Jason Katims’ New Amazon Series 'As We See It'
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https://collider.com/jason-katims-new-show-as-we-see-it-images-amazon/
As We See It will follow Jack (Rick Glassman), Harrison (Albert Rutecki), and Violet (Sue Ann Pien), three roommates in their twenties on the autism spectrum living in an assisted living facility as they strive to find love, keep jobs, and foster friendships in a world that does not value their experiences.
The series will also star Sosie Bacon of Mare of Easttown as their aide, Mandy; Chris Pang of Crazy Rich Asians as Van, Violet’s brother; and Joe Mantegna of Criminal Minds as Jack’s father, Lou.
Katims will serve as the showrunner and producer of the series. He has previously served as showrunner for similarly character-driven shows such as Parenthood and Friday Night Lights. Jeni Mulein, who has worked with Katims on his recent series, Away, and Danna Stern of the Israeli yesStudios will also be executive producing for the series.
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“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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The Israeli series this was taken from was reality TV, they were actual autistic residents of an actual assisted living facility. The people who dubbed that series in English were autistic. If any of the housemates in the American version are NT actors the whirlwind that will ensue will make the reaction to ‘Music’ seem minor.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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As We See It Release Date and Where You Can Watch It
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It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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As We See It First Trailer: 3 Roommates on the Autism Spectrum Navigate Life and Love
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It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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Amazon Debuts Show Starring Actors With Autism
Beyond the actors, Katims said that crew members working on “As We See It” in the writers’ room, editing room, production office and on set were neurodiverse.
Katims made clear that the lead actors were not playing versions of themselves, but that they “bring an emotional authenticity to their portrayals.”
“This is, at long last, not a show where the autistic characters are the best friends, or the girlfriends, or the sons, or daughters — they ARE the stars. The show is theirs,” said Katims, who indicated that his experience with his son who has autism inspired him to make the show.
“I think the show affords us a window into the hearts and souls of three-dimensional, loving, beautiful, complicated human beings who happen to be on the autistic spectrum, played by actors who identify as being autistic. It shouldn’t be revolutionary. But it sort of is,” Katims said.
Joe Mantegna helps portray autism ‘As We See It’ in Amazon series
A parent of an autistic daughter, the Tony Award-winning actor also addresses the subject in “As We See It,” Amazon’s adaptation of an Israeli drama series that begins streaming Friday.
Mantegna portrays the father of Jack (Rick Glassman), one of several young-adult roommates on the autism spectrum who are supported by their families and each other
I’ve been involved in it since its inception,” Mantegna said of the show developed by Emmy-winning executive producer Jason Katims (“Friday Night Lights,” “Parenthood”). “They came to me shortly after ‘Criminal Minds’ stopped, and when I read the (pilot) script, I was really knocked out by it … for a lot of reasons. Jason is such a wonderful, beautiful writer, and it had a very personal impact on me.”
Mantegna isn’t sure whether his eldest daughter Gia’s condition was known to Katims. “I never asked,” he said.
Gia Mantegna is a makeup artist who almost ended up working on “As We See It” along with her father, but ultimately didn’t. However, her dad has enjoyed acting with Glassman as his on-screen son, deeming him “a wonderful young man.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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The series is becoming available for streaming today.
All the reviews I have read are very positive.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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‘As We See It’ Is Not a Typical Portrayal of Autism - New York Times
But to Violet, “normal” means something other than a guy who flosses and doesn’t have a creepy fetish. To her, “normal” guys are the ones who aren’t autistic.
It was a sentiment with which Sue Ann Pien, the Los Angeles-based actor who plays Violet, could identify. Like Violet, Pien is on the spectrum. This was no accident. It’s one reason she was cast.
“I would not be able to play this role if I was not autistic,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to bring the depths and the colors that I brought from my own experiences.”
In an industry where it has become less and less acceptable for actors to play outside their racial, sexual or gender identities, old norms for autistic characters persist.
All of which makes a show like “As We See It,” a dramedy about three 20-somethings who share an apartment in Los Angeles, all the more remarkable. In a first for TV, the series, which debuted on Friday, stars three lead actors who identify as autistic, playing characters who are also on the spectrum.
Having three leads with autism allowed the show to highlight a range of different experiences and challenges related to life on the spectrum. In addition to the lovelorn and outgoing Violet, there’s Harrison (Albert Rutecki), who struggles with stress eating and agoraphobia, and Jack (Rick Glassman), a curmudgeonly computer whiz who has no discernible filter and who prefers the company of Roombas over humans.
“There’s a great quote that I love that says, ‘If you met one person with autism, you met one person with autism,’” Glassman said. “Everybody has their own deficiencies and strengths, and this show does a really honest job capturing that.”
The diversity of characters helps with one of the central challenges of the show: How do you create characters who struggle with social interactions but whom viewers still want to engage with and be around for a full season — or multiple seasons? For a viewer, three Jacks might have been tough to take (imagine “The Big Bang Theory” but with three Sheldons), but the mix of three such divergent personalities becomes a rich breeding ground for not just conflict, but humor.
Having three very different leads also helped the show’s writers push back against a longstanding Hollywood convention: the autistic person as savant.
“The reality is, savantism makes exciting film and television,” said Michelle Dean, a special education professor at California State University Channel Islands, who recently co-wrote a study of academic research about film and television representations of autistic characters.
Katims’s personal and professional experience positioned him to buck that trend in 2018, when he first began developing the idea. He had created a character with Asperger’s syndrome for his NBC series “Parenthood” (2010-15), inspired partly by his own then-teenage son.
His agent told him about “On the Spectrum,” an Israeli comedy series about three 20-something autistic roommates living in Tel Aviv. Katims became determined to create an American adaptation. Unlike in the original show, he wanted actors on the spectrum to play the roommates, but he wasn’t sure if that was a possibility.
Four days into the search, the casting director Cami Patton (“The Americans,” “Goliath”) brought Katims a self-made tape from Pien, who read a short but pivotal scene from the series pilot.
“I was weeping within 30 seconds of watching her audition,” Katims said.
Rutecki, who lives in Minersville, Pa., a small community roughly 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia, learned about the show from a cousin in graduate school who, while in Los Angeles on a class trip, had heard about a new show that was looking for autistic actors.
As We See It” began filming in 2019. In addition to the three leads, the cast includes Sosie Bacon (“Mare of Easttown”) as a behavioral aide and de facto den mother to the three roommates; Joe Mantegna (“House of Games,” “Criminal Minds”) as Jack’s father, who is dying of cancer; and Chris Pang (“Crazy Rich Asians”) as Violet’s overprotective brother.
The production also included neurodiverse assistants, on set and in the writers’ room, and supporting actors, including Tal Anderson and Naomi Rubin of “Atypical.”
“Any of the characters that were neurodiverse were cast authentically,” Katims said. “And two actors who are neurodiverse are playing neurotypical roles on the show.”
Elaine Hall, the founder of the Miracle Project, a theater and film program for autistic children, was hired to help ensure that the set was a nurturing, non-triggering one.
Pien agreed. “Usually I have to act on top of acting,” she said. “I have to pretend I’m a normal person; I have to watch my mannerisms; I have to hold my face a certain way. Being on a set where I didn’t have to hide my autism was heavenly.”
With three actors on the spectrum playing characters on the spectrum, there were bound to be moments where the lines between real life and the show’s fictional world blurred.
“I had so many wonderful experiences on set,” Rutecki said.
For some scenes, Glassman used his own triggers — like his aversion to loud chewing sounds — to get into character.
“I don’t want to stand on this hill and say only people with autism should play people with autism,” Glassman said. “But I do think that the pendulum needs to swing a bit, and TV shows like this shed light on the idea that, oh, look, they can do this.”
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
I like the show. The characters are like-able and it has those little touches that help a show grow on you. Is it an accurate representation of autism? No and yes. No TV show is ever a fully accurate representation of any group of people. To make a show, some traits will be exaggerated, and real life gets tweaked for humor. I find myself very much caring about and rooting for the characters, though - and yelling at some of the idiots around them who don’t “get it” - which is what I look for in any show: to want to see the characters grow and achieve and find their happiness.
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Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).
Now that I’ve seen the full season, I think the least relatable part to me (as a parent) was how 2 of the 3 main autistic characters seemed to want to “pass” as and/or be “normal.” While I’ve run into some who think that way here, it doesn’t seem to be the way most people with ASD think. My son would never want to change the ASD wiring in his brain.
Anyway. Curious what other members think, if they actually watch it.
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Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).
Anyway. Curious what other members think, if they actually watch it.
That’s a myth generated by ND, there are many autistic people who would like to be NT, me included.
Except they get little airtime or are too disabled
Especially when it comes to missing out on dating and other opportunities other people take for granted
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."
- George Bernie Shaw
This f*****g show has ruined my day, I can't put it down. It's surprisingly good, and I hate everything.
All kidding aside, it's one of the better shows I've seen. It's so refreshing to see characters be more to the point. Saying things like "I just want to f**k!".
The one thing that bothers me is the Californiaisms that dominates the story. Everyone is ethnic, everyone has some connection to coding/academia etc. If they were to the point and acting as if that is what they are representing that's fine. But I feel like they are trying to have it both ways. If by "as we see it" they mean how california tech cities see it they have a point. But the pretense that this show is trying to represent the more generalized world of autistic people doesn't float. It leads to a more artificial setting. A place that only exists in a marketing firms board room.
I watch a lot of international shows on prime and netflix and the one thing they rarely do is try to act as if they represent the broader world. It's irritating when they try to sell the show on the idea that they are trying to be more representative of a group of people than they actually are. American television has always run under the conceit that this is anywhere USA, but it is so clearly not that. But they act as if it is, if you want to be distinctly Californian admit to it, and try to be authentic to that environment.
My other complaint is that I'm on episode 4 and so far there's only 3 autistic characters and a bunch of nts. I'm not bothered by it personally, but it limits the scope of the show. It becomes especially true when the 3rd character isn't really part of the story and is usually just a C or even D plot.
Anyway. Curious what other members think, if they actually watch it.
You can want to be normal all you want it ain't gonna happen.
It seems like a very pointless discussion in my opinion.
That being said there's a radical difference between wanting a fulfilling life that NTs get to take for granted and mistaking that desire for a fulfilling life as being a product of being normal.
If you want a fulfilling life it starts with accepting that you ain't normal.
Funny story, my husband showed me this series last night and I thought it said "violent" in the title than Violet so I was thinking "I am not up for watching a video of autistic people being violent" and then I reread the title.
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Son: Diagnosed w/anxiety and ADHD. Also academic delayed.
Daughter: NT, no diagnoses.
Ive heard elsewhere its a very realistic portrayal of the common issues ordinary autistic people deal with, no silly superpowers present, so will definitely watch it.
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."
- George Bernie Shaw
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As We See It Star Sue Ann Pien on How Being on the Autism Spectrum Led Her to a Career in Acting
Pien, 42, stars as Violet in Amazon Prime's As We See It, a new heartfelt comedy from Parenthood and Friday Night Lights creator Jason Katims.
Pien tells PEOPLE in the latest issue that she learned to mask her autism early on in her life and became skilled at "mimicry," which naturally led her to take acting on as a career.
"I was taught from a very young age to act my way through life," she says. "I had a really strong, uncanny ability to pick up languages and different accents and I would just mimic. I would watch how people walk and it was like character study."
"And then I was like, I love this, I'm doing it anyway, why not do it professionally?" Pien recalls.
However, she says playing Violet was different because she didn't have to cover up the parts of her that are often not seen as "socially acceptable."
"Growing up as a person on the spectrum, I acted to hide the things about me that were so innate," Pien says. "For so many aspects of Violet, I didn't really have to act. I just had to pull from my own experiences, my history, who I am, what I went through."
The actress adds, "It was cathartic in a lot of ways."
She also says that she felt "cared for" on the set of As We See It in a way that she hasn't experienced before.
"There's just so many people that have been living with people all their lives who are autistic, in a very loving, intimate way, that it transferred to this natural feeling of family on set," Pien says, specifically mentioning Katims and Mantegna, who both have adult children on the spectrum.
I am halfway through it. I will give my thoughts when I am done with it.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman