October 8, 2007

What to Watch: Coming Up on Cable

Tuesday offers Dear Talula, a must-see doc on Cinemax that represents another outstanding effort on cable's Breast Cancer Awareness Month programming

Tube Stake: Programming Reviews by Seth Arenstein

BENSON'S HEART: Lori and Talula Benson.

Dear Talula, Tuesday Oct. 9, 7:30pm, Cinemax (documentary).

Cable has offered a slew of excellent pieces about breast cancer, including the Lifetime original Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy, the Emmy-nominated film version of the book by Lifetime executive Geralyn Lucas.

Another excellent film about cancer, although not breast cancer, Crazy Sexy Cancer, a documentary that ran on TLC last month, will be repeated there on, of all days, Halloween, at 8pm and 11pm. Also coming up this month, Lifetime will premiere another original movie about breast cancer, this one titled Matters of Life & Dating and starring Ricki Lake, October 22 at 9pm. 

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month also brings us this Cinemax project — one of the shortest pieces, but one of the best, on cable this month.

At 38, Lori Benson became a mother for the first time, giving birth to a daughter, Talula. About 12 months later she had another life-changing experience, when a routine checkup revealed breast cancer.

The resulting documentary could have been a self-absorbed soliloquy of woe. Fortunately Benson, like Crazy Sexy Cancer’s Kris Carr, is upbeat, a fighter, with a good sense of humor. Unlike Carr, Benson is an aspiring filmmaker. If this 34-minute piece, done under the worst of circumstances, is any indication of Benson's talent, and it is, she has a great career ahead of her.

One of her biggest assets as a director is how she allows images to tell her story. An appointment with her oncologist allows the viewer to become just as confused as Benson, as the doctor describes myriad options for chemotherapy, all with confusing acronyms.

Another scene, which uses no words but simply natural sounds, is simple, but devastating.

Benson, just home from a radical mastectomy, is attempting to calm Talula. The child reaches for her mother’s breast, but Benson must keep Talula from her breast. Benson cradles Talula, but the child again reaches for her mother’s chest. Talula becomes inconsolable and is taken out of the room by her father. A moment later, Benson weeps.

• More TV reviews by Seth Arenstein >