Watching Showtime

Transition

The family is under the impression that Tara’s parents, Bev (Pamela Reed) and Frank (Fred Ward), are visiting to celebrate Charmaine’s birthday. But when Frank approaches Max about taking the kids to live with them, Max does everything he can to prevent Tara from switching. At the party that night, Tara learns of her parents’ plan and is hurt that they think she is an unfit parent. Sweeping her feelings under the rug, she remains calm. However, later that evening, Max wakes to find something that changes everything.

TVMA (L,D) – Brief Nudity, Graphic Language, Adult Content

Revolution

Tara turns into “T” and takes off in her car. Max and Charmaine go after her, creating the perfect opportunity for Marshall to throw a party as an excuse to be near his crush, Jason. Charmaine, Max, and “T” all return to the house to discover a raging party going on — the buzz gets killed in more ways than one.

TVMA (L,D) – Graphic Language, Adult Content

“not me”

“Fremont”

After just four episodes have been given to the public, Showtime has announced it is renewing United States Of Tara for a second season! The show will begin filming again this summer, and the new episodes will air in early 2010.

Now that Showtime has renewed both Tara and Call Girl, all they need is a hot new one-hour drama to fill the slot before these two half-hour dramas. While I enjoy both shows, I’m not convinced that either alone could anchor a Sunday night time-slot without an hour of sexy drama before them.

And with The L Word taking it’s final bow in a few short weeks, Showtime will hopefully pick up The Farm, and continue where The L Word left off. Without some sort of queer-based drama, the network stands to lose a large portion of it’s initial fan-base, and we stand to lose one of our only chances to see GLBT characters given more time than secondary character status on television.

So congrats to Tara, and here’s hoping the network keeps up with the amazing programming!

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While many critics are praising The United States of Tara and it’s writer Diablo Cody for their courages and hilarious take on mental illness, one group isn’t happy. And by group, I mean restaurant. A San Fernando Valley BBQ joint, is suing the makers of the hit show, claiming the show’s one-day stay at the restaurant wrecked the roof to the point of collapse!

Uk Sun Yun, the owner of the restaurant, rented the location out for just one day to the show, and is suing “due to many heavy movie machine’s pressure” which caused the ceiling and the roof above it to collapse into the restaurant.

Spokespeople for the show didn’t respond to TMZ when they attempted contact, but that’s not surprising. Most likely this will be settled out of court and soon forgotten.

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Once “T” and “Buck” have been in the house, the subsequent cleanup is never easy. Kate gets frustrated when Tara tries to sit her down for “the talk” and Marshall is too embarrassed to have Tara help when he has problems at school. Feeling like she’s failed as a mother, Tara turns into her third alternate personality, “Alice,” the ultimate 1950s housewife who has a knack for using her Betty Crocker-like demeanor to solve any issue.

TVMA (L,D) - Adult Language, Adult Content

Difference Of Opinion

Multiple Personality Reunion Tour

For those of you as excited as I am for The United States Of Tara to make it’s way to Showtime, you’ll be happy to know that the first official filming day was today! This means we might just get to see pictures of the cast hard at work on Diablo Cody’s site. And to add to the coolness, Leah Peah will be posting regular updates on the status as well … she’s been hired to consult on the set, helping ensure things are as “reality based�? as possible when it comes to dissociative disorder.

Sounds like the show’s going to be amazing, and they’re just filming the pilot! If this show doesn’t make it to regular series, there’s going to be a large group of people, myself included, who will be super pissy about it!

As weeks pass and the pilot of United States of Tara gets closer and closer to beginning filming (in the middle of this month, in fact), more and more names are signing on to the production. We’ve already got Toni Collette in the title role of Tara, a housewife suffering from multiple personality disorder, and John Corbett signed on to play her husband struggling to understand the changes she’s going through. Now we’ve also been given their two children, played by Portia Doubleday and Keir Gilchrist.
And if the show should make it past pilot to series? Friends veteran Alexa Junge has already been confirmed as executive producer. It would seem this show is all but sold as a series to Showtime, and with a cast and crew such as they’ve got, I can’t imagine it won’t make it past pilot stage. Don’t forget Diablo Cody (of Juno fame) wrote the pilot, and is already writing episodes “in case�? it gets picked up! I’m betting this will be a new show in 2009 almost certainly!