The Affair

The Affair has built a devoted audience in Australia on Paramount Plus, and in the US on fuboTV and Paramount Plus Premium among viewers who want their drama to earn its emotional beats. Every one of its 5 seasons holds up. A 7/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Dominic West anchors it with a performance that rewards close attention. Put it on tonight on Paramount Plus and see for yourself.

The Affair arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. The writing in The Affair treats its characters as people first, plot devices second. The emotional effects of an extramarital relationship between Noah, a New York City schoolteacher and budding novelist with a wife of twenty years and four children and Alison, a young waitress and wife from Montauk at the end of Long Island, trying to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragedy. The performances from Dominic West and Maura Tierney give it more weight than the premise alone would suggest. Across 5 seasons (2014–2019), it never lost the thread that made it worth starting. The performances in The Affair do a lot of work in the silences between the dialogue. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

For anyone looking for storytelling that takes its characters seriously, The Affair delivers. Viewers who responded to Doctor Foster will find a lot to like here too. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single week. Dominic West is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.

The Affair wrapped up in 2019, created by Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi — and 5 seasons are available to watch from start to finish. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.