About
William Masters and Virginia Johnson are real-life pioneers of the science of human sexuality. Their research touched off the sexual revolution and took them from a midwestern teaching hospital to the cover of Time magazine and multiple appearances on Johnny Carson's couch. He is a brilliant scientist out of touch with his own feelings, and she is a single working mother ahead of her time. The series chronicles their unusual lives, romance, and unlikely pop culture trajectory.
Cast
Michael Sheen
as William Masters
Lizzy Caplan
as Virginia Johnson
Caitlin FitzGerald
as Libby Masters
Annaleigh Ashford
as Betty DiMello
Seasons
Season 1
In 1956, former nightclub singer and single mother Virginia Johnson becomes the assistant to renowned OBGYN William Masters. They embark on their pioneering study in human sexuality while trying to navigate their personal feelings for each other. Masters' wife Libby tries to conceive a child to save her marriage. Dr. Ethan Haas chafes under the supervision of Dr. Masters and deals with a changing society. University Provost Barton Scully struggles to support his protege William Masters while dealing with a long-held personal secret.
Season 2
Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson struggle to get their work back on track while taking their relationship to a much more intimate place. Libby flounders in a loveless marriage and turns to volunteering. Former prostitute Betty DiMello tries for the American dream and ends up working with Masters and Johnson. Dr. Austin Langham becomes the spokesman for a popular diet company and the boy toy to its aggressive founder.
Season 3
Welcome to the swinging sixties. Thrust into the spotlight by the publication of their controversial study, Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson find themselves the unlikely leaders of the sexual revolution. But as newfound fame and pressures mount, their relationship becomes twisted and tangled putting the couple in a position that even they might not be able to handle.
Season 4
The seventies are in full swing and sexual experimentation is all the rage. Masters and Johnson should be celebrating, but their clinic is in legal trouble, their personal lives are in tatters and their relationship is on the rocks.
Episodes
Season 1
Pilot
Dr. William Masters, Washington University’s foremost OB/GYN, runs a successful medical practice by day and conducts a secret study of human sexuality by night. Former nightclub singer Virginia Johnson joins the hospital secretarial staff and proves herself to be an asset to Masters’ work.
Race to Space
On the heels of Masters’ proposal that they participate in the sexual response study, Johnson considers the best course of action to keep her job – only to find she no longer has one. The study has been forced out of the hospital and Masters believes Johnson is to blame. As Johnson fights to save her job and struggles to care for her kids, Masters moves his study to a brothel. But Masters soon discovers that the chaos of the cathouse is unmanageable without Johnson’s help.
Standard Deviation
Masters and Johnson continue their research in the brothel but skewed data confirms that Masters must get the study back into the hospital. At the hospital, Johnson is surprised to learn that a distinguished new doctor on the OB/GYN floor is a woman who has no interest in female solidarity. Meanwhile, Libby struggles to conceive and Dr. Ethan Haas gets the case of a lifetime – a woman pregnant with quadruplets.
Thank You for Coming
With the study back in the hospital, Masters and Johnson recruit new participants on campus. But Johnson is shocked when her ex-husband George, who’s crashing on her couch, wants to sign up. Masters’ mother comes to visit, but her new take on life stirs up painful memories of his childhood. And Libby’s attempt at playing matchmaker with Virginia and Ethan doesn’t go as smoothly as she’d hoped.
Catherine
When Masters and Johnson expand the study to include couples, they discover that the science of sex is easily complicated by the mystery of attraction. Johnson tries to connect with her son who prefers his dad. In anticipation of his baby’s impending arrival, Masters experiences anxiety about becoming a father. And Dr. Ethan Haas learns that dating the provost’s daughter could impact his medical career.
Brave New World
In the aftermath of the miscarriage, Libby and Masters travel to Miami for some much needed rest and relaxation, but Masters is drawn back into his work by a sexually adventurous couple next door. Alone in the hospital, Virginia enlists Jane in an effort to debunk Freud’s theory that one kind of female orgasm is better than another. And Langham finds an unlikely cure for his sexual dysfunction in Margaret Scully.
All Together Now
Masters and Johnson continue their sexual response study – now as participants – but Johnson fears their work may be interfering with Masters’ home life. Libby pressures Dr. Haas to resume her fertility treatments in secret. Meanwhile, Haas struggles to let go of feelings for Virginia as his relationship with Vivian deepens. And Margaret Scully, caught in her infidelity, confronts her husband on the mounting problems in their marriage.
Love And Marriage
Masters and Johnson decide that the best way to record their study findings is to film them, but to do so they have to enlist outside help. Johnson redoubles her efforts to get a college degree, only to find that Dr. DePaul’s Basic Anatomy class is a requirement. Meanwhile, Haas and Langham – both unsure in their relationships – convince each other of the merits of being a married man. And after Margaret catches him in a compromising position, Scully takes drastic steps to control his sexual impulses.
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