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Newsstand: November 9, 2009
Zack Taylor in Disney Mama Drama
Santa's Weston Workshop
The Daily Photoist: November 9, 2009
Screen capture of last week's episode, "Everything She Wants."
We got roped into watching Being Erica the way we're assuming most people did: through persistent advertising. Can you blame us? Its star, Erin Karpluk, was everywhere in the build-up to the show’s January 5 premiere; her image was especially prevalent on the concourse level of Union Station, where a series of Karpluks-in-costume greeted holiday pedestrian traffic. After a while, resistance proved futile.
The show turned out to be better—much, much better—than we were expecting. Its basic premise—Erica Strange, barely employed and chronically single, revisits key moments in her thirty-two-year-old life in order to gain insights into her current struggles—sounds a bit too precious, but it's become an effective plot device (and one that is growing stronger as the series progresses). Karpluk is hugely endearing, while Michael Riley is brimming with sardonic wit as her sounding board/time-travelling companion, Dr. Tom. Moreover, apart from the occasional misstep (the show's "villains" tend to be one-dimensional caricatures, for instance), Being Erica has been solid each week. (In the name of full disclosure, we were somewhat nonplussed after its debut.) So why can’t the show find an audience?
CBC must've been banking on Being Erica becoming a hit. It's no secret that the network's been struggling: the federal government is refusing to prop it up during the economic downturn, and earlier this week CBC scrapped a pair of daytime programs. In February, it moved Being Erica from Mondays to Wednesdays in an attempt to beef up its ratings; ironically, the switch seems to have had the opposite effect. This isn't entirely surprising, since the show's new time slot pits Being Erica against ratings behemoth Lost. Still, one of the immediate responses was a lesbian subplot involving two gorgeous women (Karpluk and Anna Silk as a former best friend) that seemed like nothing more than a desperate ratings grab.
Being Erica is too original, too intelligent, and too well-acted to resort to such base tactics, but it's going to have to find its audience somehow or risk obliteration. Brett Lamb's blog made some suggestions on strengthening the show, but we suspect it'll take a bit more than that. Perhaps there's just a general reluctance to embrace "CBC programming," although the sustained success of shows such as Little Mosque on the Prairie seemingly refute this notion. In any event, there’re still three episodes left in Being Erica’s inaugural season—enough time, perhaps, for the show to build on its solid start, for word-of-mouth to spread, and for ratings to blossom. It’d be a shame if such a good show with such a wonderful star ended up as a one-and-done.
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Okay, OKAY. I'll try watching the show. It's a dirty job but someone's got to do it.
"desperate ratings grab" works for me!
Sorry, Lost is the only thing on TV on Wednesday nights for me.
Insufferably self-centered and completely un-self-aware main character makes for angry TV viewing for me.
I think the show is pretty great, but it lost me (oops.. No pun intended) when it switched to Wednesday nights. I've been watching Lost for three years, I'm not going to give it up for a new show that I barely know! I keep meaning to catch up on the CBC website but haven't yet - the last I saw was episode 6. I hope they move it back to a better timeslot - Monday nights were good!
'Course the most appropriate photo for this article would *be* the two attractive ladies de-shirted and making out ;-)
Yeah my girlfriend got me to watch it when it first came out, and it wasn't so bad. I haven't seen it since it moved to Lost's slot either though.
At first I only really watched Being Erica because I liked playing "spot the location" with Toronto (and I didn't really like much else other than the matter-of-fact time travel) but honestly, I'm sold now, and I've watched it every week. It's not, like, amazing, but it at least deserves to survive on a network where it is so much less awful than most of the other TV shows. Even the show's completely predictable structure—twenty minutes in the present, twenty in the past, five minute resolution to conflict in the present—actually ends up being a good point of the show rather than a downside.
I still hate the philosophy-quoting psychologist, though.
My boss approves of your choice in screencap.
inb4 plethora of comments that don't relate to anything else.... might be too late...
Smart TV is boring and destined to fail. Hearing Erica wax poetic about the existential experience of being a lesbian is yawn material. Seeing her make out with another hot chick? You have my full, undivided attention.
I've been watching Being Erica and I keep thinking I'm about to start getting annoyed with it, but right when it starts getting that way, it seems to pull back. And I find I'm enjoying it (especially the stuff between Erica and her superbitch boss). So...I'm kinda into it. I usually give up on shows by this point.
Yeah, I also have to disagree with calling the lesbian thing a 'base tactic'. The episode's issue was about personal boundaries and the scenes of intimacy gave the consequences of Erica's actions some weight ... although I have NOTHING against a little sex and nudity just for fun. The big problem with that episode is that Erica's sexuality gets definitively wrapped up when some ongoing ambiguity would be more fun.
Seems like Torontoist isn't immune to a ratings grab either...
If you've not seen the show, here are 3 min. that may help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzOG0NBQ2bs
and brings the above still to life.
And for good measure, here's a particularly endearing moment - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9speqSdYEU
"Still, one of the immediate responses was a lesbian subplot ... that seemed like nothing more than a desperate ratings grab."
That's a staggering leap of logic. The timeslot switch was made just a few weeks ago; hardly enough time to write and produce this episode for a mid-March 'ratings grab.'
Indeed, chances are this week's episode (not 'last week's' as indicated in your photo caption) was completed before the series even premiered. I didn't see it; what did the weather look like in the outdoor sequences?
I am a die-hard LOST fan, and usually nothing gets in the way of that. However, as soon as Being Erica moved to the same time slot, I decided to sacrifice watching LOST. The producers of LOST have already signed a contract for next year, which is their final season - they don't need the ratings anymore. Besides, LOST shows up online within a few hours, anyway. I would much rather watch a Canadian show and contribute to its ratings and viewership.
Unless you have a Neilsen box, you have absolutely no impact on the ratings of any show you watch. Have a DVR? Doesn't matter, nobody really pays attention to those numbers either because DVR = commercial-skipping.
Besides you're in Canada, and ratings here will not be factored into whether a US-made show is continued.
I hate to break it to you naddie, but unless you're participating in a Neilsen survey, no one tracks what shows you're watching. TV viewership measurement is mostly bullshit statistics extrapolated from a small sample group.
You'd probably make more of an impact on ratings by watching it on cbc's site or even torrenting the show. And of course eventual dvd sales.
Actually, the most immediately effective are letters and emails. Those are probably the #1 thing fans can do to affect executive decision-making.
Actually, site views don't currently count, and torrenting definitely doesn't count. If you like the show, word-of-mouth it and get other people watching it. As for the bullshit-ness or otherwise of Nielsen ratings, they are the industry currency and are far more dependable than their online analogues so we're stuck with them for the foreseeable future.
No doubt someone's going to chime in with a spiel about how they crunch their own server logs and therefore have complete confidence in their numbers. Good for you, go pitch that to an advertiser and see how far you get.
I just found it strange that people think dutifully turning on the TV to watch a show has any effect on its ratings or success.
With proper privacy controls in place, that's how it should work. But it doesn't and never has.
@The Vok: The screen capture actually is from last week's episode. This week's was about Erica and her friends throwing a Hallowe'en party at Casa Loma.
Apologies! Could've sworn I saw this episode being promoted earlier this week. Or did the Halloween episode contain HLA too?
This show is a guilty pleasure. And for those who thought the lesbian scene was gratuitous haven't been following the series. There are sex scenes in almost every single episode, i believe. I've spotted a couple of male bottoms here and there and noone said that was for ratings!
I would not be surprised if this show was cancelled. It's very different from the regular cbc fare, and I don't really know who their audience is apart from 20-30 something females.
I agree that the show has a lot of strengths, especially Erin Karpluk. She is fun to watch and a good actor.
I like shows based in the reality of the situation. Being Erica lost it for me. It has that 'made for TV' feel. Like the actors and situations are portrayed the way people expect them to be portrayed. For example, during the black out episode, Erica and her friend ended up at some random party, where all the girls were in bikini tops. Really? Who thought this was a good idea? I have never just showed up at a party where all the girls are in bikini tops. Plus, the power had just gone out and suddenly there is a raging party happening. As a viewer, it felt like the show was talking down to me.
Maybe you're just not going to the right parties.
But yeah, sounds like a beer commercial to me ... I'd venture to say that CBC is hoping to accommodate couples with "Erica." If you're a 20/30-something girlfriend, surely a show would be easier to pitch to your boyfriend if it had lesbian make-out scenes and girls in bikini tops?
I'm still angry at them for canceling jPod. Not that it was great TV, but I enjoyed it.
I'm still angry at them for not picking up This Space For Rent after the week-long comedy pilot blitz back in 2006.
In fact I don't think any of the pilots were picked up. What a waste of money.
Is it possible to catch this online? I don't have a TV and I'll admit that the only Canadian programming I know is whatever was shown in the States five years ago.
I don't know how you feel about legality or high resolution, but if CBC hasn't put them online (I'm guessing they haven't) you can probably get them here:
http://tv.blinkx.com/show/being-erica/wpvJp4lAPpXnCSA49k8qFA
OVGuide.com has some other links for episodes too, if you do a search for Being Erica.
Yes, CBC has made all of the episodes to date available online, free and legit, at: http://www.cbc.ca/beingerica/videos.html
Well nevermind then!
I was sceptical of Being Erica when the ads were plastered everywhere. After watching an episode I'm now hooked.
My only issues is Erica's age. They state that Erica is 32, but when she travels back to say 1993 her age is incorrect if the present is 2009. The math just doesn't work.
Yeah and they'll play songs that I'm sure weren't released yet. Maybe songs can travel through time and space too.
@The Vok: nah, just HHA. ;)
@Wade Vroom, re: "[D]uring the black out episode, Erica and her friend ended up at some random party, where all the girls were in bikini tops." Unless I'm way off here, there was also a major continuity error during that party as well. At one point, the SkyDome (it was still SkyDome then!) roof is open; at another...it's closed. Can't...compute...
If you have a digital box, you can use time shifting to watch Being Erica at 8pm (9pm in Atlantic) or at 10pm (9pm Central) and still watch Lost. Love how CBC has the programs at the same time in each time zone. More convenient than the three hours later that is common for other channels.
Or you can watch/record it even later, given the Alberta and B.C. feeds, which air the show at 11pm and 12am ET, respectively.
I lived in Toronto for much of the time that the flashbacks are set in. I moved North 3 years ago and the show is a great way to do some Toronto-spotting and even relive memories of my own (my own flashbacks, if you will). The episode on the island is a good example of that.
As far as the blackout bikini party... it WAS very hot that day ;)
My boyfriend and I caught the repeat show #109 as we both missed its first air.
I'm guessing that moral convictions and life values were thrown out window in this episode. We'll probably never see Erica enjoy a good ol' solid relationship and it seems that constant contradiction makes for good tv, but geez... Have to side with dear Cassidy on this one as she was used then tossed. Heartbreaking? Well h-yeah!
Anyway, love this Canadian show!