Netflix to Offer Showtime’s Tara, Call Girl, L Word Early

If you prefer your comedy fix coming from a premium-cable network like Showtime, well, have I got super news for you.

Today, online DVD rental business Netflix announced it has partnered with Showtime to offer fans a lengthy early look at the pay channel’s new Toni Collette personality-disorder comedy United States of Tara. In addition, the second and sixth season premieres, respectively, of the U.K. import Secret Diary of a Call Girl and the network’s acclaimed original series The L Word, which is entering its final run, will also be available for online viewing the same day their new seasons open, Sunday, January 18.

Tara debuts on Showtime on Sunday, January 18, as well, but in the case of that series, Netflix members will be able to stream the premiere episode online ten days in advance, beginning in a couple of days on Thursday, January 8.

Obviously, this is a great collaboration that gives the many people who like to watch TV on their computers the ability to check out some fantastic shows. Now, my only question is where is Edie Falco’s Nurse Jackie, the Showtime comedy I’m personally most looking forward to seeing? Maybe later since it currently has no set premiere date.

In United States of Tara, superb Aussie actress Collette plays Tara, a suburban wife and mother struggling with dissociative identity disorder, formerly called multiple personality disorder. The show follows how her family copes with the various personalities she exhibits at any given time, including slutty teenager T, tough gun-toting Vietnam vet Buck, and Betty Crocker homemaker Alice, who thinks baking is the answer to every problem.

Series regulars include John Corbett as Max, Tara’s loving and supportive husband of twenty years who works hard to keep up with her various personalities while maintaining as normal as possible a life for their teenage children: sarcastic and rebellious Kate (Brie Larson) and sensitive bookworm Marshall (Keir Gilchrist).

The typical teenagers have learned to adapt to their mother’s unpredictable personalities, but Tara’s insecure sister Charmaine (Rosemarie DeWitt) is the person who knows the big secret regarding Tara’s past.

United States comes with oodles of pedigree since it’s executive produced by Diablo Cody, Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, and Alexa Junge, and created by Oscar-winning Juno screenwriter Cody. I’m betting the series is gonna be a pretty big hit for Showtime, too.