Dear Abby and Ann Landers were never like this.

The modern agony aunt typified by Tiny Beautiful Things’ ironically named Dear Sugar eschews nice, neat and polite for a spicy and raw communal confessional. This compilation of columns immerses viewers in a 95-minute deep dive into all of life’s messiness and contradictions – glorious, ugly, painful, funny, petty, profound, sickening and uplifting.

Of course, the traditional newspaper advice columnist had limited space to impart their wisdom, in contrast to the new generation’s free-flowing online page inviting contributions unfettered by word counts.

Mandy McElhinney in Tiny Beautiful Things. Photo © Brett Boardman

Author Cheryl Strayed had already published her notable debut novel, Torch, when she took over as Dear Sugar in 2010 on TheRumpus.net. After sharing heartfelt and hard-earned life lessons with readers for two years, she also revealed her identity, a month before the publication of her memoir Wild, followed in July 2012 by her anthology, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Life and Love from Dear Sugar. Both made the New York Times best-seller list and were published internationally.

Both also drew Hollywood treatment. Academy Award winner Reece Witherspoon produced and starred in...