Enlightened 

A self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating havoc at home and work.

Creators:

Laura Dern, Mike White

Stars:

Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Sarah Burns

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 14 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Laura Dern	...	Amy Jellicoe 18 episodes, 2011-2013
Diane Ladd	...	Helen Jellicoe 18 episodes, 2011-2013
Sarah Burns	...	Krista Jacobs 16 episodes, 2011-2013
Luke Wilson	...	Levi Callow 15 episodes, 2011-2013
Timm Sharp	...	Dougie Daniels 15 episodes, 2011-2013
Mike White	...	Tyler 15 episodes, 2011-2013
Jon Shere	...	Louis 14 episodes, 2011-2013
Brent Bradshaw	...	Ken 14 episodes, 2011-2013
Bayne Gibby	...	Connie 13 episodes, 2011-2013
Michaela Watkins	...	Janice Holm 9 episodes, 2011-2013
Jason Mantzoukas	...	Omar Ali 8 episodes, 2011-2013

Storyline

A self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating havoc at home and work.

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Plot Keywords:

woman | 

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Taglines:

Meet the new face of tranquility

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enlightened - Erleuchtung mit Hindernissen

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rip Cord Productions,HBO Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

28 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

On a roundtable for comedy actresses put together by the magazine The Hollywood Reporter, Laura Dern commented her surprise regarding the journalist questions about the show. According to Dern, many of them emphasized the imperfect personality of her character, making the actress wonder if James Gandolfini or Larry David (stars of The Sopranos (1999) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), also on HBO) were asked the same types of questions, considering their characters are praised for how flawed they are. Dern reveals that she just assumed the audience would be interested in seeing a female character whose strength and comicality came from her extreme behavior, and that she never got those questions when promoting independent movies, where she had played characters with similar traits.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee (2014)

User Reviews

Fantastic... the perfect mix of satire, drama, and dark comedy.

I started Enlightened around a week ago, mostly because the Golden Globes put it on the spot. As far as first seasons go, this was an excellent one. It balances comedy and drama extremely well. Some episodes are more dramatic, some more comedic, but it always remains top notch.

Laura Dern in the character of Amy is completely fantastic. She owns this character, which is perhaps one of TV's most fascinating and confusing. Amy has our sympathy, we still want her to succeed, and she always pretty much wants to look at things in a positive way. The problem is though, she isn't the person she wishes. She makes you feel her problems, yet also cringe and shake your head at the way she approaches aspects in her life. She's a good person who wants to do good things, but she can also be extremely selfish and lacks any sort of self-awareness. Even in her most sticky situations, you want to root for her but you see her like many of her co-workers do... in a negative light. Dern sells it all. Diane Ladd is also pretty fantastic as her distant, yet also sympathetic and sometimes infuriating mother. But even she gets her own episode, which is perhaps the show's most touching and dramatic episode.

Overall, this is an excellent mix of drama with both dark and light comedy. I feel it's sort of underrated and has gotten lost among other big-name shows.