Enlightened

Enlightened is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on October 10, 2011. The series was created by Mike White, who wrote every episode, and Laura Dern. As signaled by its tagline "About a woman on the verge of a nervous breakthrough", Enlightened follows the story of Amy Jellicoe (Dern), a self-destructive executive, who, after the implosion of her professional life and a subsequent philosophical awakening in rehabilitation, tries to get her life back together. In 2012, Dern won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her role in the series. The show was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. After the completion of two seasons, HBO canceled the show in March 2013, partly due to low ratings, despite critical acclaim. Plot Amy Jellicoe is a 40-year-old woman who returns home to Riverside, California, after a two-month stay at a holistic treatment facility, a result of having a mental breakdown at work after finding herself demoted, which was triggered by her self-destructive ways (including heavy drinking and an affair with her married boss who likely demoted her as a way to keep the affair a secret), which in turn was triggered by a miscarriage and a rather bitter divorce. Amy returns to her old life with a new cultivated approach and perspective, which includes daily meditation and exhorting the power of self-help and inner healing. Though Amy wants to be an "agent of change" in the world, the people who know her best are skeptical of her latest intentions. She moves in temporarily with her somewhat-estranged mother, Helen (Diane Ladd, Dern's real-life mother), and reconnects with her ex-husband Levi (Luke Wilson), who is struggling with his own demons and addictions. While trying to heal Levi and mend her relationship with Helen, Amy also re-enters work at Abaddonn Industries. This is due in large part to the head HR representative Judy Harvey (Amy Hill) discovering that with her diagnosis with bipolar disorder Amy could possibly sue Abaddonn for discrimination on the basis of illness/medical condition. Once a buyer in the company's Health and Beauty department, Amy is rehired, but assigned to a demeaning position in data processing, a department run by the flaky Dougie (Timm Sharp).