Showtime Greenlights New Comedy Series

LOS ANGELES, June 5:
Showtime Networks has fast-tracked the pickup of The United States of Tara, a comedy series executive produced by Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Television and Diablo Cody, the Academy Award-winning
writer of Juno.

The 12×30-minute comedy,
which will begin production in Los Angeles this summer, stars Toni Collette (Little
Miss Sunshine) as a wife and
mother who suffers from disassociative identity (formerly know as multiple
personality) disorder. A co-production of DreamWorks Television and Showtime
Networks, the series is the 11th prime-time program to join the U.S. premium
cable network’s lineup of original content.

Cody, who wrote the pilot,
will continue to serve as a writer and one of the series’ executive producers,
along with Spielberg, Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank of DreamWorks Television
and Alexa Junge. The pilot was directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the
Real Girl).

“Showtime is known as the
home of several shows featuring flawed main characters, and we welcome Tara—and
all her alternate personalities—to the fold," said Robert Greenblatt, the president of entertainment for Showtime. "What a pleasure
to watch Diablo Cody and Toni Collette work together, a combination of inspired
writing and acting that raises this show from just a curiosity to a compelling
examination of a modern family. It is our distinct pleasure to also work with
Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey and all the talented people at
DreamWorks Television."

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski