The Poly Couple (2026)

-Written by Edmund Robertson. 

While the sitcom format is typically known for depicting common or relatable circumstances in everyday life, sitcoms that present more specific lifestyles have tended to pop up increasingly over the past couple of years. With that said, Director and Co-Writer Daniel Wolf and Co-Writer Dana Lynn Hobson have decided to tap into the ironies of the often polarizing world of polyamorous relationship dynamics with their romantic sitcom The Poly Couple. As a polyamorous couple themselves, Wolf and Hobson play fictionalized versions of themselves as they navigate the nuances of balancing their relationship with finding new partners at the same time.

Right from The Poly Couple’s first episode, it becomes clear how the show was created to familiarize the unfamiliar with the practice of having more than one consensual romantic partner and the experiences that such couples face within a more niche relationship arrangement. The pilot titled “So This is How Polyamory Happens” follows Daniel and Dana as they introduce new potential partners Kit (Justin Brush) and Esther (Aryana Hamzehloo) into their relationship, which makes for an appropriate jumping-off point for viewers who are new to the concept of polyamory to comfortably understand it. Throughout the series, very candid conversations regarding preferences of hygiene and sexual safety are shared in order to spotlight the self-consciousness that polyamorous partners have when adopting a nonconventional approach to romance. The series also follows Daniel and Dana as they try to wrap their heads around how certain romantic actions and motifs like holding hands or buying flowers would fit in with this approach in a way that points toward some of the absurdities involved in general romantic relationships.

The performances in The Poly Couple are all delivered in an awkwardly casual way that feels like each actor, especially Wolf, is trying to depict the relationships in the show with some level of sincerity towards the types of conversations that are had in real life. As the series goes on, however, it becomes more apparent how each scene feels like its own self-contained sketch rather than a piece of a larger narrative. The third episode, “He Forgot the Date”, for instance, follows a plotline where Esther’s new partner Jack (Grady Eldridge) forgot about one of their dates yet it ends on a conversation between Kit and Dana about their cooking experiences. While I understand that The Poly Couple was adapted from a TikTok series, I feel like a more well-rounded narrative focus would make some of these episodes more thoroughly engaging in the long run.

Aside from a few jarring set design choices involving blurred-out album covers that can largely be attributed to the general budget of the show, The Poly Couple proves itself to be a decently entertaining premise for a sitcom largely anchored by the charisma and experience of its main cast. With some ironing-out of its story writing and a deeper investment in the characters’ lives outside of romance, I could definitely see the show becoming a cult classic amongst those who wish to see unique relationship dynamics represented on television.

Directed by Daniel Wolf.

Written by Daniel Wolf and Dana Lynn Hobson.

Starring Daniel Wolf, Dana Lynn Hobson, Grady Eldridge, Aryana Hamzehloo, Justin Brush, etc.

6/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING