Being Erica

Release Date: 2009
Duration: 60min
Studio: CBC
Category: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Cast: Adam MacDonald, Devon Bostick, Erin Karpluk, Joanna Douglas, Kathleen Laskey, Laurence Leboeuf, Paula Brancati, Sarah Gadon, Tyron Leitso

A girl with a life in shambles, who is just dripping with “issues,” goes to a very odd “therapist” who sends her back in time for a shot at doing over key moments of her past, is not the kind of show you’re going to put me in the ring with. Not if you have any idea what you’re doing.

But, Being Erica is not quite as easy to dismiss as its summary blurb and choice of networks might imply. Though the pilot lead-in starts off pretty rough, the show gets going quickly, and it turns out that somewhere on the spectrum there is acceptable kooky-cuteness.

Erica Strange (Erin Karpluk) is the woman who regrets just about everything she’s ever done in her life. She’s 30-ish, alone-ish, and generally stuck in a rut no matter what spoke of the life wheel you’re looking at. When things come crashing down on the really horrible, very bad, no good, etc., etc…. a strange Doctor appears and offers her a chance to turn her life around. Because she happens to stumble into his office, she decides to give the therapy thing a whirl. What’s the worst that could happen, it turns out to be one more bad decision?
Temple Street Productions/Stephen Scott

The mysterious Dr. Tom (Michael Riley), who endlessly tosses around quotes, gets Erica to make a list of things that went wrong in her life. The bad decisions, mistakes, and regrets from the last twenty years or so that Erica can’t get over. He then demands a serious commitment to change her life, and the next thing you know Erica finds herself back at her prom.

Now the stage is set for her to relive at least one horrible moment from her past, and she can prevent herself from being the girl who passed out drunk on the dance floor. The question quickly turns around on itself though, because Erica soon learns that the fix doesn’t lead to anything really wonderful anyway. In fact, MyPast 2.0 might turn out to be one of those not so stellar upgrades.

On paper the show is just riddled with sap, and you have to expect it to play out like the worst offerings of Lifetime, but it somehow dodges the bullets it aims at itself. It somehow accepts its goofiness, rather than trying to rise above it, and that ends up working. Look, the show says, here’s a bit of fun that’s at least a little clever… and, what the hell, it’s kind of fun.

by Marc Eastman