Admittedly, I Love That for You is a hard sell. Vanessa Bayer’s new Showtime series is a quasi-autobiographical comedy about a former cancer patient who dreams of becoming a home shopping network host. Like Bayer, who was diagnosed with Leukemia at 15 and went through treatments until she was 17, the show’s protagonist Joanna Gold is a childhood cancer survivor. Unlike Bayer, who made a name for herself on seven seasons of Saturday Night Live, Joanna lies about her cancer status to hold onto the spotlight. Yeah, this is a fake cancer story that wants you to root for the liar.
“Oftentimes, people are portrayed as really angelic when they’re sick, and that’s not always the case,” Bayer tells Glamour. Though Bayer has never faked her diagnosis, she was inspired by her own experience with a less explored side of sickness. “I used to take full advantage of the perks of it,” Bayer explains. “I would come in late to school all the time, and our attendance woman was really strict. A lot of times it was just because I was a teenager and I didn’t want to get out of bed and I wanted to watch TV or whatever. But she would think it was because I was sick, no questions asked.”
Not that Bayer’s saying there’s anything wrong with taking advantage. “I just feel like, you’re going through enough hard stuff, you deserve whatever positive that you can get.”
Justin Lubin, Showtime
Vanessa Bayer co-created I Love That for You to explore what happens when those supposed “perks” go away. “Whenever you go through any kind of trauma, you get treated so nicely,” Bayer says. “But once you’re sort of done with that thing, or people have forgotten about it, you go back to being treated like a normal person. And that, in some ways, is not as fun.”
Though Joanna initially lies to keep her job (she’s fired after a disastrous first time on-air), the earnest try-hard is wracked with guilt and considers coming clean almost immediately. Her reluctance, however, begins to waver when she’s given things like a bigger dressing room, better snacks, and the respect—or, at least, reluctant kindness—of her colleagues.
