I'm not sure if this should really go in the comedy thread or drama, as it's classified as a comedy/drama (or maybe it's a soap, since it'll air on SOAPnet in the US). This Canadian show will premier on the CBC on Monday, January 5 and is about Erica Strange, "a 30-something, over-educated woman" who gets to explore her past. This isn't a Dr. Who type sci-fi show, but rather how Erica overcomes her issues by exploring her past.

It's described as "My Name is Earl meets Pretty in Pink meets Back to the Future meets Sex and the City."

The creator of Being Erica was also involved with the latest Degrassi series.

There was a ton of advertising at Yonge/Bloor station when I went through yesterday, mostly seeming to feature Erica's wardrobe through the ages or backward text.

I wouldn't be bothering, except it has Michael Riley. Not sure if there can possibly be enough of him to keep me interested.

John Doyle of The Globe and Mail thought the first episode was wonderful.

Saw the first episode, and didn't think it was that bad. I'm a few years younger than Erica (I was in Grade 8 in 1992/1993), but I can totally relate to her. A few years ago, I felt that I was not "where I should be" either...anyway, as for the 1990s fashion, I can't believe I used to wear clothes like that!

One nitpick: Why the heck was Erica's dad using a COMMODORE computer in 1992?

I really enjoyed the show. The girl who played Erica was a really appealing lead character and Michael Riley.. *sigh* he was great too. I was just dying when the 13 year old brother-in-law peeked in while she was shaving...wouldn't you die?

The music was another reason I really enjoyed it. Was that Daniel Victor playing at the dance? It looked a little like him to me. I need Daniel Victor to play at my High School dance if I travel back in time.

I thought the first episode was great. Erin Karpluk is perfectly cast, very cute, expressive and charismatic. Hopefully they can keep it fresh.

I've been reading/watching the vlog at cbc.ca so I had the set-up and already liked the character.

But then she had me "Hellooo epi-lady", the surveying of the scenery and the follow up scene. Those suckers hurt. They may still be around somewhere...but not in this house.

Is this going to be an hour show? or was this just the opener?

Good on ya CBC. LMOP, Sophie and Erica.

I was thinking a whole lot of Wonderfalls (except apparently her family's not WASP) - upper middle class attractive smart girl with all the advantages is a massive underachiever who slowly resolves her issues with a lot of magical, unexplained help - with a bit of MNIE and Journeyman/Quantum Leap/BTTF.


That bugged the hell out of me too!

I'm a couple of years younger than Erica, so the music was mostly a trip and a half. I would actually have been happier with about two less period songs -- the forced nostalgia started to feel a little heavy handed.

Also, I would actually have preferred if Dr Tom was a female character. I dunno why exactly... maybe it's that his being male gave him a kind of condescending air. I still liked him.

The time travel plot worked out pretty well; I really liked that The One That Got Away wasn't really that much of a prize.

But for a comedy-drama, this was way more drama than comedy, and not just cause it was an hour long.

Dr Tom's magic disappearing office is, of course, a fantasy cliche; they missed a chance to flip that one. Ah well.

I'm a terrible Canadian for watching so few grown-in-Canada shows, but this one is pretty charming; I'll stick with it for a bit.

Totally enjoyed this. I would have started the thread myself if this hadden't been here.

I'm a couple years older than Erica (graduated in 1992) but still a trip back in time.

Loved the interaction with the hottie teacher.

Here's a fairly interesting interview with the creator and EP of the show:



I wonder if he's a dropped plot point or going to be a regular on the show.

Thanks for that link, that was a really interesting article. But it makes it sound like the show could become quite formulaic - Erica does something wrong in her current life in act 1 that triggers a Dr. Tom appearance, back to the past by the end of act 1, make a false correction and then the real one, back to current time and apply lesson learned to the Problem Of The Week.

My husband and I were very pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the first episode. I can really identify with Erica (it seems like there are more than a few of us who can).

Erin Karpluk (Erica) will be on the CBC Radio show Q tomorrow (Jan 8).

The first episode of Being Erica is available for free download on itunes at the moment and I think they're replaying it this weekend on CBC..(Sunday?) so with the Itunes download I checked the credits and that was Daniel Victor of Neverending White Lights singing at the dance, and not only that but - it was also Roz Bell singing his song 'Yesterday Man' on the street with the guitar. Although one of the credits on there does say that Jacob Hoggard wrote a song that Steely Dan sang... I love Jacob, but somehow I think they are confused. ;)

I think my favourite line from the show was Dr. Tom's in his response to Erica's question about paradoxes "Is it possible that your alcohol consumption while very important to you might not play a role in world events?" How much of a difference will her journeys into the past make in her life, and or the lives of others? I don't mind problem of the week as long as I get a good story, good acting (and good music).

If he's Mark Hildreth then he's got the second credit after Erin in the pilot, so I think odds are we'll see him again. (The interview made reference to an original version where Erica repeatedly sees the same guy in the past and the present; I did wonder whether the teacher was that guy, even if they wound up handling it differently.)

I like the cast, especially Erin and Michael Riley, so even though I don't particularly identify with Erica I'll probably watch again. Actually when I was digging around trying to figure out who played the teacher I went to the CBC website and found that they have some office vlogs from Erica (apparently featuring that annoying woman from the BMO worry dolls ad as her annoying passive-aggressive cubicle neighbour) I found her more relatable in that context than in the show with the mooning over couples/babies/fashionable clothes. I also liked seeing the list of regrets so that I can anticipate what might come up in the future -- the death of her brother and the reference to wishing she hadn't got her sister and the obnoxious boyfriend back together sound especially intriguing.

I was a little surprised that the dance was apparently being held in October (since it was clearly fall and apparently the World Series had just ended) and that the teacher was talking so early in the school year about how Erica would have no problem getting the yearbook layout approved. Maybe the latter was an example of her overachieving.

The World Series hadn't ended. I think it was DURING the World Series. Dr. Tom was just reading a newspaper from the then-future (the Jays won the World Series on a Saturday both times. The paper he was reading was from a Sunday (it said Sunday Star). Dances aren't held on Sunday nights).

Would Erica have had a grade 13, or had Ontario phased it out around that time?

OAC (grade 13) wasn't phased out until 2003 so it was definitely around for Erica's high school days.

But Erica could have fast tracked. They might make her do that so people outside of Ontario wouldn't be confused.

Doesn't Tyron Leitso co-star in this show, too?

I listened to the Q interview today and she said the second episode has her in University so it skips OAC. It will be interesting to see how old they place her. I went from grade 12 to college and was 18, OAC to university people would be 19 in first year.

I didn't think that the regrets were necessarily going to be handled in chronological order, so I don't think that OAC has necessarily been "skipped". If Erica was editor of the yearbook then she should have been in her final year of high school in the first episode. Did I miss a point where they specified her age and whether she was meant to be in grade 12 or 13?



Is there any reason why it couldn't have been the week following the World Series? It seems like a stretch to assume that Dr Tom picks up period memorabilia from the future to wave around in the past when it makes more sense to think that he was reading a contemporary paper that he acquired in the past. (And in either case I don't think one week either way negates my point that the scene was obviously in the fall and it wasn't a traditional spring formal.)

I think I heard Grade 11 mentioned.

When I was in high school, the editors were not in OAC, but in Grade 12. A lot of schools don't want grads to do the yearbook because they're supposed to be concentrating on their university applications their first year. I realize that many people don't go to university, but Erica looks like she grew up in the midtown part of Toronto and likely went to a school like North Toronto. Pretty much everyone goes to university there.

Yeah, like SleepinIn I also heard grade 11.


I'm pretty sure present-day Erica said she had a master's degree.

Yes, she did. I was just pointing out that students were probably EXPECTED to apply to university at Erica's high school, so it's quite possible that they use Grade 11s and 12s as yearbook editors rather than OACs.

Oh, I see.

I just chalked it up to her being an overachiever in HS.

I enjoyed this a lot...the lead actress is quite cute and talented, and there are a lot of interesting ways the story could go, particularly into the morality of changing the future...I have no idea if it will go there, but is it really fair to change the future of your friends and family without their permission?

I'm also really curious about the male teacher, and if a relationship develops between them in the past--is it really wrong if she's an adult mentally? But what if he doesn't know that, and thinks she's 16?

It definitely struck me as more of a drama than a comedy, but it's hard to tell yet what kind of tone they're planning to set.

As for the Commodore, that struck me as a little out of place at first, but then I remembered I was still typing my school assignments on our Commodore 64 (complete with dot matrix printer) until 1994 or so, when we got our next computer.

And the yearbook staff--when I was in OAC, my friend in grade 12 was yearbook editor. They just chose whoever wanted the job and got the most votes, or impressed the supervising teacher the most, or whatever. The grade you were in made no difference.

Does anyone know the name of the song that played near the end and over the end credits?

Mesousa: I was curious too, so I did some digging...looking at the songs listed in the credits, by process of elimination, I think it must be "Tricks are for Kids", performed by Lauren Evans. I cannot find any evidence of that (lyrics, recordings, etc) on the internet, however...very strange.

I think Lauren Evans' song was played during the scene where Erica gets the phone call from Trevor. If you check her MySpace page, that sounds a lot more like her than the song we're looking for.

The "song" that's playing right at the beginning of the episode sounds like it could be from the same artist.

Yeah, you're absolutely right, which is why I'm so confused...I wonder if there's a song left off the credits list? Or if I'm missing something. When I'm back online later I'll do some more digging because this is not making me crazy.

Not so sure about this show yet. The first episode felt pretty contrived and overacted to me. Do people actually care that much about one stupid incident from high school at age 32? Rang a little false IMO.

I'll watch the next few episodes and hope they improve. I like Erin Karpluk but not so hot on the character of Erica so far.

I was really charmed by the first episode and will be following this show. The actress didn't play Erica as a flake and I think that's a nice change from the current trend in movies and television.

I don't think Erica's regrets are completely unrealistic. I think people can be stuck by what they've done in the past and Erica points out she knows what happened in high school shouldn't matter. She probably is stuck on those events because they remind them of things she doesn't like about herself. Also, an article I read indicates that writers chose to make Erica go back to moments that wouldn't significantly change the present, so that they wouldn't have a Back to the Future dilemma.

I was a little creeped out by the teacher - thought he was going to make a move on her. I suspect he's going to be her love interest, especially since she pointed out that he was younger than she was in current time, which means, he's probably datable age in current time.

I will definitely keep watching. I've always loved the time travel genre. Quantum Leap was a favourite. This showed is also very well done.

Someone upthread mentioned the dad using a Commodore in 1992. We used them where I worked that year.

I *STILL* don't think they should be using a Commodore 64 at home, given the fact that Erica's dad was still confused about using it. If they have a Commodore at home, they would have had it around for a few years, and he should know how to use it by 1992. He should be confused about a newer machine, perhaps a Mac or something operating with Windows 3.x.

Dr Tom is the one who picked that incident out of her extensive list, so it wasn't necessarily her top regret. Also, she cared about it not because of the humilation of the one night but because she believed that it had affected the rest of her high school experience. I think she had blown it out of proportion, but if it were healthy to dwell on the stupid incident then Dr Tom wouldn't be trying to help her and there wouldn't be a show.



Only if he buys things new and up-to-date -- maybe he got it used from someone who had upgraded and was selling the older model cheap.

I was discussing the plot with some friends and one of them pointed out that on some level the whole allergic reaction --> hospitalization --> therapist trajectory would make a lot more sense if Erica had attempted suicide. For one thing a person with a serious nut allergy would probably be so used to asking about ingredients that she wouldn't take a free sample of anything without thinking about it, or else she would have an epi pen with her, and for another attempted suicide is something a therapist might come to see you about. Dr Tom's magical powers really smooth over why he would have showed up for an allergic reaction and probably explain why the hospital would not have sent a real therapist, but I wonder a little bit if there was originally a suicide attempt in the story that was made into something lighter to suit the tone better.

I was more conscious of the fact that Erica was in the middle of Dundas Square when it started to pour rain and somehow she ran into a nut-infested coffee shop instead of directly into the subway entrance on that corner.

Thanks to those who pointed out that grade 11 was specified and that some schools might think the graduating class has better things to do than work on the yearbook and therefore have the editors from lower grades. Erica might not even have been "the" editor -- the only thing we really know is that she was somehow responsible for the layout and presumably interested in whether it would be approved.

I'm 31 and I still have occasional flashbacks of stupid incidents from my high school days... And frankly, I thought I had it a bit more together than Erica.

Or into the Eaton Centre (or Toronto Life Centre).

But I think only GTA people will be nitpicky about that.

I really liked the show, and its lead character, despite the fact that humiliation scenes normally drive me into the hall. Erin Karpluck is immensely charming and watchable. I was kind of (pleasantly) surprised by how adult the epilady and parked car scenes were - much more so than you'd see on network TV in the US. Though perhaps that was done to counterbalance the unbelievably saccharine modern-day soundtrack so that stuffed unicorns wouldn't start dripping from the viewers' TV sets. (Seriously, that "Where Do You Go?" song sounded like it should be the theme for a Saturday morning cartoon version of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. WTF, Mr. Music Supervisor?)

Second episode and still enjoying this show.

I'm glad to see the guy from Wonderfalls again.

Erica's university rez/house is on Madison, judging from the Gamma Phi Beta sign. Another thing: For people who're more familiar with Montrealers, do wealthy Francophone Quebecois send their kids to English schools? Claire DOES NOT sound Quebecoise.

We also find out that Erica either fasttracked, or, OAC/Grade 13 doesn't exist in the Ontario of the Being Erica universe - she was in second year in '95. With OAC/Grade 13, Erica would have been a frosh.

I was so excited to meet Ethan - after watching all those youtube promos I was wondering who the hell he was. OMG - It's ETHAN.. lol - too funny. Clearly a guy who cares about random things like cakewrecks, and bridesmaid dresses, and cubicle life and blind dates is not a friend to be trifled with. I was waiting for the big fix Ethan back up with Claire scene so I was pleasantly surprised that Ethan moved in next door and remained estranged from Claire (something for later - I guess).

She had a weensy French* accent, but until they said she was Quebecoise, I thought she was just talking kinda funny.


As a then-radical, maybe she deliberately went to a school in Ontario to stick it to her parents?

I felt kinda cheated that the Literati douche and Antigone didn't get their comeuppance. Maybe this isn't that kind of show, but still, I'm petty like that.


Oh, that's where I've seen him before! Wow, it's hilarious then that his introduction to the show involved him leaving his cheating wife.

The student protests were charming.

* disclaimer: I'm from Vancouver and know next to nothing about anything east of Burnaby... Still, it is really an unusual thing (but oddly refreshing) for me to watch anything shot in Toronto that's not pretending to be somewhere else. Maybe someday that'll even happen for something shot in Vancouver.

"...the Eighties didn't come to Canada 'til like '93..."
Robin, How I Met Your Mother.

Actually, I meant CEGEP, high school and possibly elementary school, considering her accent (unless, of course, Claire's mom is Anglophone).

It's a REAL Canadian show now that they've given some lines to a Degrassi kid. Heh.

I really do love this show - it's so rare for CBC to provide appointment television, and I hope it sticks around. Erica's failings (which are many, since they're central to the plot) aren't grating, Dr. Tom is just the right level of mysterious, and the supporting cast is pretty solid so far - I can see lots of potential subplots developing.

I have a special love for this show because I, too, am an Erica, I'm in the right general age range to identify with the music/style issues from the past, I also have an obnoxious Jewish mother and perfect older sister, and I spent quite a few years underachieving in admin jobs and failing at love. The show is like therapy for the circa-2002 me. I'm rooting for an eventual Erica/Ethan happy ending, since I ended up married to my university best friend.

Next week: "When Erica brings Ethan to her high school reunion to pose as her pretend boyfriend, she must relive her first sexual experience in Muskoka to understand and overcome the source of her relationship troubles"

I enjoyed this week's show but you could see every plot point coming from 2 miles off. Of course her gut feelings about the literati would turn out to be correct, of course she would regret some rotten thing she had to do for them, of course there would be a parallel to her feelings about her new job. The execution was fine but...

Anyways, liked her vaguely gay but not completely over the top uncle. The overly earnest school protests reminded me of my old days - we didn't have protests, but we had people who cared very, very deeply about such issues running the school paper, who were roundly ignored by everybody.

Not just that, but he's palling around with a smart, possibly-crazy slacker chick who's tripped into Magical Realism Land where the universe is Trying To Tell Her Something. How often does THAT job description pop up in the audition notices? (Though after reading the script he probably just handed the casting director a Wonderfalls DVD as his demo reel...)

Hahaha!

That said, while I stand by my Wonderfalls comparison from before, Erica's not nearly as misanthropic as Jaye. And I'm fine with that.