I recently talked with Erin Karpluk of Being Erica, and it was a great interview. I first covered the quirky, pseudo-sci-fi, Canadian show when it hit Soapnet back in February, and it has only sucked me in more as the episodes have rolled out. Catch my initial Being Erica coverage here. A new season is coming to CBC starting September 22nd, and running Tuesdays at 9:00 pm. Unfortunately, those episodes won’t be coming to America via Soapnet until an as yet undisclosed date in 2010.
If you haven’t caught the show yet, it follows Erica on her adventure of trying to deal with her life and her decisions, with the little twist of a “therapist,” Dr. Tom, who sends her into her own past to have another go at some of the decisions/events she has regretted. As odd, and shticky, as it may sound (and playing on Soapnet might give people the wrong impression as well), the show plays out wonderfully, and Erin Karpluk’s Erica is a brilliantly real, laid bare character the likes of which are difficult to find in today’s television.
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It would be absolutely impossible, if you knew me, to guess that I would like this quirky CBC show, and the fact that it was picked up by SOAPNET certainly wouldn’t help matters.
Temple Street Productions/Stephen Scott
A girl with a life in shambles, who is just dripping with “issues,” goes to a very odd “therapist” who sends her back in time for a shot at doing over key moments of her past is not the kind of show you’re going to put me in the ring with. Not if you have any idea what you’re doing.
But, Being Erica is not quite as easy to dismiss as its summary blurb and choice of networks might imply. Though the pilot lead-in starts off pretty rough, the show gets going quickly, and it turns out that somewhere on the spectrum there is acceptable kooky cuteness.
Erica Strange (Erin Karpluk) is the woman who regrets just about everything she’s ever done in her life. She’s 30-ish, alone-ish, and generally stuck in a rut no matter what spoke of the life wheel you’re looking at. When things come crashing down on the really horrible, very bad, no good, etc., etc…. a strange Doctor appears and offers her a chance to turn her life around. Because she happens to stumble into his office, she decides to give the therapy thing a whirl. What’s the worst that could happen, it turns out to be one more bad decision?
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