Why Is the Best New Gay TV Show

 “Who they don’t even believe exists,” Jones interjected. The two, says Wong, are “constantly arguing the lack of existence of the other person and we don’t ever get to actually express these things to them — to the person who we actually are refuting the existence of…”

Since the duo — who never, of course, share screen time — film scenes back to back on the same stage, they share notes often and, teases Jones, “I get to tell him that I think his approach is ridiculous.”

“I think on a weekly basis, his interactions with his therapist tend to force him to question the reality of one side versus the other,” says creator and writer Kyle Killen. “I think he makes very … that he’s not particularly interested in that debate. He wants to live in both worlds as if they’re real, and he does his best to treat them that way, and we as writers do our best to force him to question that.”

Awake is produced by Howard Gordon (whose 2011 Showtime series, Homeland, was a bona fide smash) and features a handful of other talented actors (including Steve Harris and Wilmer Valderrama, who will surprise anyone expecting to see Fez from That ’70s Show). The only thing standing in the way of its becoming a hit is the audience perception it might be a bit too high-concept.

“[Marketing people] were talking about ‘How do we differentiate between the two worlds? Is there something we should do cleverly on the screen with different colors and different angles?’” says Isaacs. “And I played them … an iPhone clip of my 5-year-old daughter explaining the story to her friend in the park. So I think most people get it.”