‘In Treatment’ returns Oct. 25 with new co-stars and new timeslot

Though I recognize it’s an acquired taste, HBO’s “In Treatment” was one of my favorite dramas on television when it last aired in May of ’09. (You can see my reviews of that season on my old blog.) The wait for a third season is finally over, as HBO has announced that the new season will begin on October 25 at 9 p.m.

Season three will have a slightly new format, new showrunners, new co-stars and will be the first to feature entirely new stories, since the first two seasons were adapted from the Israeli drama “Be’Tipul.”

The main constant is the return of Gabriel Byrne as Dr. Paul Weston, who can be a brilliant therapist when he isn’t letting his own demons get in the way.

Previous seasons featured five half-hour episodes per week: four of Paul’s sessions with his patients, then one of Paul seeing his own shrink, Dr. Gina Toll (Dianne Wiest, who won an Emmy for the first season). In season one, the episodes ran on five consecutive nights. In season two, HBO aired three episodes on Sundays and the other two on Mondays. This year, the number of episodes will be scaled down to four: three patients, played by, in order, Irrfan Khan, Debra Winger and Dane DeHaan; followed by Amy Ryan as Paul’s new therapist.

The episodes will air in pairs, with Kahn and Winger on Mondays from 9-10 and DeHaan and Ryan on Tuesdays from 9-10.

The husband-and-wife team of Dan Futterman (actor-turned-Oscar-nominated-writer of “Capote”) and Anya Epstein will be the new showrunners, taking over for Warren Leight, who himself took over for season one’s Rodrigo Garcia.

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