, Celeste Pechous,

Julia Sweeney Julia Anne Sweeney (born October 10, 1959) is an American actress and comedian. She gained fame as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1994. She played Mrs. Keeper in the film '' Stuart Little'' and ...

(as a fictionalized version of herself), and Theo Germaine. The entire series was written, filmed, and post-produced in Chicago. The pilot episode was shown at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

.Rose, Michelle (December 8, 2019).
Abby McEnany is a Witty 'Work In Progress' on Showtime
. ''Standard-Speaker'' (Hazleton, Pennsylvania). p. T7. The first season of ''Work in Progress'', consisting of eight episodes, premiered on Showtime on December 8, 2019. It received positive critical reception. On January 13, 2020, Showtime renewed the series for a 10-episode second season, to be filmed in Chicago later in the year. The second season premiered on August 22, 2021. On January 27, 2022, Showtime canceled the series after two seasons.

Synopsis

A self-identified "fat, queer dyke" enters into a transformative relationship during a time of crisis.

Cast

Main

* Abby McEnany as Abby, a 45-year-old self-identifying "fat, queer dyke" who lives with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. * Karin Anglin as Alison, Abby's sister. * Celeste Pechous as Campbell, Abby's friend. *

as a fictionalized version of herself. A recurring plot point is the discomfort Julia's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' character Pat has caused to Abby, for which Julia attempts to make amends. * Theo Germaine as Chris, a 22-year-old

barista A barista ( , ; ) is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks and other beverages. Etymology and inflection The word comes from Italian, where it means a "bartender" who typically works be ...

who enters a relationship with Abby. Chris is a

trans man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identi ...

. Germaine appears in all episodes of the first season but is credited as a special guest star.

Recurring

* Gerard Neugent as Mike, Alison's husband. * Echaka Agba as Melanie, Abby's ex. * Armand Fields as King, Chris's friend and co-worker. * Mary Sohn as Susan, Abby's boss

Special guests

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

as a fictionalized version of himself, playing Julia's husband.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2019–20)

Season 2 (2021)

Production

According to Germaine, Lilly Wachowski was frequently on the set as an advisor and helped direct the sex scene of the third episode among others. Michael Ognisanti served as the series

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

. Because the series is inspired by McEnany's life, the challenge for Ognisanti was to capture the authenticity of the story in the look of the show. For this reason, filming took place in real locations, mostly night interiors, and for lighting they used practical light sources augmented with small

LEDs A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (correspo ...

, to avoid making it look artificial. Because of the

improvisational Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

style of acting, Ognisanti used two

Arri Alexa The Arri Alexa is a digital motion picture camera system developed by Arri. The Arri Alexa was introduced in April 2010 and was Arri's first major transition into digital cinematography, after previous efforts including the Arriflex D-20 and ...

Mini cameras, for a higher chance to capture unscripted moments that could not be recreated after the fact. The cameras were fitted with Zeiss Super Speed lenses. Ognisanti storyboarded the whole series based on input by Mason in

Cinema 4D Cinema 4D is a 3D software suite developed by the German company Maxon. Overview As of R21, only a single version of Cinema 4D is available. It replaces all previous variants, including BodyPaint 3D, and includes all features of the past 'Stu ...

before they went to shoot on location. Inspired by her participation in Netflix's

Disclosure Disclosure may refer to: Arts and media Film and television *'' CBC News: Disclosure'', a television newsmagazine series in Canada * ''Disclosure'' (1994 film), an American erotic thriller film based on the 1994 novel by Michael Crichton * ''Dis ...

, Executive Producer Lilly Wachowski made an emphatic push for trans representation throughout the cast and crew including the soundtrack. Transgender musicians in the show's soundtrack include

Backxwash Ashanti Mutinta, known professionally as Backxwash, is a Zambian-Canadians, Canadian rapper and record producer based in Montreal, Quebec. She is most noted for her 2020 album ''God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It'', which won the ...

, Quay Dash, Sateen, SuperKnova, and Mel Stone.

Reception

Critical reception of ''Work in Progress'' has been mostly positive.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website, reported a 100% critical approval rating with an average rating of 8.00/10 based on 30 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "As radically hilarious as it is relatably uncomfortable, ''Work in Progress'' is a stunning debut from co-creator and star Abby McEnany." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, the season is assigned a score of 78 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

''Work in Progress''
on sho.com * * {{Showtime Network programming 2019 American television series debuts 2021 American television series endings 2010s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2010s American LGBTQ-related drama television series 2010s American romance television series 2020s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2020s American LGBTQ-related drama television series 2020s American romance television series American English-language television shows Lesbian-related television shows Showtime (TV network) original programming Transgender-related television shows Television shows set in Chicago Television shows filmed in Illinois Television about mental health