Express Therapy

We shed more than a few tears when Lisa Kudrow’s brilliant HBO series The Comeback — about a dim, self-involved past-her-prime actress — was cancelled. Thankfully, Kudrow’s back. . . as a dim, self-involved shrink in the clever, improvised online series Web Therapy (now at L Studio).

In the brief episodes — each is less than 8 minutes — the loopy doc forgoes traditional 50-minute sessions, instead dispensing wisdom in three-minute chats via web cam. “It’s like having a gun to your head — you’re forced to get to the issue!” Fiona Wallace (Kudrow) says of her technique, which frees her from having to listen to her patients’ dreams and pesky feelings. Actually, Fiona barely listens at all. When patient Richard (Tim Bagley) pours his heart out about his schizophrenic girlfriend, Fiona fiddles with her computer. When Richard is finished, Fiona sums up, “So, she’s crazy.”

The series is on Lexus’ new entertainment site and we’ve no idea what webisodes have to do with cars (you can watch them on your phone in traffic?). But the advertising is undetectable and there are even other promising series on the site. One, from a former Sex and the City writer, is called Puppy Love, and it’s about people’s overly close relationships with their pets — which is something we know nothing about. Right, pookie?


Web Therapy is available to watch now at L Studio.