Showtime's new "The United States of Tara" has already struck controversy paydirt on IMDb
The show, called “The United States of Tara,” is written by Juno’s writer, Diablo Cody. Produced by Steven Spielberg with Toni Collette starring, the show has already gotten buzz for the big-name raw talent involved.
But the show (first episode available from Showtime here, password TARA) revolves around a character with dissociative identity disorder, or DID. The disease “describes a condition in which a single person displays multiple distinct identities or personalities (known as alter egos or alters), each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment.” The disease is severe and often caused by a very lengthy period of trauma. Those stricken are more active than most when it comes to defending their disease, and the thread to which I linked showcases many DID sufferers’ reactions to this new show.
The show appears, at least in its pilot episode, to go by that official definition; Toni Collette’s character, Tara, morphs to a teenager (“T”) and a gun shootin’, beer drinkin’, cigarette smokin’ redneck (“Buck”), and there’s apparently another character, Alice, who loves to cook and clean the home. The different identities relied on stereotypes (thongs and pot for the teenager, intolerance towards homosexuals and a flannel shirt for the redneck), and the plot was a textbook example of an introductory show — it set up four to six problem areas while exposing us to the show’s premise and major characters.
This show would not have been greenlit seven or eight years ago. Even for Showtime back then, it would have been too controversial. The disorder is no laughing matter, as the IMDb thread proves, and honestly, the show isn’t funny, moving, thought-provoking, or well-acted, excluding Collette. Generally, it tries to be a comedy, but this show would obviously be better as a dark, brooding, hour-long drama.
The only reason the show got the go-ahead from Showtime is the success of two other shows on its network — Weeds and Dexter. Both shows have way-out-of-the-ordinary plots (suburban mom becomes giant pot dealer / policeman has special urges and kills murderers), but the reason they both have had so much success is that they pose moral questions, deal with topics everyone has experience with, and, most of all, hired good actors.
The choice of disease and the supporting cast’s acting abilities surely don’t lend any help, but “The United States of Tara” will ultimately fail because it picked the wrong genre. What a shame.
