Quick Review: United States of Tara

Showtime has certainly come out from the shadow of HBO with efforts like The L Word, Weeds, and Dexter and their latest effort, The United States of Tara should only strengthen their position. Oscar winning writer Diablo Cody (Juno) has performed a small miracle by turning something that Steven Spielberg created into a quality production. This is in no small part thanks to the fact that Cody has turned down the “Juno” speak and shown that she has a lot versatility in her pen. Furthermore the cast of this show is immediately one of my favorite ensembles. Continuing the list of Hollywood stars going to TV, Toni Collette stars as Tara the lead character with dissociative identity disorder (DID). She also stars as Tara’s alters, Buck, T and Alice. Collette has always been underrated and her ability to switch between alters is not only believable but down right chilling. John Corbett, of Northern Exposure fame, brings his aww shucks shtick and it works perfectly as Tara’s husband. Relative unknowns play the two children of Tara but both bring humor and drama in every scene. Rounding out the cast are a series of supporting characters played by such stand outs as Patton Oswalt, Nat Corddry, and Tony Hale. The first two eps have been spent mostly introducing us to the alters and the family dynamic and that is where this show shines. The struggles of this family may be greater thanks to Tara’s condition but you also appreciate the details to their family life that is “normal”. With quality like this it makes it damn tough to cancel that Showtime subscription.