Amazon's Modern Love Isn't the Rom-Com You Think It Is

The New York Times has been building an audience of love lovers through its popular Modern Love column and related podcast for the past 15 years. Each week, people submit their love stories to the newspaper and the notable entries are turned into a podcast. Now, the beloved stories are getting the TV treatment in Modern Love, an anthology series premiering on Amazon on Friday, Oct. 18.

The series boasts an all-star cast, with appearances from Anne Hathaway, Andy Garcia, Catherine Keener, Tina Fey, Dev Patel, and many more.

"It lets people know that these stories can be conveyed in a new way, to a new audience," producer Daniel Jones told TV Guide at the Television Critics Association summer press tour earlier this year.

The eight episodes cover love in its many various forms: romantic, platonic, parental, and more. It's an exploration of the human spirit and the universal desire to feel like we belong. Each episode is based on a previous column or podcast episode and has a completely different cast. The first one stars Black Mirror alum Cristin Milioti as a young woman who unexpectedly becomes pregnant and comes to find that the most reliable man in her life is actually her doorman. Their bond isn't the only one that's explored in the premiere's half-hour, though.

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"One of the greatest love stories in our episode is between my character and my daughter," Milioti explained. "[The show] is literally every single type of love -- that love does not just have to be romantic."

Meanwhile, Gary Carr co-stars with Hathaway in an episode about trying to find love and self-acceptance while having bipolar disorder. "I'm really proud of the episode that Anne and I are in, not because of us, but because of the subject matter and the way that it's told," he said. "There was so much love put into the writing of that episode and the making of it. I can't wait for everyone to see the whole thing."

While some may be expecting an eight-episode rom-com based on the title of the series, Jones wants them to know that Modern Love's goal is still to deliver happiness and hope to the audience, just not in the way viewers might expect.

"People who look forward to that romance are looking for a happy ending -- that's a different type of happy ending," he said. "The happy ending that comes with these stories is a deeper understanding of not only your own relationship with yourself, but what we're all after, in a way."

Modern Love premieres Friday, Oct. 18 on Amazon.