Loveday Writing

Season 1 – The first season does its job of establishing the characters and premise. The pilot has Greg hating his job at the Births, Deaths and Marriages office to the point that he considers taking a redundancy, only to be fired for yelling at a customer. Em’s job interview at a publishing company goes awry, but she gets the job anyway, starting a new chapter in their lives with them swapping roles.

The first season goes on to explore the affects that their changed roles has on the household and sex life, as well as their older daughter going through puberty, the lack of personal space in the house, Em’s high school reunion, and the season ends with them celebrating their 15^th wedding anniversary and unlucky-in-love Brad meeting Nadia, a Russian Uber driver.

I wrote in my review of the finale that How to Stay Married wasn’t as good a show as I thought it would be as the premise was promising but it was poorly executed.

Season 2 – I wrote in my review of the second season premiere that I was surprised that the show was renewed for another season as the writing of the previous season was all over the place, ranging from unrealistic and overly zany plots, to strong, sporadic episodes. With the strong episodes, I felt they were strong when they kept things simple and realistic. I would continue to have these thoughts throughout the second and third seasons.

The season kicks off with Greg and Em trying to make their house the ‘cool house’ where kids like to hang out, and goes on to focus on Brad proposing to Nadia (interweaved with flashbacks of Greg’s proposal to Em), Greg trying to win the family an overseas cruise holiday, Em getting a book deal at work about Greg after Chloe bonds with her boss, Em’s father and stepmother coming to visit, and Sophie ostensibly sexting her friend, Ravi.

The season ends with Greg finding out about Em’s book deal, and Brad and Nadia’s wedding day which doesn’t end up going ahead as Brad discovers Nadia likes but doesn’t love him. The family ends up being able to go on the cruise they’ve been wanting to go on for most of the season after Reese Witherspoon buys the rights to Em’s book.

I wrote in my review of the finale that the second season was a huge improvement to the previous one as there were less over-the-top, unrealistic, zany moments and plots.

Season 3 – The third season kicks off six months after the events of the second season finale with Em’s book adaptation not going anywhere and Greg creating a successful podcast based on the book. We’re also introduced to a school parent, Luna Keys, who quickly becomes a rival to Greg.

The season goes on to have Greg and Luna’s rivalry increasing in intensity, Em getting a book deal to ghostwrite Adam Gilchrist’s autobiography (Gilchrist appears as a satirised version of himself), Sophie and Ravi getting jobs at a cinema, Em creating a fun rival trivia night in the school’s car park on the night of Luna’s boring trivia night, Chloe’s beloved pet passing away, and Em wanting to experiment in the bedroom.

The season ends with Em dealing with a pregnancy scare, Greg staging a coup and becoming the President of the school’s Parents and Friends Committee, only to resign and give the Presidency back to Luna after he realises how important it was to her, Em finding out she’s not pregnant after all, Sophie and Ravi breaking up, and Audrey publishing the book Em wrote on Adam Gilchrist’s conspiracy theories.

I wrote in my review of the finale that this season was the strongest as their story arcs and subplots were more realistic and family-based, and less zany and over-the-top. I also appreciated the character development of Sophie and Chloe.

I also wrote in my review of the finale that if the show wasn’t renewed that it ended on a high note. Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer of ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand, Beverley McGarvey, told TV Tonight in October 2021 that it was unlikely How to Stay Married would be renewed for a fourth season. In all honesty, this doesn’t surprise me as it lasted longer than I thought it would, and really I don’t think there’s any new stories that this show can tell us.

Behind the Reviews – Edition #13 will be released next week and will focus on Hyde & Seek.