Being Erica

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Being Erica
season one intertitle
Also known as	The Session
Genre	Comedy-drama
Created by	Jana Sinyor
Directed by	Holly Dale
Starring	Erin Karpluk Tyron Leitso Vinessa Antoine Reagan Pasternak Morgan Kelly John Boylan Kathleen Laskey Joanna Douglas Adam MacDonald Paula Brancati Sarah Gadon Devon Bostick Laurence Leboeuf Michael Riley
Opening theme	"Being Erica Theme" performed by Lily Frost
Country of origin	Canada
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	25 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	David Fortier Ivan Schneeberg Aaron Martin Jana Sinyor[1]
Location(s)	Toronto[1]
Production company(s)	Temple Street Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	CBC
Original run	January 5, 2009 – present

Being Erica is a Canadian television drama series that first aired on January 5, 2009 on CBC.^[2]

Created by Jana Sinyor, the series was originally announced by the CBC as The Session,^[3] but was retitled Being Erica before debuting in 2009. It is produced by Temple Street Productions and distributed internationally by the BBC.

The show stars Erin Karpluk as Erica Strange, a woman who begins seeing a counsellor to deal with regrets in her life, only to discover the counsellor (Michael Riley) has the ability to send her back in time to actually change these events.

In Canada, the second season premiered on September 22, 2009.^[4] Only 12 episodes were produced for the second season due to budget cuts at the CBC.

Contents 1 Characters 1.1 The Stranges 1.2 Erica's friends 1.3 Erica's co-workers at River Rock Publishing 2 Setting 3 Episodes 4 Production 5 International syndication 6 Reception 6.1 Ratings 7 DVDs 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Characters

In general, the characters in Being Erica are played by the starring actors, but because the show involves time travel, very young versions of the characters are played at times by different actors. In "Adultescence", for example, a twelve year old Erica Strange is played by a younger actress.

[edit] The Stranges

Erica Strange (Erin Karpluk) – the protagonist in the series. She is thirty-two, single, Jewish, and well-educated. However, she is an underachiever who has recently been fired from a mindless customer service job (because she is overqualified). She is convinced poor choices made in her past have made her life a failure and seeks Dr. Tom's help to undo many of her mistakes. As the series progresses, she gains confidence in herself and her choices, dates and finds love, and gets promoted to Junior Editor at a Publishing House, which she eventually gets fired from in the penultimate episode of the second season. She has a master's degree in English literature.

Gary Strange (John Boylan) – Erica's father. Once a hippie and marijuana enthusiast, he is now a Rabbi. He was married to Barbara Strange, but they divorced thirteen years ago because he had an affair. With Barbara he had three children: Leo (who died three months before their divorce), Erica and Samantha.

Barbara Strange (Kathleen Laskey) – Erica's mother. Her relationship with Erica has been strained at times. Erica believed her mother was the reason for her parents' divorce, when in reality, it was her father's infidelity, a fact which was kept secret from Erica.

Samantha "Sam" Strange-McIntosh (Joanna Douglas) – Erica's younger sister. Sam's character is initially close to Erica. However conflict is seen during Season 1 when Erica disapproves of Sam and her Josh getting married. During Season 1, Sam went on to marry Josh in the episode titled Til Death. This causes conflict with in the Strange family and remains unresolved for a number of episodes during Season 1. During season 2 episode Under My Thumb, Sam leaves Josh. In the episode Papa Can You Hear Me, Josh applies for a divorce. Sam is a doctor.

Leo Strange (Devon Bostick) – Erica's deceased older brother, who died 13 years ago in a barn fire. His death is apparently the biggest regret Erica has.

Josh McIntosh (Adam MacDonald) – Sam's high school sweetheart, husband. Obnoxious and crass, Josh is disliked by Erica, who believes he does not truly love her sister and that she could do far better. He separates from Sam and files for divorce during the second season.

[edit] Erica's friends

Dr. Tom Wexlar (Michael Riley) – Erica's therapist. His unusual therapy program with Erica involves sending her back in time to events she regrets in hopes of fixing them. His office does not have a physical location; when a "session" is about to begin, Erica will open a door and unexpectedly enter his office. He also walks in and out of Erica's life, in various disguises, both in the present and the past. He has a habit of uttering famous quotes by others, often to the annoyance of Erica. Instead of helping Erica directly with her problems when they meet in the past, he is often vague and inscrutable, giving clues that relate to her present-day life. He has a daughter, Sara, but he is estranged from her.

Ethan Wakefield (Tyron Leitso) – Erica's guy friend since her university days. An elementary school teacher, he moves next door to Erica from Montreal after separating from his wife Claire, who had an affair. Erica's growing love for him after fifteen years of "just friends" is a major theme in the series. Near the end of the first season, Ethan divorces Claire and becomes Erica's boyfriend. However, in the second season finale, due to irreconcilable differences that arise in their relationship during the course of the season, Erica eventually breaks up with him.

Katie Atkins (Sarah Gadon) – Erica's close friend. Despite being attached at the hip since childhood, their friendship takes a downhill turn in high school until they make amends in the episode "Mi Casa, Su Casa Loma". Katie is a successful newspaper columnist, happily married, living in Vancouver; in the first season she returns to Toronto to publish her first book, "The None", at River Rock Publishing where Erica works. In the second season, the character of Katie has been demoted to a recurring one; she only appears for the launch of her book in the episode What Goes Up Must Come Down.

Judith Winters (Vinessa Antoine) – Erica's best friend. Erica and Judith are introduced to one another by Katie when Judith joins them in working together at Casa Loma. Judith is married and gives birth to a son during the first season episode "Mi Casa, Su Casa Loma."

Jenny Zalen (Paula Brancati) – another of Erica's close friends whom Erica has known since elementary school. Jenny is outgoing and flirty and is a keen partygoer. In the middle of the second season, Jenny and Erica's friendship becomes estranged, as Erica feels that Jenny is too much of a risktaker.

Kai Booker (Sebastian Pigott) - Introduced in the second season, he is a barista and server at Goblin's, a coffee shop that Erica frequents. He is undergoing the same sort of therapy that Erica is doing with Dr. Tom. In the episode The Unkindest Cut, it is revealed that although he is 22 in Erica's present, he is undergoing therapy ten years into the future and is sent back to Erica's present to fix a regret. At the end of the second season, he has completed therapy and sent back into the future.

[edit] Erica's co-workers at River Rock Publishing

Julianne Giacomelli (Reagan Pasternak) – Head Editor at River Rock Publishing's Non-fiction department and Erica's boss. At the start, Julianne was antagonistic to Erica. During the first season, Julianne warms up to Erica, mostly because the quality of her work makes Julianne look better to her superiors. During the second season, Julianne along with Erica gets fired from her job after insulting her superior.

Brent Kennedy (Morgan Kelly) – Julianne's co-worker and former assistant. He is a metrosexual, well-dressed and well-kept. He is friendly to Erica, having been in her shoes before. While he sides with Julianne when there is conflict with her and Erica, he helps Erica impress her boss. In Season 2, he becomes antagonistic towards Erica and Julianne when he betrays them to outshine their performance and to get a promotion.

[edit] Setting

The show is primarily set in Toronto. As such it features many landmarks and themes related to the city. Some roads are assigned different names than they have in reality.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Production

Temple Street Productions is filming the series in Toronto.

The pilot episode was shot in November 2007, while the rest of Season One was shot from July through December 2008.^[5]

[edit] International syndication

The BBC is handling international sales.^[6]

Country	TV Networks	Start Date
Australia	ABC2	August 28, 2009
Croatia	Hallmark Channel	September 27, 2009
Hungary	Hallmark Channel	September 27, 2009
Netherlands	Net 5	April 7, 2009
Poland	Hallmark Channel	October 14, 2009
Portugal	Fox Life	August 19, 2009[7]
Serbia	Hallmark Channel	September 27, 2009
Slovakia	Hallmark Channel	September 27, 2009
Slovenia	Hallmark Channel	September 27, 2009
South Africa	Hallmark Channel	November 2009[8]
Spain	Paramount Comedy	September 17, 2009[9]
Turkey	Fox Life	October 2, 2009[10]
United Kingdom	E4	September 28, 2009[11]
USA	Soapnet	February 19, 2009

[edit] Reception

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

The pilot episode has an estimated overnight audience of nearly 600,000 viewers, later confirmed by BBM Nielsen Media Research to be 615,000 viewers.^[12]

In the Netherlands, Being Erica premiered with 398,000 viewers with a market share of 5.9%. The rest of the season had a market share of 5.5% according to Stichting KijkOnderzoek.^[13] Being Erica was pulled off the schedule on Net 5 after the 10^th episode to make room for 90210 and Gossip Girl. The remaining episodes began airing October 10th. The series hit an all time low when it returned on Net 5 but got stable after the second episode.

In the UK, Being Erica was broadcast on E4. The first season premiered on 28 September 2009 and ended on 14 December 2009. It went largely unnoticed in the British media, being overshadowed by domestic and American shows.

[edit] Ratings

Season	Timeslot (EDT)	Network	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Average number of viewers	Average number of viewers Netherlands
1	Monday 9:00 P.M. (January 5, 2009–February 2, 2009) Wednesday 9:00 P.M. (February 11, 2009–April 1, 2009)	CBC	January 5, 2009	April 1, 2009	2008–2009	580,000	316,000
2	Tuesday 9:00 P.M. (September 22, 2009–)	CBC	September 22, 2009	December 8, 2009	2009-2010	581,000	266,000 (to date)

[edit] DVDs

The Complete First Season
Set details				Special features
				Bonus Featurettes:[14] interviews with cast and producers behind the scenes footage deleted scenes audio commentaries Erica's weblogs
	Canada	Netherlands	Australia
Episodes	13	13	13
Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	1.78:1	1.78:1
Running Time	585 mins	585 mins	585 mins
Audio	Dolby Digital 5.1	Dolby Digital 5.1	Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles	English	Nederlands	None
No. of Discs	3	4	3
Region(s)	0 (NTSC)	2 (PAL)	4 (PAL)
Rating			M
Release dates	September 22, 2009	June 26, 2009	November 5, 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Being Erica
• Being Erica on SOAPnet.com
• Being Erica at CBC.ca
• Erica Strange channel at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
• Being Erica at the Internet Movie Database
• Being Erica at TV.com
• Being Erica at Wikia