The Affair

Network: Showtime.
Episodes: 53 (hour).
Seasons: Five

TV show dates: October 12, 2014 — November 3, 2019.
Series status: Ended.

Performers include: Dominic West, Maura Tierney, Ruth Wilson, and Joshua Jackson.

TV show description:      
This provocative dramatic series explores the emotional effects of an extramarital relationship on all involved.

Noah Solloway (Dominic West) is a writer and schoolteacher who is happily married to Helen. They live in Brooklyn with their four children and are beholden to Helen’s wealthy father, a famous novelist, for their spacious brownstone. It’s something that Noah resents and wears on him. Noah’s first novel was recently published to mixed reviews. He is vacationing with his family at his in-laws’ estate in Montauk for the summer, where Noah hopes to write a more successful follow-up.

Helen (Maura Tierney) is Noah’s loving wife and a deft manager of their busy lives. She still loves her husband after all these years. Her father is a renowned novelist but that success came at the expense of his family. Helen has high hopes for Noah’s own writing career but is wary of repeating the mistakes of her parents.

Alison Lockhart (Ruth Wilson) is a Montauk native who works as a waitress at a local diner. She’s married to Cole, the son of a local landowning family. They’re struggling to recover from a tragic loss and their relationship is in repair.

Cole (Joshua Jackson) is Alison’s husband, the prodigal son of a large, boisterous family who has owned a ranch in Montauk for generations. He is equally devastated by the horrible loss he and Alison have suffered, but he finds comfort in his responsibilities at the ranch and the loving support of his family.

Noah and Alison have a chance encounter and each proves to be a tempting distraction to the emotional turmoil in their lives.

What do you think? Do you like The Affair TV show? Do you think it should have ended or been renewed for a sixth season on Showtime?