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HBO's The Leftovers

Mourning and Melancholy on Premium Cable
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This book unpacks and analyzes the central themes of sacrifice, melancholy, apocalypticism, and the nature of family and home in HBO's The Leftovers to demonstrate the key role it played in the development of early twenty-first-century television. Eliot Borenstein argues that the story of The Leftovers is the most sustained exploration of loss ever to appear on American television and subverts the expectations of viewers who look to prestige dramas as puzzles to solve by providing no clear answers the mysteries most central to the show's plot. Instead, Borenstein posits, the series endeavors to provide more nuanced and realistic portrayals of the melancholy that occurs when people's lives are unmoored, leavening an inherently depressing experience with absurdity and moments of grace.
Eliot Borenstein is professor of Russian & Slavic Studies and vice chancellor and vice provost for global programs at New York University.
Chapter One: The Lessons of Lost, or, Serialization and Its Discontents Chapter Two: Suburban Rapture: From Book to Series Chapter Three: Melancholy, Baby Chapter Four: The Shaman of Melancholia Chapter Five: No Child Left Behind Chapter Six: Giving Up Baby Chapter Seven: Killing the Apocalypse Chapter Eight: The Wrong Kevin Chapter Nine: Letting the Mystery Be
Few shows in the history of television have been as mesmerizingly brilliant as The Leftovers, and few have left viewers with as much to unpack, discuss, and contemplate long after their sudden departure. Borenstein does a wonderful job with these tasks, commemorating the show with a welcome, thoughtful companion. -- Jonathan Gray, University of Wisconsin-Madison; author of Television Entertainment and Television Studies
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