"I was charmed by the matching costumes of the three sisters, their hairstyles, and the way the cozy New England setting played against the aesthetics of late-sixties America," Monakhov told me.

In other words, the author, the traditional idea of the author -so much under suspicion in the work of Foucault and Barthes in the late sixties — can be turned on its ear.

Patty stayed up late in front of her mother-in-law's TV, amusing Joey with her intricate knowledge of syndicated sixties and seventies sitcoms.