What's Coming Up on Showtime's Polyamory, Season 2

The San Diego quad returns with new offshoots. From left: Tahl, Jen, Kamala, and Michael.

A new poly family, and new developments in an old one: After months of silence, the Showtime network has loosened up a little about some of what we're going to see on Season 2 of its reality series Polyamory: Married & Dating.

The series debuted a year ago and became a milestone in portraying actual poly family relationships to a mainstream TV audience. Season 1 is currently rerunning late on Thursday nights; schedule. (Showtime subscribers can also watch the seven Season 1 episodes online anytime.) Season 2 will begin August 15th at 11 p.m. ET/PT, the week after the reruns finish.

The new season will follow a new group of three. It will also pick up the evolving story of last season's San Diego quad consisting of Kamala Devi, Michael, Jennifer, and Tahl, who have had new developments since we last saw them. The title of Episode 1, "A New Chapter," reflects this.

----------------------------

As it happens, I just got back from spending 10 days with Kamala Devi, Michael, their 6-year-old son Devin, and about 65 other people at the Network for a New Culture's annual Summer Camp East in the woods of Mount Storm, West Virginia.

Kamala and Michael led several workshops at the camp, including a Liberating Your Love Life presentation in the big geodesic dome among the oaks and hemlocks, and an evening Tantra Puja (white, pink, and red) in the smaller Temple Dome a quarter mile deeper into the woods by the rushing Abrams Creek. They did yeomen's work helping run the kids' program and covering the Kids' Cabin so other parents could attend workshops and events; provided key support and insights as members of the Camp Counselors Team dealing with issues that arose; and served as skilled ZEGG Forum facilitators. (Forum is a central practice to New Culture.) I'd met them before at poly hotel conferences. But observing them for more than a week sharing work, perceptions, and emotions with our collection of intimates in close rustic conditions, I gained new appreciation for their character and depth and the devotion that they bring to our best ideals.

So please be aware, folks, that what you see on TV is only a cropped and compressed snapshot, a fast sketch, of who they really are.

Over lunch at Summer Camp, sitting at the crowded eating tables under the trees, I asked them how Season 2 will differ from Season 1. Kamala Devi (she uses that as her first name) promised to address this in the announcement post she was drafting. Devin, who overheard the question, eagerly delivered his answer on the spot: "We went to different places, and we did different stuff." And, "I played my violin!"

Now they've finally got clearance from Showtime to post that announcement:

The San Diego Poly family (AKA the Pod) will be back for the second season. Kamala Devi, Michael, Jennifer and Tahl are happy to be working with Showtime again so they can give the world a deeper look into what it’s really like to sustain multiple long term loving relationships.

We are proud of the creator/ executive producer/ director Natalia Garcia who searched high and low to find real polyamory families who were willing to share their stories. By personally speaking with a wide range of people in alternative open relationships, Natalia did a lot of valuable first-hand research on how different people do polyamory.

Showtime had a hard time finding families who were willing to let the cameras follow them into their bedrooms because of the repercussions this might have on their work, family, friends, etc. However, Natalia was devoted to showing sexuality because it is such an important and natural part of the poly dynamic. Besides, it’s the area of our lives that people are curious about, and we are excited to give our viewers intimate details. Fortunately Natalia found a beautiful and courageous family who are willing to share their unique perspective on polyamory, and we are happy to be working with them to change the predominant social narrative.

The first media interview question we got was from Polyamorous Blogger Alan M. at Polyamory in the News: ”What is the biggest difference between the first season and the second season?”

...The biggest difference is that I feel our audience is ready to go deeper now. When Natalia first began working on the show, it seemed nobody in the mainstream even knew what the word polyamory meant. Many people were afraid to come out on camera, and we were denied access to film at a lot of locations. The docu-series was designed to introduce people to a whole new lifestyle and open their minds to see that monogamy is not the only option.

Though controversial, the first season got great ratings, a lot of media attention, and paved the way for many people to come out of the Poly Closet.... Now that Season 1 broke the sound barrier, it makes it easier for people to be more vulnerable on Season 2. Since we no longer have the burden of explaining what polyamory is, the show is less preachy and more about the ins and outs of navigating polyamory.

The new season's Episode 1, "A New Chapter," will re-air several times in the week after its debut; schedule.

For more news see Showtime’s site for the series, with some stills from the first episode.

To keep up with personal details about the San Diego family, subscribe to their Facebook Fanpage.

Here's where to find video trailers for Season 2 once they go up.

Here are all the trailers for Season 1.

Here's my own previous stuff about Season 1, with plots, spoilers, commentary, and notices by other media.

[Permalink]