Emerging from HBO’s top-secret laboratory where old TV shows are smashed into each other to break free the precious idea meat nestled within, the people behind the therapy drama In Treatment and “What if fedoras could be people with too much money?” simulator Entourage have announced a project combining elements of both shows. Marrying introspective psychological drama and rampant, self-involved wish fulfillment, the new show, Wish, sounds like the best hybridization of the two programs since VinnyChaseFan420 wrote his spec-script masterpiece, “Turtle Goes To Therapy.” Written by In Treatment’s Merritt Johnson and produced by a slew of veteran HBO producers, including Entourage writer Doug Ellin, the anthology series centers on people given the chance to relive the defining moments of their lives.
Like In Treatment, which was adapted from a series titled BeTipul, Wish will be an American remake of a successful Israeli series: Beit Ha’Mishalot, which translates as “House Of Wishes.” And like Entourage, it seems to be fixated on people reliving their pasts, with the key difference being that some of those fond and dramatic remembrances will not be based on the memories of Mark Wahlberg. Like In Treatment, the show will center on a psychologist visited by a wide cast of patients, each of whom is treated to a recreation of pivotal moments in their lives by actors. And like Entourage, some of those actors will probably be terrible, terrible people with nicknames like “Drama” and “E,” who will be treated by the show as admirable despite all evidence to the contrary. (To be fair, that last one is just a guess.)