Facebook Watch has released a new trailer for their upcoming original series Sorry For Your Loss, which is slated to debut Tuesday, September 18. The footage comes just days after it was announced that this new series will get a special premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where the first four episodes will screen as part of the festival's Primetime showcase, where Amazon's Homecoming, starring Julia Roberts, will also screen its first four episodes. While Sorry For Your Loss won't be the first series to debut under the Facebook Watch platform, it may have the highest profile, with well-known stars and filmmakers bringing this show to life.
Facebook Watch launched in August 2017 with its first show, Strangers, starring Zoe Chao and Meredith Hagner, debuting a month later. Facebook Watch debuted four new drama shows this year; SKAM Austin, Five Points, Sacred Lies and Turnt, along with a number of news programs like Fox News Update and Anderson Cooper Full Circle, and docuseries shows, such as Ball in the Family and Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray's Extra Innings. Facebook Watch is clearly trying to produce a vast array of programs that run the gamut from different genres, and with a premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival next month, Sorry For Your Loss could very well bring this nascent streaming service to the next level.
The Sorry For Your Loss trailer debuted on Facebook Watch earlier today, which focuses on Elizabeth Olsen's character Leigh, an advice columnist whose life is upended when her husband Matt (Mamoudou Athie) is suddenly killed. The show follows her journey as she begins the grieving process, with the help of her sister Jules (Kelly Marie Tran), who is also struggling with her own demons as a recovering drug addict, her mother Amy (Janet McTeer) and Matt's brother Danny (Jovan Adepo). As Leigh starts to clean out the home she once shared with her husband, she begins to realize there were many secrets her husband was keeping from her during his time on Earth.
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The series was originally set up at Showtime, written on spec by playwright Kit Steinkellner, before Facebook Watch issued a 10-episode, straight-to-series order just over six months ago, in early February. Lizzy Weiss (Switched At Birth) came aboard to serve as the showrunner, with James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) serving as executive producer, and directing the first four episodes of the series. The remaining four episodes were directed by Allison Anders, Jessica Wu, Hannah Fidell, Azazel Jacobs, Rose Troche and Jamie Babbit.
Sorry For Your Loss could be a breakout hit for the nascent Facebook Watch streaming service, but it also represents another example of how once-distinct genres of drama and comedy are melding in the world of television. The show is billed as a "drama" on IMDB and a "dark comedy" on Wikipedia, but regardless of genre, it's the latest "half-hour drama" to debut, like Starz's hit Vida. While it will likely take quite some time for broadcast networks to embrace a half-hour drama, or even a one-hour comedy series, shows like this continue to push the envelope and advance the medium further than most cookie-cutter broadcast shows can.
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Source: Facebook Watch
