Perfect Sundays will be available this fall
A limited TV series scheduled for release this fall is taking an authentic look at a serious issue facing American ag families – mental health.
Perfect Sundays follows the fictional Weeks family as they grapple with the realities of their farm, said show creator Sam Goldberg.
“It’s a struggling family dairy, they milk about 35 cows,” he told Farms.com in an interview. “But the biggest thing they’re dealing with, is about two years before we meet them, the patriarch of the family, Ed, took his own life.”
Ed represents a part of America’s ag community.
A paper in the National Library of Medicine indicates that compared to the general population, “male farmers and ranchers are over three times more likely to die by suicide than females,” adding that economic loss, bankruptcy or a sense of failure, can be contributing factors.
Each of the six episodes takes place on a Sunday.
In the first episode, Ed’s widow, Marla, trying to save the farm, decides she’s going to turn her passion for ice cream made from the milk from her own cows into a business.
“As we follow this family throughout the show, we keep asking the questions, ‘will they have a perfect Sunday? ‘Will they be able to recover as a family and survive another generation?’”
Addressing a serious topic like mental health in ag required a comprehensive approach.
Goldberg, who grew up in Manhattan and now lives on an 8-acre farm in Pennsylvania, along with his team, conducted dozens of visits with farmers and others in the industry to ensure the finished product is authentic.
“We interviewed over 75 dairy farmers, and we had a mental health advisor on the project to run our screenplays by,” Goldberg said. “We don’t want anyone to be rolling their eyes. We don’t want farmers feeling like we took the easy way out. Giving farmers an emotional catharsis while watching our show is the least I can do as a storyteller to help show them appreciation for everything they do for us.”
The idea for Perfect Sundays grew out of another project Golberg worked on.
He released Silo in 2019.
“It’s about a kid that gets trapped in a grain bin and the local volunteer firefighters that have to save his life,” Goldberg said.
After working on this project, Goldberg identified there’s lots of faith-based content, and lots of “popcorn-type” material, but “not much that feels like a real day in the life of a farmer.”
Perfect Sundays will be available for viewing on Sept. 1.
Communities interested in hosting community events for screenings can contact Goldberg directly for licensing information.
Without spoiling too much, Goldberg indicated the show has a happy ending.
If you or someone you know requires immediate mental health support, dial 988 to access the national suicide prevention and crisis help line.
In addition, Farms.com has compiled a list of American mental health resources dedicated to farmers and rural communities.