Melanie Lynskey's small screen return

A scene from Togetherness, starring Melanie Lynskey, left.

Kiwi actress Melanie Lynskey returns to the small screen tonight in the acclaimed new comedy Togetherness on Sky's Soho.

Meet Brett and Michelle Pierson - yes that's our own Melanie Lynskey in her latest role - the stars of Togetherness. They're a typical American couple: approaching middle age, with two kids in tow, and increasingly aware that the spark is fading from their marriage.

Adding to the tension are Brett's best friend Alex and Michelle's sister Tina, who both have problems of their own, problems that see them moving into the Piersons' already overcrowded home.

So far, so much like a quirky indie movie - something offbeat along the lines of Rachel Getting Married or Jeff, Who Lives At Home, amusing but melancholy portraits of dysfunctional family life designed to provide catharsis before we head back to our own imperfect homes.

The only difference? Togetherness isn't a movie. It's HBO's latest sitcom. The reason for its downbeat tone? Togetherness was created by Mark and Jay Duplass, the writer/director brothers behind the aforementioned Jeff, Who Lives At Home, and pioneers of the "mumblecore" film movement.

And so it marks another stage in US cable television's attempt to bring TV comedy closer to the style and edginess of art-house cinema in the same way it previously revolutionised drama.

"[Jay and I] never wanted to make an HBO show because we didn't want to be tied up," Mark Duplass admitted to the Hollywood Reporter earlier this year. "What's been a nice surprise is how much we've enjoyed the long form of storytelling.

"We didn't really anticipate that taking these characters and having 240 minutes in our first season to tell their stories would allow us to do more of what we like, which is minutiae-orientated relationship studies - the epically small things that are happening between couples and friends that we find hilarious, beautiful and heartbreaking," he said.

As well as starring Mark Duplass as Brett and Lynskey as Michelle, Togetherness has Amanda Peet as Michelle's sister Tina and Steve Zissis as Alex, both trying to figure out what to do with their lives.

Having occasionally turned up on the high-rating sitcom Two and Half Men, Lynskey has also appeared in plenty of low-budget US independent films in the decade-plus of her stateside career, so she knows the territory.

But she does a few things in Togetherness she never did in the Charlie Sheen sitcom. Like full frontal nudity.

"It was fine. I felt kind of good about it. It's definitely not the kind of naked body you usually see," she told Buzzfeed.

"But there's a part of that I feel weirdly kind of liberated about."

Togetherness starts airing on SoHo tonight straight after Lena Dunham's increasingly acerbic Girls (8.30pm), which is returning for a fourth season.

Completing the channel's cutting edge new American comedy line-up on Thursday nights are the second seasons of lo-fi, gay San Francisco-set sitcom Looking (9.30pm) and hospital black comedy Getting On (10pm).

Tune in:
When: Tonight, 9pm
Where: SoHo
What: HBO's hot comedy

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