Bill Henrickson

" Big Love," HBO's well-liked polygamous-family comedy, which begins its fourth season Sunday night, breaks down into two shows for me. The first, which is ostensibly the heart of the matter, involves hardware-store mini-mogul Bill Henrickson ( Bill Paxton) and his three wives ( Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin) and assorted children, and their attempt to reconcile their queer customs with a normal suburban life. The other is an outrageous power-struggle melodrama, surrounding the Mormon splinter sect compound Juniper Creek, where Bill was raised and with which he remains tangentially involved, usually to his displeasure.

As HBO unveils the fifth and final season of "Big Love" Sunday night, Bill Paxton, 55, returns to the dramatic fray as Bill Henrickson, a freshly minted state senator and the patriarch of a polygamous family of sister wives played by Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin. How are you? Relieved. Relieved I got through the season in one piece. It's a very hard role to perform for six months every year. This season took it to another level. It's always been intense for Bill Henrickson.

I have seen the feminist revolution and it is … polygamy? Watching "Sister Wives," TLC's latest addition to its collection of Very Large and Usually Homeschooled families, I found myself thinking not so much of HBO's "Big Love" as Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," in which a patriarchal revolution has left women literally second-class citizens, assigned tasks by the government. The book came to mind not because Kody Brown, his three (and counting) wives and their 13 (and counting)

Final year of 'Big Love' Sister wives across America are going to be crushed: "Big Love" is coming to an end. On Thursday, Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming, announced that the show's fifth season, which premieres Jan. 16, will be its final one. Series creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer said that the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated series ? which follows the lives of Salt Lake City businessman Bill Henrickson, his three wives, Barb, Nicki and Margene, and their nine kids in three houses ?

As HBO unveils the fifth and final season of "Big Love" Sunday night, Bill Paxton, 55, returns to the dramatic fray as Bill Henrickson, a freshly minted state senator and the patriarch of a polygamous family of sister wives played by Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin. How are you? Relieved. Relieved I got through the season in one piece. It's a very hard role to perform for six months every year. This season took it to another level. It's always been intense for Bill Henrickson.

Now that Tony Soprano sleeps with the fishes (we know in our hearts that it's true, so let's all stop arguing), it falls to Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) -- father, owner of the rapidly expanding Home Plus chain of stores and recently exposed polygamist -- to carry on HBO's torch as its leading harried patriarch.

Final year of 'Big Love' Sister wives across America are going to be crushed: "Big Love" is coming to an end. On Thursday, Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming, announced that the show's fifth season, which premieres Jan. 16, will be its final one. Series creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer said that the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated series ? which follows the lives of Salt Lake City businessman Bill Henrickson, his three wives, Barb, Nicki and Margene, and their nine kids in three houses ?

The problem with having what is arguably the best, and certainly the largest, cast on television is that if you want to give them all something interesting to do for a season that lasts only nine episodes, things can get a little crazy. That's what the creators, and fans, of "Big Love" discovered over the last few months as a soap operatic tangle of story lines -- Bill's running for state office! Ana's back and she's pregnant! Nicki's mother married Nicki's ex-husband! The Greens kidnapped Frank, Lois and Ben!

Get ready for a reality show version of "Big Love." TLC, the cable network behind hits "Jon & Kate Plus 8" and "19 Kids and Counting," is hoping to strike ratings gold again with "Sister Wives," a series about a polygamist family in Utah that will premiere in September. Much like the HBO drama "Big Love," which follows a polygamist and his three wives, "Sister Wives" is about Kody and his wives Meri, Janelle and Christine and their 13 kids. Unlike "Big Love's" Bill Henrickson, though, Kody is looking to add to his family by taking on a fourth wife, Robyn, who has three children of her own. For TLC, "Sister Wives" will likely generate a little controversy, but the network is no stranger to that.

ANOTHER loving husband might notice his wife is upset and ask what's wrong. In "Big Love," Bill Henrickson asks Nicki, one of his three wives, "Do you want me to lay a blessing on you?" The new HBO series takes viewers into its own world, a world where men may murder and steal, women may backstab and lie, but no one would think of using alcohol, tobacco or language stronger than "Oh, fudge."

I have seen the feminist revolution and it is … polygamy? Watching "Sister Wives," TLC's latest addition to its collection of Very Large and Usually Homeschooled families, I found myself thinking not so much of HBO's "Big Love" as Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," in which a patriarchal revolution has left women literally second-class citizens, assigned tasks by the government. The book came to mind not because Kody Brown, his three (and counting) wives and their 13 (and counting)

The problem with having what is arguably the best, and certainly the largest, cast on television is that if you want to give them all something interesting to do for a season that lasts only nine episodes, things can get a little crazy. That's what the creators, and fans, of "Big Love" discovered over the last few months as a soap operatic tangle of story lines -- Bill's running for state office! Ana's back and she's pregnant! Nicki's mother married Nicki's ex-husband! The Greens kidnapped Frank, Lois and Ben!

" Big Love," HBO's well-liked polygamous-family comedy, which begins its fourth season Sunday night, breaks down into two shows for me. The first, which is ostensibly the heart of the matter, involves hardware-store mini-mogul Bill Henrickson ( Bill Paxton) and his three wives ( Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin) and assorted children, and their attempt to reconcile their queer customs with a normal suburban life. The other is an outrageous power-struggle melodrama, surrounding the Mormon splinter sect compound Juniper Creek, where Bill was raised and with which he remains tangentially involved, usually to his displeasure.

Now that Tony Soprano sleeps with the fishes (we know in our hearts that it's true, so let's all stop arguing), it falls to Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) -- father, owner of the rapidly expanding Home Plus chain of stores and recently exposed polygamist -- to carry on HBO's torch as its leading harried patriarch.

AT first it seemed so fringe as to be lunatic. An hourlong drama about a Mormonish polygamous family living in Utah. Yeah, that has a big built-in demographic. One season later, devoted fans can barely wait for the return of HBO's "Big Love" on Monday night. Far from fringe, "Big Love" has become an ur drama, with dark comedy lapping at the edges.

Last week's explosive finale of "Big Love's" third season offered many revelations, but perhaps none quite as shocking as the death of polygamist patriarch Roman Grant. It was a seismic shift that registered on screen and off, for Roman's passing was a send-off not only to the critically acclaimed HBO drama's public enemy No. 1, but also to Harry Dean Stanton, who plays him.