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TV Tonight: Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara Return

BuzzSugar — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:30:01 PDT

It's sure to be a night of ladies behaving badly: Showtime's Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara are back tonight for their respective second season premieres. Jackie Peyton, R.N. will deal with the fact she learned at the end of last season - that her husband has become friends with the guy she's seeing on the side. Oof. What I'm looking forward to most, though, is Peter Facinelli as the arrogant Doctor Cooper.

Meanwhile, over in Tara's neck of the woods, we can look forward to the exciting things that star Toni Collette and write Diablo Cody mentioned at the Winter TCA: more love interests, steaminess, and a new alter for Tara named Shoshanna. I can't wait to see how she's integrated to the complicated show, which Collette won an Emmy for this past September.

To see previews of tonight's premieres, just

Do You Agree With the Globe Winner For Best Acress in a TV Comedy?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:20:21 PST

Toni Collete is the winner for this year's Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Comedy for United States of Tara! She beat out Tina Fey, Courteney Cox, Edie Falco, and Lea Michele to take home a follow-up accolade to her Emmy. Do you agree with this win?

Don't forget to weigh in on all the big winners by voting in my polls!

Link Time! 2/26

BuzzSugar — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:30:50 PST

Is there gender inequality in Pixar films? - Cinematical
The story behind United States of Tara's cool opening credits. - Pop Candy
Stevie Wonder is the secret to the Obamas' marriage. - CitizenSugar
I could just kiss this post about a kissing reality show. - Popwatch
Whoa, that wrestling video game from The Wrestler is real! - Vulture
Can't wait till Tuesday? Go download one of the new Neko Case tracks. - Stereogum
Dear Life on Mars: You're getting boring. - Clique Clack TV
Could One Tree Hill go on without Lucas and Peyton? - Korbi TV

Source

Buzz News Roundup, 2/11

BuzzSugar — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:30:34 PST

The upcoming movie The Soloist is inspiring at least 174 orchestras in 46 states to participate in food drives. - AP
Showtime has renewed United States of Tara for a second season. - Variety
In other renewal news, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers and Sisters are rumored to be getting early pickups from ABC. - TV.com
Mark Valley will star in a Fox pilot called Human Target, while Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Johnston are officially cast in the Absolutely Fabulous remake. - TV Guide
Woody Allen has set Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins to star in the film he wrote and will shoot in London this Summer. - ComingSoon
Tom Cruise is in talks to star with Denzel Washington in the David Cronenberg-directed thriller The Matarese Circle. - Variety
Brad Paisley leads the Academy of Country Music Awards nominations with six nods. - AP
Sam Rockwell has joined Hilary Swank in the legal drama Betty Anne Waters. - The Hollywood Reporter

Photo courtesy of Paramount

Rosemarie DeWitt on Being an In-Demand Screen Sister

BuzzSugar — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:00:49 PST

Depending on your attitude, Rosemarie DeWitt either has great luck or terrible luck with on-screen sisters. She recently starred as Rachel opposite Anne Hathaway's Kym in Rachel Getting Married, and now she's the foil to Toni Collette's Tara in United States of Tara, which just premiered to strong ratings. At TCA, I chatted with DeWitt about her film families, how she got the Tara gig, and how much Rachel was like a real wedding. Here are highlights:

How did you get the role of Charmaine?
It was just like a straightforward, old-school audition that I had. I read the script, I thought it was fantastic, and when I auditioned for it I think the part of the sister was a guest star. So it wasn't a super high-pressure situation . . . I auditioned where Spielberg and Dreamworks is all set up, and I remember thinking, "I just want to work here."

When did you find out that you were getting the upgrade to a regular character? Did that give you a chance to get more into playing Charmaine?
It was over the Summer where they invited me back, and we spoke and they said, "We're going to change Charmaine a little bit." TV I feel like you have to play - in most ways I'm nothing like Charmaine, but you have to play it a little closer to yourself, because they do change things at the 11th hour, and if you were doing some crazy character with a hunchback and now you're running a marathon - I don't know, you just have to be able to do it, basically. So they made her a little bit more quote-unquote normal. I was happy that there was a lot more love between Tara and Charmaine. She's an outsider but it would have really been hard to be like Anne Hathaway and I are in Rachel.

It was interesting to hear Diablo Cody say that Charmaine is looking for attention.
She's got a lot of issues. It's funny, because she's really awesome, and she just, I think, doesn't like herself that much. The vitamin sales, I think, are a little bit of a self-help program in and of themselves, and she's got some body issues, and issues with men, so there's just so many places to go with her and so many women in my own life to observe and draw from.

To hear more about Charmaine and Tara's relationship and how it differs from Rachel and Kym's,

read more. I'm assuming we'll be seeing more of those issues coming out throughout the season. Yeah, and again, a lot of love. Annie and I would talk about Rachel and say, "They're sisters, they're not friends." But as Toni and I went through the season, we're discovering [Charmaine and Tara] are friends. I mean, they get on each other's nerves, and in ways they're nothing alike, but they can really be - they're kind of all that they had sometimes. The show strikes a really delicate tone - it's not hilarious, for a comedy, but it's not heartbreaking all the time either. What about it appeals to you? I am very impressed with the tone of it, because it could go a lot of different ways and I think they found a happy balance. The thing that kind of gets me about the show - besides Toni's performance as an actress, that gets me every day when I go to work - is seeing what we see through the children's eyes. Some people won't relate to this disorder, many people will, many people have someone with depression in their family. But it's just seeing that thing that kids have to go through where maybe they have to parent themselves or grow up before it's time. I think that's sort of the heartbeat of the show. With Juno as well, [Cody] can really find the truth of what kids are up against and then, in this case, also really write about marital problems and a woman in her 30s who can't find love, and write those with sophistication and grace. Now, I have to ask about Rachel Getting Married, because I don't think I've ever seen a movie that just felt so much like a real wedding. Oh, I felt like it might be legal in the state of Connecticut. You know, after he said our vows, I was like, "Does that mean . . . " I looked at Tunde [Adebimpe] and said, does that mean it's you and me? That's all [director] Jonathan Demme. He always says that we got to hang out and plan it, but we didn't - he just had all these crazy ideas. At one point he was like, "I think Rachel comes in on a white pony," but then he axes it, but then he comes in with some other fabulous element. We really just did it, that was the thing - we really just had a reception. Like, the rehearsal dinner scene, it was a 45-minute take, and we just did it three or four times. That was something I was wondering - what the timing was like. We went and lived in this house in Connecticut, and like, in the rehearsal dinner, Anne's speech was scripted, as were the best man and the maid of honor, but beyond that Jonathan just had anybody speak as they saw fit, and I'm sure there'll be some great toasts on the special features on the DVD, because everybody in that room spoke. And then he cut it down, and it was still really long and felt like you were really at a rehearsal dinner, in a good way. Anne's character is such a strong personality. What was it like to play off of that? It was sort of a wake-up call on the first day. We shot their first encounter in the movie and I felt like her character was taking all the oxygen out of the room. And I thought, "Wow, this is going to be a harder mountain to climb than I thought," just coming up against that sort of narcissistic personality. I think it's pretty classic addict behavior. In terms of the doing of it, Anne and I just had a really great experience on that. We didn't do a lot of sisterly bonding beforehand, I think because it was going to defuse the necessary tension. But then when we were working, there was never a nice-off. Nobody ever said, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, did I just spit in your eye?" We just were horrible to each other when it called for it and loving to each other when it called for it and then gave each other a hug at the end and said, "See you tomorrow." Photos Source and courtesy of Showtime and Sony Pictures Classics

Five Essential Things to Know About United States of Tara

BuzzSugar — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:30:00 PST

United States of Tara is one of the most unusual shows to hit TV in a while - even for Showtime, home of drug-dealing moms and sympathetic serial killers. First imagined by Steven Spielberg, created by Diablo Cody, and brought to life by a cast led by Toni Collette and John Corbett, the show centers on a suburban housewife named Tara who is living with Dissociative Identity Disorder, which causes alternate personalities to emerge when she's under stress. The show premieres on Sunday, and today, the cast and producers stopped by TCA. Here are some of the essential things to know - and be sure to check out some great pics of the stars over on Pop:

It was important for Tara to be open about her condition. Cody said she's seen mental illness be destigmatized over the years, so it made sense for Tara's family not to keep her illness locked away. "Obviously there are some people who are frightened or curious," she said. "There are some people who are intrigued" - and that seemed like an appropriate, modern reaction.
Deep down, the show's about acceptance. Nobody ever says outright that Collette's character is mentally ill, or that Tara's son is gay, or that her daughter is a jerk, said Brie Larson, who plays teenage daughter Kate. "There's no labels on this show, and I think that's the most interesting part."
But not everyone's OK with Tara's personalities. One of the most tense relationships on the show is between Tara and her younger sister, Charmaine (Rosemarie DeWitt). "Charmaine always thought that Tara got more attention," Cody said. "She's always been resentful of that." Charmaine has an occasional flirtation with Max (Corbett), Tara's husband, but Cody said it's nothing with an actual romantic spark at this point - it's just a way for her to get someone to pay attention to her for once.

To see the final two essentials, just

Watch The United States of Tara - Right Here!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:30:07 PST

One of my dozen reasons to watch TV this month, Showtime's The United States of Tara sounds like a fascinating series. From Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starring Toni Collette, the show is a half-hour comedy about a subject that's not often fodder for yuks: multiple personalities.

Collette stars as a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder, which causes her to experience life as a number of different people: Tara, the suburban housewife and mother; T, a flirtatious teenager; Buck, a gun-toting man; and Alice, a perfect '50s-style homemaker. This wreaks havoc - but, apparently, hilarious havoc - on Tara's husband (John Corbett) and their teenage children.

The series premieres Sunday, Jan. 18, at 10 p.m. - but there's no need to wait. Showtime's slipped me a copy of the first episode, and you can check it out right here on Buzz if you

First Look: Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara

BuzzSugar — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:30:14 PDT

Showtime's got several intriguing new shows on its roster, and recently, the network released first glimpses of two of them: The United States of Tara and Nurse Jackie, both of which have intriguing actresses in the lead roles.

The United States of Tara, which premieres in January, stars Toni Collette as a woman with multiple-personality disorder. The clip has some scenes from the show, and in between those, the stars (and writer Diablo Cody) talk about how the project came together out of an idea from Steven Spielberg.

Nurse Jackie, which stars Edie Falco as a nurse walking the line between saint and sinner, doesn't have a premiere date yet, but I've been curious about it ever since I saw a haunting trailer for it back at TCA. Unfortunately, this clip doesn't have quite the drama of that trailer, but it's still nice just to get an idea of what the show will look like.

Do you have your eye on either show? You can watch the trailers if you

Buzz News Roundup, 10/1

BuzzSugar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:31:07 PDT

Showtime has set January premiere dates for the final season of The L Word and the Diablo Cody series The United States of Tara. - Zap2it
Michael Sheen is the latest to join Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie. - Variety
Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green is writing an animated comedy pilot for Fox. - TV Week
Hilary Swank is set to star in the dramatic film Betty Anne Waters. - ComingSoon
After four years apart, Phish has reunited. - AP

TV legend Norman Lear is working on a pro-wrestling drama for HBO. - TV Guide

Red Tails, the WWII action adventure about the Tuskegee Airmen which George Lucas will produce, has found a director in Anthony Hemingway. - Variety

The CW is developing a series based on Batman's sidekick Robin titled The Graysons. - ComingSoon

Oh yeah, actors could still go on strike. - Hollywood Reporter

Photos courtesy of Showtime

TCA Tidbits: Bluths, The Ex List, Showtime Series, and More!

BuzzSugar — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:45:39 PDT

Wow, that was one whirlwind weekend here at the TCA press tour. CBS, Showtime, The CW, and NBC's cable networks have all been on stage, plus the Television Critics Association took a break from the panels to deliver some honors of its own. I've heard lots about the new 90210, been bowled over by the hilarity of The Ex List's showrunner, and heard references to The Wire and Arrested Development - in the same session! Here are some of my favorite bits:

First off, have you read about what's coming up on Friday Night Lights yet? Seeing the cast together again was hands-down one of the highlights of this press tour so far.

Another highlight: Seeing Showtime's trailers for both The United States of Tara and Nurse Jackie - the latter of which just got picked up as a series. Bottom line: I'm very curious to see more from both. Tara stars Toni Colette as a mother with multiple personalities (we saw at least three in the three-minute trailer) whose family alternately resents her disorder and appreciates how different it makes them. Jackie stars Edie Falco as a sharp-tongued, occasionally devious nurse whose motto seems to be "Make me good, God, but not yet" and has her turning to one controlled substance or another to quash her persistent back pain. The trailers were both extremely well-produced, which gives me great hope for the full-length versions.

One of the contenders for best quote of the press tour: Jessica Walter of 90210 on what makes her new character, grandmother Tabitha Wilson, different from Lucille Bluth. "Lucille liked vodka and Tabitha likes scotch." She went on to explain that the fact that she's gotten her family to move to Beverly Hills to help her stay sober is another difference: "I promised them I'm going to try," she said. "Lucille never really tried."

By the way, Walter once referred to the Bluths in the past tense, then corrected herself: "The Bluths were so dysfunctional - are still so dysfunctional. We hope they're going to be making a movie." Someone hurry up and confirm it already!

To see who the TCA honored at its awards, meet my new favorite woman in Hollywood, and get some news from Bravo and NBC's other cable networks, just
read more.

Mad Men, 30 Rock, and John Adams were among the big winners at Saturday's TCA Awards. There are lots of great dispatches from the night; here's one funny one, and here's another.

I liked The Ex List well enough when I watched the pilot, but I will most definitely be paying attention now that showrunner Diane Ruggiero has completely won me over. She charmed the whole room on Friday during her session, telling stories about accidentally dumping an ex-boyfriend's Mount St. Helen's ashes all over his carpet ("That's when you go, 'I guess we broke up . . . '") and being cute ("kind-of-ish") in New Jersey but invisible in Los Angeles. When one of the many older male reporters here asked her why there was so much "vaginal humor" in the pilot, Ruggiero immediately responded "I actually let my vagina write half of the script." Zing!

Sunday's sessions with NBC's cable networks were dizzying for all their news, but here are just a few highlights: Make Me a Supermodel and The Real Housewives of New York City will both be getting second seasons on Bravo; The Rachael Zoe Project premieres Sept. 8; Top Chef: Masters and Fashion House, which sounds vaguely like it could be groomed into a Project Runway replacement, are both in development; USA has ordered a second season of In Plain Sight; Mark Feuerstein has signed on for a USA pilot about a doctor who becomes the MD for the rich and famous; and the new season of The Janet Dickinson Modeling Agency will start in August and have Janice living with the models in the same house for the first time. Whew!
Still to come: Lots of news from NBC, plus visits to the set of Pushing Daisies and Chuck, so stay tuned! Photos courtesy of Showtime and Source