'Tell Me You Love Me': Sex Vs. Sox

The parents of Anya Epstein, supervising producer at fleshy HBO drama Tell Me You Love Me, faced a dilemma this past weekend. Epstein had the sole writing credit for last night’s episode, her first on the series.

But instead of gathering around the TV set back home in Boston, Epstein’s folks went to Denver to take in the World Series. See, Epstein’s kid brother Theo is the general manager of the Boston Red Sox.

“My dad said, ‘Your episode is on Sunday night, same as the game,’” says Anya, who joined her folks in the stands last night. “I said, ‘Which one are you going to watch?’”

Dad’s response was pretty clear: “Thank God for HBO On Demand.” 

Formerly a writer on ABC’s Commander in Chief, Epstein comes from a long line of scribes. Besides her novelist father, Leslie, her grandfather and great uncle, Philip and Julius Epstein, penned Hollywood classics like Casablanca and Yankee Doodle Dandy.

“My dad warned me: ‘Do anything else but be a writer,’” she says. “Theo and [brother] Paul listened. I didn’t.”