Big Love

*Big Love*
Big Love
Created by	Mark V. Olsen; Will Scheffer
Starring	Bill Paxton; Jeanne Tripplehorn; Chloë Sevigny; Ginnifer Goodwin; Amanda Seyfried; Douglas Smith; Shawn Doyle; Melora Walters; Joel McKinnon Miller; Grace Zabriskie; Matt Ross; Mireille Enos; Mary Kay Place; Harry Dean Stanton
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	30 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 50 min
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	March 12, 2006 –; present

Template:Otheruses2

Big Love is an American television drama on HBO about a fundamentalist Mormon^[1]^[2]^[3] family in Utah that practices polygamy. Big Love stars Bill Paxton, Chloë Sevigny, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ginnifer Goodwin, Harry Dean Stanton, Amanda Seyfried, Douglas Smith, Grace Zabriskie, and Matt Ross. It premiered in the United States on March 12, 2006 following the sixth-season premiere of the popular HBO series The Sopranos. The second season aired in 2007^[4] and the third season began airing January 18, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada.

Overview

The show was cocreated by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, who also serve as executive producers. Olsen and Scheffer spent almost three years researching the premise of the show,^[5] with the intent of creating a fair portrayal of polygamy in America without being judgmental. The series' theme song is "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys; the musical score for the series is composed by David Byrne. The score for the first season was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh.

It was announced on February 5, 2009, that Big Love has been renewed by HBO for a fourth season.^[6]

Cast and characters

Main Cast

Bill Paxton ... Bill Henrickson - Main character. A practicing polygamist.
Jeanne Tripplehorn ... Barbara "Barb" Henrickson - Bill's first wife.
Chloë Sevigny ... Nicolette "Nicki" Grant - Bill's second wife and Roman Grant's daughter.
Ginnifer Goodwin ... Margene Heffman - Bill's third wife.
Amanda Seyfried ... Sarah Henrickson - Bill and Barb's oldest daughter.
Douglas Smith ... Ben Henrickson - Bill and Barb's son. Struggling with adhering to his father's polygamous faith.
Shawn Doyle ... Joey Henrickson - Bill's brother, husband to Wanda Henrickson.
Melora Walters ... Wanda Henrickson - Bill's sister-in-law, wife to Joey Henrickson.
Joel McKinnon Miller ... Don Embry - Bill's business partner and best friend. A practicing polygamist.
Grace Zabriskie ... Lois Henrickson - Bill's mother. In a feud with his father.
Matt Ross ... Alby Grant - Roman Grant's oldest son and designated heir.
Mireille Enos ... Kathy Marquart - Joey's 2nd wife.
Harry Dean Stanton ... Roman Grant - Nicki's father, Prophet and leader of Juniper Creek.

Surrounding cast

Bruce Dern ... Frank Harlow - Bill's father. In a feud with his mother.
Mary Kay Place ... Adaleen Grant - Sixth wife to Roman Grant. Nicki's and Alby's mother
Daveigh Chase ... Rhonda Volmer - A child bride-to-be slated to be married to Roman Grant.
Jolean Wejbe ... Tancy Henrickson - Bill and Barb's youngest daughter.
Brian Kerwin ... Eddie Henrickson - Bill's uncle Lois' younger brother.
Tina Majorino ... Heather Tuttle - A close friend and co-worker of Sarah Henrickson.
Branka Katic ... Ana - Bill Henrickson's fourth wife, whom he marries in the third season.
Keegan Holst ... Wayne Henrickson - Bill and Nicki's oldest son.
Garrett Grey ... Ray Henrickson - Youngest son of Bill and Nicki.

Recurring

Aidan Gonzales and Andrew Gonzales - Joey Henrickson Jr.
Wendy Phillips - Peg Embry, Don's wife, Home Plus head bookkeeper.
Kyle Gallner - Jason Embry, Don and Peg's son, Ben's best friend.
Annie Fitzgerald - Verna, Don's second wife.^[7]
Renee Albert - Julep "Jo-Jo", Don's third wife^[7]^[8]
Carlos Jacott - Carl Martin, neighbor, Pam's husband.
Audrey Wasilewski - Pam Martin, neighbor, Carl's wife.
Jodie Markell - Wendy Hunt, secretary for Bill.
Sarah Jones - Brynn, Ben's girlfriend.
Aaron Paul - Scott, Sarah's boyfriend.
Lawrence O'Donnell - Lee Hatcher, family attorney.
Jim Beaver - Carter Reese, business acquaintance of Bill.
Luke Askew - Hollis Green, patriarch of a rival polygamist group.
Sandy Martin - Selma Green, Hollis' first wife and partner, youngest sister of Roman. A woman, but usually dressed in a man's suit with a male hair style.
Anne Dudek - Lura Grant, one of Alby's wives who tries to kill Roman.
Ellen Burstyn - Nancy, Barbara Henrickson's estranged mother.
Mark L. Young – Bill's half brother Franky.

Family tree

Orville Henrickson

Unnamed woman

Lois Henrickson

Eddie Henrickson

Unnamed Dutton man

Nancy Davis Dutton

Unnamed Heffman man

Virginia "Ginger" Heffman

{{{#}}}

Barbara "Barb" Dutton Henrickson

Cindy Dutton

Joey Jr. Henrickson

Scott

Sarah Henrickson

Benjamin "Ben" Henrickson

Tancy "Teenie" Henrickson

Wayne Henrickson

Raymond Henrickson

Aaron Henrickson

Lester Henrickson

Nell Henrickson

Unnamed Baby

Plot

The series revolves around Bill Henrickson, his three wives (Barb, first/legal wife; Nicki, second wife; and Margene, third wife) and their (combined) eight children. Henrickson lives with his family in three neighboring houses in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City.

Season 1

Season 1 introduces the main characters and revolves around the family's struggles to live their polygamous lifestyle while keeping it a secret from the outside world. While Bill goes about expanding his chain of home improvement stores ("Henrickson’s Home Plus"), he struggles to balance his three wives and his strained relationship with Nicki's father, Church prophet Roman Grant. From his compound on Juniper Creek, Roman seeks to gain a greater share of the profits from Bill's business ventures. Bill, who is resentful towards Roman for expelling him from Juniper Creek as a teenager, opposes this, and joins with his brother Joey, a former NFL player who returned to Juniper Creek after drug addiction, to gain a seat on the Church's board of directors in order to undercut Roman's considerable influence and to maintain a level of autonomy from his controlling grasp.

Bill's first wife, Barb, is shown to be the anchor for the plural Henrickson family, but as the show progresses, it is revealed that Barb has mixed feelings about the concept of polygamy, and only her love for Bill makes her stay. Meanwhile, second wife Nicki (daughter of Roman) struggles to fit in with modern life outside the compound and her own desire for power within the family dynamic. Nicki compensates for her isolation by developing an addiction to shopping, leading her to accumulate $60,000 of debt in credit card charges. Third wife Margene, 23 years old, struggles to find her place within the family, as both Barb and Nicki look down upon her due to her youth and fertility, having given birth to two children via Bill and being pregnant with her third child.

Most of season one focuses on the family's struggle to keep their secret from their friends, neighbors, and coworkers. However, things come to a head when Barb is nominated for a "Mother of the Year" Award, resulting in her and Bill's being outed as a polygamist couple. Meanwhile, Joey's mentally unstable wife, Wanda, poisons Alby Grant (Roman's son and chief minion) when Alby discovers that Bill is using Joey as a pawn in his scheme to undermine Roman's power within the Church, and threatens the two.

Season 2

Season 2 picks up two weeks after the end of season one, as Barb temporarily leaves home before coming back. Though the outing does not damage the family's reputation or the Henrickson business, it causes Bill to decide to take steps to ensure his family's financial security by trying to buy an electronic gambling company called Weber Gaming.

The second season also expands upon the political battles at Juniper Creek. When Roman and his wife inform Alby that they are willing to allow Wanda and Joey to get away with their attempt on his life in exchange for using them as leverage against Bill, Alby alerts outside authorities, who arrest Joey (who claims credit for poisoning Alby in order to protect Wanda), which ultimately leads to a raid of the compound.

Meanwhile, Roman's newest intended bride, 15-year-old Rhonda Volmer, secretly leaves the compound to live with the Henricksons. The family is quick to take Rhonda in, thinking that she is an innocent trying to escape being forced to marry the elderly Roman. However, it is quickly revealed that Rhonda is a pathological liar and sociopath who left the compound only to exploit Roman's legal troubles in order to get media coverage for her story in the newspaper and on TV.

Rhonda's departure and Alby's actions lead to Bill's manipulating Roman and the Greens (a renegade polygamist sect that operates on the fringes of society) against each other in order to claim Weber Gaming. Roman is shot by the Greens when the police finally try to arrest the Greens, forcing them to flee. With Roman hospitalized, Alby quickly seizes power, and—thanks to Rhonda's statements to the police—Roman is arrested by the police for violating the Mann Act. Alby's power is ultimately secured when he forces his mother to flee Juniper Creek (after realizing that she planned to use him as a puppet to secure her own power base at Juniper Creek) and by Bill's refusal to challenge Alby's claim of prophethood in order to claim the position for himself.

In his family life, Nicki struggles with Bill's decision to send their son to a Catholic school (which is far enough out of the way for Bill to claim Nikki as his sole wife) while Margene and Barb fall out as the two wage war against the other for the "head wife" position. This is complicated as Margene befriends Ana, a Serbian waitress and dental hygienist, after witnessing Bill flirting with her at a diner. Margene encourages Bill to bring Ana into the family as a fourth wife in order to gain an ally against Barb and Nicki.

Barb, after a tearful reunion with her estranged mother and a pep talk with Roman's wife, reasserts herself as first wife by outing the family as polygamist to her nosy neighbors and informing Bill that she will finally leave him once and for all if he tries to bring a fourth wife into the family.

Meanwhile, Sarah is seeking help in dealing with her family's lifestyle through a support group for ex-Fundamentalist Mormons, leading to her falling for a man ten years her senior. While Sarah ultimately gives up her virginity to her new boyfriend (mainly to spite her father, who is indifferent towards Sarah's growing disdain for him and polygamy), Ben gives himself over to his father's views on polygamy. At the close of the season, Ben is dating twin girls from Juniper Creek whose goal is to marry one man between them, causing Barb to consider sending him away to live with her (nonpolygamist) mother.

Season 3

In the third season of Big Love, Bill tries to find a partner for a Mormon-friendly casino and attempts to woo a prospective fourth wife, while dealing with escalating hostilities between his parents.

Roman Grant goes to trial and is found not guilty. This is because of Nicki's interference working as a part-time temp at the Lawyers office that is trying to prosecute Roman. She is going by the name of "Margene Heffman" while working there and reporting back to her mother everything she is learning about the upcoming trial. The Hendrickson family does not know that Nicki is doing this, they think she is working there as a temp to help pay off her debts. The trial loses almost all of its key witnesses, due to Nicki's mother and her power. However, Kathy and her twin both take the stand. Kathy tells the prosecuting lawyer that she was married at 16 and had begged Roman not to do it. Her sister says they were married off at 18. There is a discrepancy because the people on the Juniper Creek Compound do not celebrate birthdays. The twins are unaware of how old they actually are. They are assuming they are anywhere from 27-29. Because of this discrepancy Roman is set free.

During season two Bill had started to date an Eastern European woman named Anna. In season three things become much more serious between them. Bill and all of the wives begin to date her and view her as a prospective fourth wife. Barb starts to really like Anna and views her as a close friend. This bothers Nicki and Margie a lot. Eventually Bill proposes to Anna and she accepts. They are quickly married on the same day he proposes in the Hendrickson family backyard. Tensions between the wives start to arise. Barb wants Anna to live with her and so does Margie. They both go to Bill over this problem and he says that Anna will live with Nicki. Nicki does not want Anna to live with her and Anna does not want to live with Margie. Things start to really explode when Barb tells Margie and Nicki that she likes Anna as a friend not just as a sister-wife. There is a lot of chaos and Anna decides this is not the life she wants. She asks Bill for a divorce and tells him she cannot do this. Bill, Barb, Nicki and Margie are flabbergasted.

During this whole third season Bill and Barb's oldest teenage daughter, Sarah has been hiding her pregnancy. Only her brother Ben and her best friend Heather know about the pregnancy. Sarah has been trying to figure out what she wants to do. She has plans to attend Arizona State University that coming Fall. Ben thinks she should let their parents raise it, but Sarah is completely against polygamy and does not want her baby raised into it. She looks into adoption and decides that she doesn't want strangers to raise it either. Sarah's friend Heather asks her what she really wants to do and said replies that she wants to keep it and raise it on her own. Sarah and Heather decide they will go to the University of Arizona and raise it together. Sarah is very happy with this decision. Now all she has to do is eventually come clean to her parents. She is only in her first trimester.

The Henrickson family then takes a cross-country road trip. Along the way many secrets are revealed. During the trip Ben in in a hotel room naked and about to change when Margie walks into the room having had a shower unaware that Ben is there. They both see each other naked in a extremely awkward moment. Margie runs and hides in the bathroom. Ben later writes Margie and note confessing that he is in love with her. She confronts him and says that his feelings are not appropriate and that she looks at him like a son. He says "I am a normal kid in an un-normal family, I can't help how I feel." Margie gets really mad at him and tells him he needs to just get over it.

During this trip it is also revealed that Bill has a prescription for Viagra. He is counting his pills out when Margie scares him and they drop down the sink. She asks him why he is taking it and asks if he needs them for her. He tells her no way. She then asks if he needs them for Barb, and he says no. It is assumed that he needs them to make love to Nicki. Margie tells Bill it will be "their secret." Margie later lets it slip to Barb and Nicki. Nicki figures out that he needs them for her.

Nicki's own secret is revealed on this trip. Barb finds a pack of birth control and assumes they are her daughter Sarah's. Barb is livid and distraught yelling at Sarah. Nicki feels bad for Sarah and fesses up that they are hers. Barb becomes even more upset and calls a meeting. Bill, Barb, and Margie confront Nicki about this. Nicki admits that she has been taking them for the last four years. Bill tells her this is the worst thing she could have ever done to them.

At the end of the episode of the road-trip Nicki is asleep in her hotel room when she is awoken by crying in the bathroom. She knocks on the door and asks to come in. She finds Sarah sitting on the toilet. She asks her what is wrong and Sarah replies "I am losing my baby." Sarah suffers a miscarriage. Nicki holds her and tells Sarah that they have to tell the family. They are driving back and the final scene shows Nicki calling Barb to explain. The family pulls over in their cars and gets out to hug Sarah. The entire family is clearly distraught over the situation. No one in her family but Ben had known about the pregnancy.

Upon returning home, Bill and Barb attempt to confront Sarah about her choices in life. Sarah rebuffs all contact from her parents, despite the gift of a car from her father. Sarah also begins acting erratically, ending her plans to attend ASU or any other college. Sarah loses Heather's friendship due to this.

Joey announces to Bill that he, Kathy, and Wanda are getting married, asking Bill to seal them. Kathy has been gathering resistance on the Juniper Creek compound against Roman, which puts her in conflict with Roman and Alby. Roman proposes a solution by joining Kathy to Hollis Green. Wanda is having difficulties adjusting to the new family structure, showing signs of stress and bedwetting. On Kathy and Joey's wedding day, Kathy is abducted and taken to be joined with Hollis. Roman tells her that she will be sent to Mexico, at which point she escapes. Kathy steals a truck and tries to flee Roman's compound. Roman follows her in his SUV, rear-ending her and sending her into a pole. Kathy's braid was caught in the door, causing her neck to snap in the wreck, killing her instantly.

HBO Canada premiered this season day-and-date with HBO in the U.S. on January 18, 2009.

In November 2008, http://www.hbo.com/biglove, the show's official site, launched a massive ad campaign for the third season of Big Love, including a preview of the new season, a behind-the-scenes look at the new season, and background videos of Bill Henrickson, Barbara Dutton-Henrickson, Nicolette Grant, and Margene Heffman. In the behind-the-scenes video, Ginnifer Goodwin says, "Anything you thought could happen happens." Bill Paxton states, "I thought Season 2 was vamped up, but Season 3 is even more explosive." On her character, Chloë Sevigny says, "There is definitely a power struggle that goes on between the wives. You see Bill and Barb find out about some things Nicki has been hiding from them."

In January 2009, ABCnews.com reported that the series will be incorporating the YFZ ranch raid into the story line. Suggesting that "Juniper Creek" will get raided.^[9]

The United Effort Brotherhood

The show's fictional fundamentalist group, the "United Effort Brotherhood", or UEB, is similar to and was inspired by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) whose financial and legal wing is called the "United Effort Plan".^{[citation needed]} The FLDS is one of the most prolific and well-known polygamist groups^{[citation needed]} which regard themselves as the legitimate successor of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^{[citation needed]} Creators Olsen and Scheffer included a drive through the twin FLDS towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, as part of their research for the show.^[10] The raid on Juniper Creek is reminiscent of the Short Creek raid, an actual historic event from 1953 where Arizona state police and National Guard troops took action against polygamists in Colorado City.

Production and crew

Although set in Utah, the series is primarily filmed at the Santa Clarita Studios in Valencia, California. The location used for filming "Henrickson’s Home Plus" scenes is The All American Home Center in Downey, California.

The mall scenes from Season one were filmed in the Fox Hills Mall, in Culver City, California. Other exterior shots are filmed in Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah and Sandy, Utah, as well as northeast Los Angeles, California.^[11]

The head writers for the series are the co-creators: Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer. The writing staff includes: Patricia Breen^[12], Dustin Lance Black, Doug Jung^[13], Eileen Myers, Jennifer Schuur, Doug Stockstill, Jeanette Collins^[14] and Mimi Friedman^[15].

Directors of the series include Jim McKay, Adam Davidson, Rodrigo Garcia, Charles McDougall, Sarah Pia Anderson, Dan Attias, Burr Steers, Michael Spiller, Alan Taylor, John Strickland, Mary Harron, Steve Shill, Julian Farino, Michael Lehmann and Alan Poul (former executive producer of Six Feet Under).

The show's producers are Alexa Junge^[16], Ann Holm, Ron Binkowski, Bernadette Caulfield^[17], Jeanette Collins, Mimi Friedman, Shane Keller^[18], David Knoller^[19], Mark V. Olsen, Will Scheffer, Gary Goetzman^[20] and Tom Hanks.

Episodes

Season	No. of episodes	First Airdate	Last Airdate
Season 1	12	March 12, 2006	June 4, 2006
Season 2	12	June 11, 2007	August 26, 2007
Season 3	12^[21]	January 18, 2009

Soundtrack

The theme song to the series is The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows". In addition, David Byrne has recorded an entire soundtrack to the second season, which will be released as Big Love: Hymnal on 2008-08-19.

DVD releases

DVD Name	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Season 1	October 17, 2006	April 27, 2007	September 5, 2007
Season 2	December 11, 2007	TBA	July 2, 2008

Reception

Metacritic rated the show a 72 out of 100, indicating favorable reviews. ^[22]

Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com said of Big Love, "There are elements of this new series that have a quirkiness that might seem deliberate or overly clever against a different backdrop, but that feels natural in its own gracefully odd environment." ^[23]

Time magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007, ranking it at #5.^[24]

Awards/Nominations

The second season was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series in 2007. Bill Paxton was also nominated for the Best Actor in a Television Drama Golden Globe for his role as Bill Henrickson.^[25]

International broadcasting

Country	Alternate title/Translation	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule
United States		HBO	March 12, 2006	Sundays at 9:00pm (ET)
Canada		HBO Canada	March 14, 2006	Sundays at 9:00 p.m. (ET/MT)
Argentina		HBO
Australia		SBS TV	June 3, 2007	Saturdays at 8:35pm
Belgium		Canvas (First run), BeTV (Reruns)	September 2006
Brazil	Amor Imenso	HBO	October 1, 2006
Chile		HBO
Colombia		HBO
Czech Republic		HBO
Denmark		Kanal 4		Mondays - Thursdays 20.00
Finland		Nelonen	February 19, 2007	Mondays at 9.00pm
France		Canal+	September 13, 2007	Thursdays at 10:15pm
Guatemala		HBO	September 9, 2007	Sundays at 9.00pm
Hungary	Hármastársak	HBO/HBO2	January 5, 2007
India		HBO	August 4, 2008	Mondays at 11:30pm
Israel		yes stars Drama HOT VOD
Italy		Fox Life
Mexico		HBO
Netherlands		NET 5	May 28, 2007	Mondays at 9.30pm
New Zealand		TV ONE		Tuesdays at 9:35pm
Norway		FEM	September 3, 2007	Mondays at 9.30pm
Paraguay		HBO/HBO Plus
Peru		HBO
Poland	Trzy na jednego (Three To One)	HBO, HBO2
Portugal		FX	2007	Season 2 Saturdays at 9:05pm and Wednesdays at 10:00pm (Season 1 reruns every day except Sundays and Saturdays at 1:00am, 11:35am and 3:25pm)
Romania	Dragoste mare	HBO
Scandinavia		Canal+
South Africa		M-Net
Spain		Canal+
Sweden		SVT	April 16, 2008	Wednesdays at 10.00pm
Thailand		HBO HBO Signature	October 22, 2007 October 8, 2007
Taiwan		HBO
Turkey		Foxlife
United Kingdom		Channel Five (First run), Five Life (reruns)	June 2006	Mondays 22.00
Uruguay		HBO