As far as I know this show is now only on Hulu and is about to start it's second season. It is an absolutely amazing study of characters and anyone who likes to watch internal struggle play out is missing out if they do not look into this show. The show focuses on a mysterious man who sits at a booth tucked away in a small diner. People come to him and ask for something they want and the man gives them a task; stating simply that if they complete the task they will receive what they have asked for. The only other real condition is that they return to him periodically to tell the man their progress on the task.
When I tell people about this show, this is the time where everyone imagines seeing the people go out into the world to complete their tasks and get what they want, but that is not what happens. Instead the entire show is set in the diner and you hear about the events when the people return to tell the man their progress. I, personally, think this creates an even more powerful experience because you don't interpret the events, you have them described by a character who has 'experienced' the event, internalized it, and in many cases clearly rationalized the situation to allow them to perform the task that gets them what they want. This is made more powerful because most of the tasks intersect with at least one other task. This intersecting shows how differently the people view an identical situation based on what their task is in it.
The best example I can use that doesn't spoil too much involves two men. One is in love with a model and wants to marry her, while the other is a father who is trying to save his infant son from a disease. The one in love is charged with protecting an 8 year old girl, and the father is supposed to kill the very same girl. As they both start the process of how they are going to complete their tasks, the one in love sees how happy the child is with her family and becomes more resolved to defend her. The father starts to watch the girl as well and focuses on the girl getting in trouble and yelled at, as well as her being ignored and left to play alone and decides that she has a horrible life and would be better of dead. That is just the beginning of how those two men's path run across each other, and I don't want to ruin things if you decide to watch it.
All in all I love this show and in an age where acting is readily replaced with special effects, it's nice to see a show that strips things down to nothing but acting. Not only does it focus on acting but nearly every shot you only see the actors sitting from the waist up which makes the focus on true acting all that more relevant. As it limits movement and forces the face and speech to convey the emotions. If you are a fan of tense character driven drama I would recommend you watching this show immediately, especially since right now there are only 5 22 minute episodes currently. I will leave you with a link to it on hulu in case you are interested. I hope everyone watches this show and comes to love it as much as I do.
http://www.hulu.com/the-booth-at-the-end
