“I SEE DEAD PEOPLE

COURTENEY COX PLAYS A MENOPAUSAL WOMAN HAUNTED BY HER PAST SINS IN SHINING VALE

-  TARA BENNETT

FOR THE LAST THREE decades, writer Jeff Astrof has built a career writing realistic stories for strong women. From Friends to The New Adventures Of Old Christine and Angie Tribeca, he’s aged up with his leading women, sharing their authentic experiences navigating the world. Now, as a writer of a certain age, it was perfect timing when he was introduced to Catastrophe creator Sharon Horgan to help develop her series idea of doing “The Shining as a comedy.”

Reflecting on reading her spec script for Shining Vale, Astrof tells Red Alert that he especially remembers the very last page’s striking quote. “It said women are more than twice as likely as men to be depressed, and more than twice as likely as men to be possessed. And the symptoms are the same. I looked it up and it’s really, really fascinating,” he enthuses. “This was something I’d never seen before.”