Tonight’s Showtime program “Time of Death” takes an honest look at what death is really like. In a world where most TV programs show a surplus of vicarious fake deaths in police dramas, I dare you to watch the real thing. You might actually learn something about end-of-life, and facing fears about living and dying. Learn more about the program.
Hank Stuever, TV critic for The Washington Post wrote:
I rarely insist that anybody watch anything on TV, but I strongly recommend that you watch as much as you can of “Time of Death,” Showtime’s unflinchingly honest docu-series (premiering Friday night) about what it’s like to die — and what it’s like for our loved ones to watch us go.
I get that it’s not going to be a TV show for all. It’s hard stuff. If you and your loved ones are planning to live forever then, by all means, skip it. If, on the other hand, you are an adult with a firm grip on reality (and perhaps faith), you will likely find yourself transfixed by the gentle and elegant ways that “Time of Death” takes us into the final weeks of eight women and men, ages 19 to 78, each losing a fight against a terminal illness.
Read the entire Washington Post column.
Joanne Ostrow, TV critic for The Denver Post wrote:
“Time of Death,” a departure for TV, is a serious grappling with end-of-life issues for a death-denying culture.
Nobody gets out of here alive, as they say, and it’s curious that, while every aspect of love, sex and money have been mined for TV, the medium hasn’t before milked this aspect of “reality.” Fake death, dramatic murders and supernatural slayings are all over TV, but real human mortality is kept neatly out of sight.
“Time of Death” demonstrates the path to the exit is fraught with challenges. That’s the case in the wisdom of a psychotherapist inviting the cameras into her own end stages because she wants to make it a “conscious learning” experience for herself, her family and “the world at large.”
Tomorrow morning I take my exam to become a Certified Thanatologist. This program is a great introduction to learn about death, dying and bereavement.