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Being Erica

By Daniel McQuade

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Feb. 25, 2009

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We can learn a lot about Canada from the television it sends south. The latest Canadian import is Being Erica, which attracted some controversy because it replaced a respected newsmagazine.

The show was positively reviewed by Canadian critics, who liked newcomer Erin Karpluk in the lead and thought the show had some potential. Much as with the horrid Trust Me, TV is so bad right now critics will give anything a vaguely positive review as long as it doesn't involve washed-up celebrities competing to see who gets to sleep with a porn star.

Canadian critics are just as easy to please as their American counterparts. Erin Karpluk, complete with cute Western Canadian accent, is likable enough and talented-ish, but she's saddled with nonsensical storylines in which everything wraps up neat and tidy and she has a quip about what she's learned to end the show. (Canada thinks five years is long enough for everyone to have forgotten Sex and the City. They might be right.)

Erica Strange, a 32-year-old Torontonian, has a lot of regrets about her life. And whenever she finds herself in a bad situation (conveniently once per episode), a strange therapist named Dr. Tom transports her back to the past, where she can change what she did for the better.

Unfortunately for her, nothing ever seems to go right; one might think going back and losing your virginity to a different guy would change at least a thing or two, but poor Erica is still in the same situation. The show gets repetitive after about two episodes. We learn nothing by continuing to watch.

The biggest sin, though, is the faux-1990s references during time travel. One trip to 1994 includes references to "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It" and Limp Bizkit. Canadians, apparently, know nothing of important American history.