Does "Atypical" get better?

Atypical seems to be an interesting one. I personally really enjoyed it. I cannot remember the first episode to tell you whether it gets better or whether if you don't like it then you won't like any of it.

It has however been met with a lot of criticism. Some of which were admittedly people missing the point of the comedy. But other bits I didn't understand.

I'm intrigued which parts you felt were stereotypical. One of the big criticisms was that having an obsession was stereotypical. And I guess it is.... but for good reason. Just look at the number of posts on here about special interests. So many of us have ones that are so meaningful and important to us myself included. So I don't understand the issue with that. Nor with him struggling socially. Again there are countless posts on here about these difficulties.

I get the difficulty with his family being portrayed as burdened. But many families of autistic kids do spend their time tormented with worry about their futures. So again, I'm a little confused about the issue here.

It's a comedy show so it's going to be over done to make the point and keep it funny.

Obviously each to their own and if you don't like it you don't like it. I'm just interested in the reasons why.

Atypical seems to be an interesting one. I personally really enjoyed it. I cannot remember the first episode to tell you whether it gets better or whether if you don't like it then you won't like any of it.

It has however been met with a lot of criticism. Some of which were admittedly people missing the point of the comedy. But other bits I didn't understand.

I'm intrigued which parts you felt were stereotypical. One of the big criticisms was that having an obsession was stereotypical. And I guess it is.... but for good reason. Just look at the number of posts on here about special interests. So many of us have ones that are so meaningful and important to us myself included. So I don't understand the issue with that. Nor with him struggling socially. Again there are countless posts on here about these difficulties.

I get the difficulty with his family being portrayed as burdened. But many families of autistic kids do spend their time tormented with worry about their futures. So again, I'm a little confused about the issue here.

It's a comedy show so it's going to be over done to make the point and keep it funny.

Obviously each to their own and if you don't like it you don't like it. I'm just interested in the reasons why.

Expecto_Patronum said:

I get the difficulty with his family being portrayed as burdened. But many families of autistic kids do spend their time tormented with worry about their futures. So again, I'm a little confused about the issue here.

I think it's more my take-away from episode 1: Autism is a terrible affliction. We got to laugh at Sam and feel sorry for everyone around him ... and that was about it. It's the lack of any other dimension that I have a problem with, I think.

I note that the producers recruited some #ActuallyAutistic people for later seasons after receiving criticism for the earlier ones. Maybe I'll give it a go and see how it pans out.

Expecto_Patronum said:

I'm intrigued which parts you felt were stereotypical.

It just seems that "Sam" ticks all the boxes when it comes to Autistic traits (except being non-speaking, which might not have made it past the elevator pitch). I suppose each trait is researched and presented (from the outside) faithfully enough, but there is nothing subtle about the portrayal. Sam seems, so far, to be little more than a set of traits and some hormones. There is (as yet) no introspection or depth there. I'm not really seeing anything through his eyes. I don't get any sense of the person within. I feel like I'm laughing at him rather than with him.

Maybe this is deliberate. A bit like how we didn't think much of Truman Burbank in The Truman Show at the start, but then he surprised us. Maybe in episode 1 they felt the need to do the full exposition of Sam's traits. Maybe it settles down into something that is worth watching. I suppose that is my question. Does it?