watch it: ‘United States of Tara: Season 1, Episode 1’
I was kinda excited when I got an email from a Showtime representative offering me the opportunity to stream the entire first episode of Toni Collette’s new comedy series, The United States of Tara, here at FlickFilosopher.com. It wasn’t an exclusive deal or anything -- I wouldn’t have imagined I’d be flattered that way -- but I jumped on it for a few reasons. I love Collette, for one. For two, it’s another example of the coming covergence of TV and the Internet. This -- teasing viewers with entire episodes of a new show -- is surely a mere precursor to a series debuting online and staying there, never moving to cable or broadcast. Tara won’t appear in the tube till next Sunday, the 18th, and here it is today, right here at FlickFilosopher.com.
But as you’ll see when you run the player, a little announcement tells us this isn’t quite the version of the episode that Showtime will air on Sunday. That’s a bummer, and I feel just a teesy bit jerked around. They don’t even tell us what’s different.
Still, I like what I see here. I like seeing Collette take up the Tracey Ullman mantle. I was expecting a sketch comedy, and when it started off looking like a dramatic sitcom with Collette playing more than one character, I thought, Okay, that’s an interesting twist. And then, when it took an even wilder turn around the halfway point, I thought, Whoa, I might have to subscribe to Showtime to see this. That’s one way to cope with the ennui of suburban housewifery.
Plus, series developer Diablo Cody (the screenwriter of Juno) and costar John Corbett are intriguing bonuses.
The United States of Tara debuts on Showtime on Sunday, January 18, at 10pm Eastern.
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comments
posted by JasonJ (Mon Jan 12 09, 4:31PM)
Yeah, what I have seen of it looks pretty good. You don't see a lot of shows about multiple personalities beyond an occasional Law & Order episode. Right now I have all my movie channels free until the end of Feb, I might have to keep Showtime. Mostly for Dexter, but also for this as well. We'll see...
posted by Cathy (Mon Jan 12 09, 4:34PM)
Wow, I was only going to watch a minute or two but it really sucked me in. Makes me wish I could afford Showtime.
posted by Newbs (Mon Jan 12 09, 6:17PM)
Ugh, edited for content? That is kind of a jerk-around, you're right. I'll wait for the official broadcast version so I can hear the word "fuck" a lot, which is all I want from my visual and audio entertainment.
Have you ever tried to watch The Sopranos on A&E? It's hilarious...ly bad.
posted by Anne-Kari (Tue Jan 13 09, 6:06PM)
I'm right there with you. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. But I'm still not sure I want to spring for Showtime... hmm, contemplating...
posted by JoshDM (Wed Jan 14 09, 10:19AM)
As someone who only watches Showtime's "Dexter" via Netflix, I think you guys can wait for the DVD sets.
posted by Meg (Wed Jan 14 09, 8:57PM)
I'm with everyone else. I got really sucked in and now I'm trolling the interweb looking for info on when new episodes are debuting. I've kept HBO for True Blood and now thats over for Big Love..but I dont think I can wait for DVD. Its a dilema. Okay, its not foreign policy or the middle east but still a dilema for me.
posted by Riz (Wed Jan 21 09, 4:19PM)
I saw U.S. of Tara when it aired on showtime but it was the same version as the edited version above. I feel like I'm missing something ;(
posted by Tonio Kruger (Tue Mar 10 09, 6:57PM)
Ironically, I was all set to watch the whole thing but gave up after the first minute or so...
Okay, I eventually returned and watched the whole thing but still...
As much as I love Toni Collette and as much as I get the premise, I'm still not looking forward to the actual series. Perhaps it's because there's been one too many series making fun of the suburbs. (Doesn't anyone in TVland--apart from the good folks of Eureka, of course--actually live somewhere they like?) Or perhaps because I don't quite trust Diablo Cody--the "genius" behind Candy Girl--to not make this series seem like Crazy/Beautiful (no pun intended) for mental patients.
On the bright side, the clip does a good job of depicting the frustration one must feel having to live with a loved one who has this kind of problem. The feeling that, yes, I still love this person, but geez, she does make it harder to live with her than it has to be. A feeling that reminds me a lot of some of the stories one of my former girlfriends told me about how it was living with her alcoholic mother. (Not that alcoholism is synonymous with multiple personality disorder, but it does appear to produce similar emotional complications.)
Unfortunately, the clip is not so good at depicting why one would put up with such a person. And I've been emotionally involved with enough dysfunctional women over the years to be usually very sympathetic to a depiction of this type of relationship.
But perhaps I should wait until the actual series airs before I say more.