Two seemingly decent couples become friendly as they make an agreement on surrogacy that causes heartbreak when it's broken and the two couples turn against each other and become ruthless in their efforts to win custody. The fact that this actually happened is like opening up a scandal sheet and watching it all come to life. Perhaps not the public's business morally, but legally a precedent that needed to be explored for future cases.
The happily married mother of two, Jobeth Williams, has agreed to be a surrogate, but when she's unable to conceive with the first sperm doner, she meets up with the upper class John Shea and Robin Strasser. The first encounters are positive, but when Williams successfully conceives, she's agitated by continued questioning and advice from Shea and Strasser, and after giving birth has a breakdown and decides she wants to raise the child, gaining the support from husband Bruce Weisz.
It's easy to be attempted to take sides, but after seeing how everyone acted, I couldn't choose either side, finding Williams unstable and Strasser meddling, Shea self righteous and Weisz completely crass. So from there without looking the actual case up, I watched mainly to see how it all unfolded, and like that open rag magazine drawn into something that wasn't really my business, yet too fascinated to look away.
Not able to like any of the four leading characters, I found the acting amazingly good, with the raw nerves oozing out of Williams and Strasser remaining noble in spite of scenes where she literally grabs at the baby. A far cry from her role as Dorian on "One Life to Live", and very layered. The men are excellent, loyal to their spouses, but they're pretty much there to be supportive, although Shea is drawn more strongly than Strasser in how he shows his emotions and comes off as a human.
As attorneys on the case, Anne Jackson and Dabney Coleman are very strong, with Jenny Lewis less annoying than normal as the older daughter desperately helping her mother. I wanted to see more of Strasser's fellow soap vets Nancy Addison as William's sister (great in a scene with Strasser) and Lesley Woods as her mother. Perhaps a bit too long, in two parts, and going past three hours, but rarely dull even though I didn't like the feeling like I was being a metaphorical Gladys Kravitz in eavesdropping on something very private.
The happily married mother of two, Jobeth Williams, has agreed to be a surrogate, but when she's unable to conceive with the first sperm doner, she meets up with the upper class John Shea and Robin Strasser. The first encounters are positive, but when Williams successfully conceives, she's agitated by continued questioning and advice from Shea and Strasser, and after giving birth has a breakdown and decides she wants to raise the child, gaining the support from husband Bruce Weisz.
It's easy to be attempted to take sides, but after seeing how everyone acted, I couldn't choose either side, finding Williams unstable and Strasser meddling, Shea self righteous and Weisz completely crass. So from there without looking the actual case up, I watched mainly to see how it all unfolded, and like that open rag magazine drawn into something that wasn't really my business, yet too fascinated to look away.
Not able to like any of the four leading characters, I found the acting amazingly good, with the raw nerves oozing out of Williams and Strasser remaining noble in spite of scenes where she literally grabs at the baby. A far cry from her role as Dorian on "One Life to Live", and very layered. The men are excellent, loyal to their spouses, but they're pretty much there to be supportive, although Shea is drawn more strongly than Strasser in how he shows his emotions and comes off as a human.
As attorneys on the case, Anne Jackson and Dabney Coleman are very strong, with Jenny Lewis less annoying than normal as the older daughter desperately helping her mother. I wanted to see more of Strasser's fellow soap vets Nancy Addison as William's sister (great in a scene with Strasser) and Lesley Woods as her mother. Perhaps a bit too long, in two parts, and going past three hours, but rarely dull even though I didn't like the feeling like I was being a metaphorical Gladys Kravitz in eavesdropping on something very private.