United States Of Tara Starts Tonight!
Back in early May I told you I had fallen heavily for United States Of Tara, the Diablo Cody-penned television show starring our very own Toni Collette as a woman dealing with multiple personalities. I also was thrilled to discover that the ABC had nabbed the show, which means there’s actually a chance that the entire series will be broadcast weekly, in order, right to the last episode! ON AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION? MADNESS!
The show is making its Australian small screen debut tonight on the ABC at 9:30pm. Debi Enker from The Age had the following to say about it.
The premise might sound far-fetched but it’s developed with heart and humour, while the whip-smart dialogue and well-chosen cast give it conviction and make it believable and absolutely engaging.
In Juno, Cody gave us terrific teen characters, idiosyncratic and refreshingly literate. Here, sassy Kate (Brie Larson) – “Why can’t mum just be manic-depressive like all the other mums?” she wonders – and muffin-baking, jazz-loving film buff Marshall (Keir Gilchrist) are the beneficiaries of her talents. John Corbett (Northern Exposure, Sex and the City) again does his sensitive, sexy guy thing as Tara’s loving husband, while Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married, Mad Men) plays her resentful sister.
As in Lars and the Real Girl, Gillespie takes a potentially absurd situation, drains it of cynicism and sensation and renders it funny and touching.
The title role is tailor-made for Collette. Given the range she’s required to demonstrate, it’s hard to imagine anyone – even the splendid Tina Fey – beating her, come September, to the Emmy Award for best actress in a comedy series.
Delightful! I’ve been lucky enough to watch the entire first series already, but if you haven’t – do tune in. I hope the ABC is rewarded for purchasing interesting and clever shows and treating them well with ratings so impressive that they lead to the other major networks taking a long hard look at themselves.
MORE:
United States Of Tara (Show of the week)
United States Of Tara Is Excellent Viewing (Defamer Australia)
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Comments
Excellent. I managed to catch episodes 1 and 2 through a friend of mine and I was hoping against hope that one of the commercial networks didn’t buy it, run it for three weeks before shelving it in favour of “So You Think You Can Drink” or something equally as ridiculous. A rare show to come out of the States that doesn’t contain a cast of unbelievable 20 somethings that look like they were chiselled out of granite.
This is excellent news, along with the announcement that ABC2 will be screening the absolutely brilliant American series The Wire from next month. Seriously, there aren’t enough superlatives in the world to do The Wire justice.
About time the ABC looked beyond being a BBC mini-me overflowing with geriatric-friendly & formulaic shows about impossibly quirky (ie, contrived) characters set in a cutesy British village….
I love that British village! sshh *there’s death there* I’m FULLY PUMPED for Tara though. The Wire. From the sounds of it I’ll have to get in some extra tissues.