United States of Tara

:

Season 1
  • Network: SHOWTIME
  • Series Premiere Date: Jan 18, 2009
Season #: 3, 2, 1
Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 24
  3. Negative: 2 out of 24
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Critic Reviews

  1. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    50
    United States of Tara plays like surface feminism with an added gloss of snark and a bewilderingly blah sentimentality.
  2. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    60
    Tara has the potential to be a great comedy about identity, but it needs to be less self-conscious about its strangeness.
  3. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    50
    The brittle hipster lingo that almost all the characters spout at one time or another gives Tara a patina of cleverness, but it doesn’t add a thing to our understanding of the characters or their plights.
  5. Slate
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    60
    Tara doesn't yet show the same emotional depth as Juno--not in its first four episodes, at least--but if you have the fortitude to make it through the tonal assault of its first 10 minutes, then you'll get to see some recognizable human feeling seep up through the wisecracks.
  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Alessandra Stanley
    60
    Unfortunately for Ms. Collette, the roles of Tara’s children are so deftly written and skillfully played that they undermine her own star turn--Tara has four personalities and is one-dimensional in all of them.
  7. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    60
    United States of Tara, which features Toni Collette as the title character and whose executive producers include Steven Spielberg, takes a riskier tack, giving the story a wide vein of comedy. In many ways, they pull it off.
  8. PopMatters
    Reviewed by: Kirsten Markson
    60
    While the portrayal of the disorder is gimmicky, the show sustains a particular charm, thanks to solid performances and its honest treatment of the complex relationships in this unconventional family.

Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Best TV Season of 2009
55
#55 Most Discussed TV Season of 2009
47
#47 Most Shared TV Season of 2009

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 81 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 81
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 81
  3. Negative: 8 out of 81
  1. AlexioF
    Nov 30, 2009
    10
    This show might take a few episodes to grow on you but is extremely well written and addictive. It has some of the best lines I've ever This show might take a few episodes to grow on you but is extremely well written and addictive. It has some of the best lines I've ever heard come out of the mouths of any TV character ever.… Full Review »
  2. JennetP.
    Jan 20, 2009
    7
    Better order up some coffee and doughnuts; the jury's gonna be out for a while. In an era of stultifying imitation (how many CSI's Better order up some coffee and doughnuts; the jury's gonna be out for a while. In an era of stultifying imitation (how many CSI's are there, again?), it's hard not to celebrate a show with such an original premise. Plucking a serious psychiatric disorder from the usual movie-of-the-week format and exploring its comic dimensions, not to mention its social and political resonances, is a bold move that deserves cheers and support. I just wish I liked the results more. I'm going to have to disagree with the critics dazzled by Toni Colette's performance; I find it hammy and overwrought--and way too dependent on costume changes. All that twisty-body look-at-my-thong stuff she does as a supposed 15-year-old is more characteristic of a 40-year-old who has gone to a bar to get laid but has only gotten drunk and desperate. And the alters themselves are stereotypes, which doesn't help her performances. Colette should take a look at Sally Field's chilling transformations in "Sibyl," occasionally managed with just a shift in facial expression. If she could bring that kind of subtlety to the show, it would be greatly improved. In addition, having cheered the show's avoidance of melodrama, I'm hoping its tone will grow more complex still. I'd like to see more darkness and desperation amid the fun. So far, it's the children who best register the tension between levity and horror, as one moment the existence of the alters lets them get away with a scam, while the next moment it pulls the earth out from under them. Their dad, on the other hand, is pretty one-dimensional, so far. I keep waiting for John Corbett play someone other than Handsome Q. Laidback, but he's showing no sign of weariness with the role. Nonetheless, I'm interested enough to keep watching, and I hope I'll be back soon to change my rating to a "10."… Full Review »
  3. Camillozzi
    Oct 20, 2013
    1
    United States of Tara tem uma grande premissa, e só. O problema que este drama não engraçado, nem triste o que o torna desinteressanteUnited States of Tara tem uma grande premissa, e só. O problema que este drama não engraçado, nem triste o que o torna desinteressante apesar de ter em seus créditos o todo poderoso Spilberg.… Full Review »
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