Matt Passmore's character Neil Truman has it all. A great job. A beautiful wife. A lovely daughter. A big house.
But he's not satisfied in the new USA drama "Satisfaction," which is shot in Atlanta but is not specifically set in any particular city. (The only obvious evidence of Atlanta in the pilot episode I could ID is 191 Peachtree.)
The drama, much of which is shot at EUE Screen Gems near Lakewood, debuts Thursday, July 17 at 10 p.m.
In the first episode, Neil has a Jerry Maguire-like feeling that his job is empty, his life is empty. He wants something more. He sees a Buddhist monk. He stares mournfully at his underused pool. He even tries to quit his job and insults his boss but he is so good at his job, his boss thinks he's joking.
"He's hardworking, responsible and loving," Passmore said of his character during a press conference on the set last month. "he just comes to a point in his life where he's searching for his identity and what he represents. He starts taking action, even though most of the time, he ends up falling flat on his face."
Then things get stranger and weirder when he finally does quit and comes home early to find his wife having sex with another man.
His wife Grace (Stephanie Szostak) is having similar feelings that her life is too... ordinary. She convinces her book club to go to a nightclub, where a younger man shows interest in her. She gets drunk and is nearly arrested over a bar fight.
There, she meets a guy who is a male escort. She sleeps with him. It helps awaken her sexuality and desire to start working again.
When Neil finds out, he doesn't confront his wife. Instead, he confronts the escort, who accidentally leaves his phone behind. Neil decides, initially for revenge but also out of curiosity, to work with some of the dude's lady clients.
In other words, this is no ordinary USA show.
Both Neil and Grace "are asking the same kind of questions. They are looking deep within themselves," Passmore said. "They're just doing it separately... We're not watching a marriage dissolve. We're watching a marriage evolve."
Szostak acknowledges the two still love each other. They are simply not communicating. "They each try to take steps forward," she said. "They just keep missing each other."
While many viewers might find both of them execrable because of their questionable decisions, Szostak appreciates that "the show doesn't judge anybody."
Obviously, some of the secrets both are keeping will come out, the actors say. "It's not sustainable," Szostak said. "But in the short term, it's helpful."
Passmore (last seen on A&E's "The Glades") feels the show makes all the characters gray, not black and white. "It's sexy," he said. "It's also uncomfortable and very truthful and raw in a lot of places."
TV preview
"Satisfaction," 10 p.m., Thursdays, starting July 17, USA
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