Not a single character is wasted space in this excellent half-hour dramadey from Showtime. Tara suffers from dissociative identity disorder. She’s married to Max, who is as sexy as he is supportive, although it’s clear he has problems, too. They have two children, Kate and Marshall, teenagers on television who aren’t painful to watch. Go figure.

There’s a great supporting cast as well. Nate Corddry plays a manager of a local seafood chain and Kate’s obsessive boss. Patton Oswalt plays one of Max’s employees, a sweet loser who has been romantically entangled with Tara’s sister, played by Rosemarie DeWitt.

Diablo Cody of Juno fame wrote the series, and like her film, her show has clever writing, offbeat characters, and an excellent soundtrack. The first season is only twelve episodes, and is well worth renting before the second season, which is due to air in early 2010.