Subject lines please, no matter how meaningless they are...

To answer your questions directly - no I have never seen the show Big Love on Showtime, although I've heard good things about it. Perhaps I will rent the first season some weekend and have a marathon.

The answer to your second question is yes - it can go in any direction deemed necessary, gender is negligible.

Here's my logic (albeit, I'm still very busy, so this is abridged yet) - view the modern family: man, wife, 2 kids for the sake of argument. What is the greatest stress on this dynamic? I'm almost willing to bet in most, it comes down to money (or infidelity...). Now add in a third person, regardless of gender, that both already present adult members of the family can equally "love" - all of a sudden we have a person who can take on a third job, providing a third income without greatly increasing the cost of living for the clan...or this person can take up the homemaker position and have a more proactive role raising the kids...or free up one of the fellow members to do the same. I'm not viewing this as one man married to women (or vice verse), I'm viewing this as a true three-way marriage, where it is a mutually understood relationship between all three. This setup has the added benefit of assisting in covering the flaws of your partners, allows for more romance as there is more freedom as all members are flexible to take on multiple roles in the household.

I think I'm rambling and I've lost the plot...that's a good start though, I think. Ask more questions and I'll flesh out from there this weekend. Cheers...I mean, ta.