It's growing on me, and not just because of fab Laura Linney...

When “the melanoma show” debuted a few months ago on Showtime, I watched the initial episodes with my right hand all but welded to the off button on the clicker. Though I’ve never been diagnosed with skin cancer, I’ve had multiple biopsies, so this noir-ish little addition to the premium cable lineup basically represented my deepest, darkest fears. I still remember how I felt waiting for those test results to come back, and it was not pretty; I was basically climbing out of my sun-damaged skin with anxiety.

But after I got over my initial fear of The Big C, I just got pissed. Pissed and perplexed. My problem? The stricken Cathy, played with her usual man-is-she-good chops by Laura Linney, wasn’t telling anyone about her diagnosis. Not even her borderline-lush husband or rotten kid. Instead, she was running around manically, seizing the moment by getting her very first Brazilian and flashing her hairless hoo-ha at the scorching hot artist (The Wire‘s Idris Elba, yowza…) hired to paint a mural at the high school where she teaches.

I don’t know what I wanted from this Cathy person, but I’m pretty sure a hairless hoo-ha wasn’t it. I kept thinking about how I would comport myself, if, rather than happy news from my dermatologist, I’d received something…else.

Cathy’s rationale for keeping mum (and slightly wacko) was basically that she wanted to process her terminal illness for herself first before letting everyone else chime in with their sadness and neuroses. Not to mention their anger at her refusal to subject herself to the horrors of chemo. (She’s Stage IV.)

Eventually, however, I got it. She wants to really live – until she isn’t. And now the show is totally growing on me. Cathy has calmed down a bit, has spilled the beans to her husband, and is about to embark on a string of iffy alternative therapies in an attempt to beat the cancer.

The homeless brother story arc is creepy, and I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around Cynthia Nixon’s trampy-yuppie character being so gosh darn happy to hop in the sack with his unwashed self. But I’m totally looking forward to this week’s episode: Liam Neeson plays a beekeeper who is literally going to sting Cathy into a state of heightened immunity. I’m pulling for the old gal, big-time. Buzz buzz.

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