Wrote a piece for The Canadian Press today suggesting five new shows worth checking out, all premiering this month. You can read the full article here.
The list includes Being Erica, which starts Monday on CBC and stars Erin Karpluck as a 32-year-old woman whose life is falling apart. Then she meets a mysterious stranger who grants her a chance to go back in time and fix all the things she screwed up in the first place. Check out the CBC promo clip below:
Raising The Bar is a decent, if unexceptional, U.S. cable pick up from producer Steven Bochco. Premiering last summer in the States, it begins Jan. 9 on CTV. Here’s a video review from Ad Age which pretty much nails the shows strengths and weaknesses:
A better show is the clever cop caper Lie To Me, beginning Jan. 21 on Fox and Global. Check out the trailer, featuring star Tim Roth, below:
Also recommended is Trust Me (Jan. 26, Superchannel and TNT), a breezy new ad agency hour featuring two likable Canadian actors, Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh. Get a sense of it from the TNT promo, below:
The United States of Tara is the stand out here, with Toni Collette in top form as a housewife with a severe identity disorder. It premeres Jan. 19, on TMN/MC. Naturally, it is the one show I can’t find a clip for, but when I do, I post it here.
Collette plays Tara, who snaps into other people when something sets off a “trigger” inside her head. Her alter egos include Alice, a prissy ’50s housewife, a skanky teen named “T” and Buck, a beer-swilling dude who insists that he had his penis blown off in ‘Nam.
The rest of the cast, including John Corbett as her mostly understanding hubby, raise their game to keep up with Collette. They all rise to the snappy scripts by Diablo Cody, who continues to impress after picking up an Oscar for Juno.
The series is from the hottest U.S. cable network, Showtime (Dexter, Californication). Three of the first four episodes are terrific, which is a better batting average than any of the shows that launched last fall can claim.
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