United States of Tara is an American television comedy-drama created by Diablo Cody, which aired on Showtime from 2009 to 2011. The series follows the life of Tara (Toni Collette), a suburban housewife and mother coping with dissociative identity disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder).
The series was based on an idea by Steven Spielberg, who is the executive producer, under his DreamWorks Television label. Other executive producers include writers Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, director Craig Zisk, and showrunners Cody and Jill Soloway. Former executive producer Alexa Junge quit as showrunner after the first season.
Principal photography was filmed in Los Angeles, California, while the show's setting is located in Overland Park, Kansas. Collette won the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award and 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her role; the opening title sequence also won an Emmy. The show's third and final season premiered on March 28, 2011.
On May 23, 2011, Showtime announced that the series would not be renewed for a fourth season, and the series finale aired on June 20, 2011.
Video United States of Tara
Plot
Tara Gregson is a wife and mother of two children in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, who has been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID). When stressed, Tara often transitions into one of her alternate personalities: wild and flirty teenager T; 1950s style housewife Alice; and male, loud, beer-drinking Vietnam vet Buck. A fourth personality, Gimme, is introduced later in the first season. During the second season of the series, two further personalities were introduced. The former, called Shoshana, is Tara's "therapist" of sorts, while the sixth personality's name is Chicken, an infantile representation of Tara when she was five years old. Another personality emerges in Season 3, that of Tara's previously unknown half-brother Bryce. Tara is supported by her husband Max, daughter Kate, and son Marshall. Her sister, Charmaine, is initially not very supportive of Tara, expressing doubts about the validity of her sister's disorder, though she becomes increasingly more understanding and receptive as the series progresses. The show is a representation of a seemingly typical American family who must cope with the daily struggles of dissociative identity disorder.
Maps United States of Tara
Characters
- Tara Gregson (Toni Collette), a woman with dissociative identity disorder
- Max Gregson (John Corbett), Tara's husband
- Kate Gregson (Brie Larson), Tara and Max's troubled teenage daughter
- Marshall Gregson (Keir Gilchrist), Tara and Max's son
- Charmaine Craine (Rosemarie DeWitt), Tara's self-absorbed younger sister
Production
Portia Doubleday was cast as Kate in the pilot episode of United States of Tara. Doubleday was replaced by Brie Larson when the series' creative team chose to go in a different direction with the character.
Episodes
Broadcasting information
The series premiered on the US network Showtime on January 18, 2009. On February 10, 2009, after only four episodes had aired, Showtime Networks president of entertainment Robert Greenblatt announced that United States of Tara would be renewed for a second season, to consist of twelve episodes and air in early 2010. He said the early renewal decision came after the show averaged 2.67 million viewers per week, giving the network its highest ratings since 2004, when Nielsen Media Research began counting original shows on premium channels in its prime time ratings. Season two premiered on March 22, 2010.
On March 25, three days after the season 2 premiere, it was announced that it would be picked up for a third season which aired in spring 2011. Season 3 officially premiered on March 28, 2011. On May 23, 2011, it was announced that the series would not be renewed for a fourth season.
Reception
Critical reception
Initial critical response to the show was positive, with many reviewers praising Collette's acting. According to Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the show's first season holds a score of 63 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 24 reviews. Season 2 has 79% with 10 reviews and Season 3 has 84% ("universal acclaim") with 5.
Awards and nominations
DVD releases
Episodes 1 and 2 were also available as bonus features on DVD disc 4 (of 4) of Dexter, Season 3; and on disc 4 (of 4) of The Tudors, Season 3.
In Australia, United States of Tara was rated MA 15+, whereas in New Zealand, it was rated R13 for offensive language and sexual references.
References
External links
- Official website
- United States of Tara on IMDb
- United States of Tara at TV.com
Source of article : Wikipedia
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