Reviews
by George Vernadakis, Kent Gibbons and R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 1/11/2009 7:00:00 PM
THE UNITED STATES OF TARA
(Showtime, Sunday, Jan. 18, 10 p.m.)
Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and created by screenwriter Diablo Cody, Showtime’s United States of Tara stars Toni Collette as a wife and mother with multiple personalities. The show’s recurring joke is summed up in a line of dialogue delivered by Tara’s son: “Mom’s here, but I don’t know if Mom’s here.”
When mom’s not there, she’s replaced by one of her “alters” — a foul-mouthed teen, a Vietnam vet and a 1950s housewife. (The role-switching may remind viewers of Showtime’s similarly titled Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union.)
Yet, despite the unconventional character at its center, Tara is surprisingly conventional. The domestic situations faced by Tara and husband Max (John Corbett) — raising adolescent kids, fighting marital malaise, contending with her insecure sister — are straight out of the traditional sitcom playbook. Think Roseanne meets Sybil.
— George Vernadakis
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
(Sci Fi Channel, Friday, Jan. 16, 10 p.m.)
Battlestar Galactica returns after a seven-month hiatus. The first of the series’ final 10 episodes starts where the cliffhanger left off: on nuclear-war-ravaged Earth.
“Previously on” scenes are few but pithy, and much is packed into the episode. Even more happens than I could reveal if I wanted to, as the screener came with a scene omitted, to prevent an “extremely sensitive reveal” possibly leaking out.
The episode, “Sometimes A Great Notion,” centers on major characters we already know — humans and their Cylon allies — and advances the story arc in emotional fashion. Discoveries on Earth inform everyone’s knowledge of actions set in motion centuries earlier, well before the war against the Cylons that sent human survivors into spaceships, seeking a new home.
With all that’s revealed, more is left to learn.
Nine more after this.
— Kent Gibbons
THE BEAST
(A&E Network, Thursday, Jan. 15, 10 p.m.)
Much has been written over the past year about the failing health of cancer-stricken star Patrick Swayze. But in his new A&E Network drama The Beast, the former Dirty Dancing star looks strong and convincing as a tough FBI agent.
Swayze appears thin but healthy as Charles Barker, an undercover agent who uses very unorthodox methods. Barker takes on a rookie partner, Ellis Dove (Travis Fimmel), and puts him through vigorous on-the-job training that threatens to break up the pairing.
Just as Dove begins to warm to Barker, he’s confronted by FBI Internal Affairs asking him to spy on his mentor.
Undoubtedly, A&E will draw a big audience, curious to see Swayze, to The Beast’s premiere. And though the series needs to better balance the long stretches of dialog and short action scenes, viewers should remain attached to the show.
— R. Thomas Umstead
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