One of my all time favorites.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A different way of telling a story

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Comparisons to that other whine-fest "Thirty-Something" are apt. This show was 90 percent talk with virtually no action! The topics were mundane, to say the least, the effect quite snooze-worthy.It might do better today when broadcast TV is an entirely female medium with prime-time soaps dominating the schedule. This transformation was incomplete in 1980 so naturally a good portion of the audience said "Huh?' when the show premiered and never again tuned in.After this experience Beau Bridges, a very talented actor, stayed away from TV. The idiosyncratic Helen Shaver has since found her true métier: as a director.

A witty couple, obviously nuts about each other, who relate to each other the way people relate to each other in real life, albeit, a bit smarter.One wonders how it might have worked if they'd layered in canned laughter. In 1980, people weren't ready to decide what is funny on their own, perhaps. As if sit-coms have advanced all that much since them.There was genuine chemistry between Bridges and Shaver, but one wonders if it's the actors' contribution or the sheer honesty of the writing.I saw all "United States" episodes at the Museum of Radio & Television in Beverly Hills. (There are a couple of episodes that were never run before it was canceled.) It's not consistently brilliant, but there are plenty of moments that (had it been given a chance) might have changed the way half-hour episodic television works.A quarter of a century later, "United States" still seems ahead of its time. It's almost voyeuristic in its honest portrayal of people who deal with situations that, as in all of our lives, combine humor, pathos, irony, love, naiveté (even the kids aren't all *that* obnoxious), and honesty.Alas, it appeared on television the same year America preferred to elect Ronald Reagan. I don't think America was in the mood for honesty just then. I'm not sure we're ready for it yet.Instead, people tune in to "reality" shows, which are fake as hell.

I watched this show with great interest and quickly got hooked by this family who was actually intelligent and did not find quick and easy solutions to their problems. They were educated, upper class, and had respect for each other. Fine writing, beautiful sets and creative humor was the highlight. Of course it would not hold up on commercial television, it was far too interesting and well written, but I do hope the studio will release all 6 episodes on DVD. This series would surely find an audience with today's more sophisticated viewers. How times have changed and today we openly talk about the subjects this show brought up. It's time has come!

This was a short lived gem. Man and wife, adult, discussing adult issues with sensitivity and humor, and without the comic "all ends happily after" at the end of each 30 minutes. Entertaining, and made you smile without demeaning. If it ever comes back (unlikely) worth a view.