Atypical

I recently finished watching the first 2 seasons of this amazing story about a family with a neuro-atypical or autistic kid and have to admit that I absolutely love it.

I hadn‘t read any reviews before watching it, but this show definitely calls for at least 2 Oscars: one for Robia Rashid who came up with the story and one for Keir Gilchrist for playing Sam Gardner.

Robia was asked by Maria Elena Fernandez what her inspiration for the story was. Here’s part of her reply:

After working in network TV for a while, I just wanted to do something for myself. I was very aware that more people were being diagnosed with autism, and it was interesting to me that a whole generation of kids were growing up knowing that they were on the spectrum and wanting independence. That point of view seemed so interesting to me — and such a cool way to tell a dating story. You’ve seen the story of somebody looking for independence and looking for love before, but not from that specific point of view. I really was drawn to that. I was a little annoyed because it sounded really hard! I had to do a lot of research…

I also love Nik Donani’s role as Sam’s best friend, Zahid, he is absolutely hilarious and wise beyond his years. Sam’s little sister and his parents are also doing a great job. Michael Rapaport was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just last week.

If you want to learn something about autism in an entertaining way, this is a good start.