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With mumblecore television reaching its zenith in recent years, with successes such as Girls, Jay and Mark Duplass’ debut foray into television aims to strike gold with a comedy series depicting the trials and tribulations of two couples, circling forty and living under the same roof. The seemingly picture perfect married life of Brett (Mark Duplass) and Michelle (Melanie Lynskey) is disrupted by the dysfunctional chaos brought about by the arrival of Brett’s friend, out-of-work actor Alex (Steve Zissis) and Michelle’s sister, Tina (Amanda Peet), who is plagued by bad relationship choices.

As the title suggests, the show portrays the struggles of maintaining intimacy within a marriage, and of maintaining friendship and familial ties in the midst of personal and professional success and failure. Whilst Brett and Michelle represent the normative expectation for their age group — a middle-class marriage with two children — the image is far from ideal, with the couple failing to achieve any sense of connection, physically or emotionally. Indeed, it is the platonic friendship of Tina and Alex, both considered socially and emotionally inept for their respective positions in life, which acts both as a buffer and a foil to this disconnection.

Whilst the concept is well-worn — the show has even been considered a comical version of American Beauty — it is rescued by the innate likeability of the cast.

More importantly, it debunks the myth that forty-somethings are more in control of their lives than their younger counterparts, whose self-orientated shows have produced some of the highest ratings on television in recent years.