Staying In

Apologies for the delay in getting this posted, but hopefully, you’ve seen the season two premiere by now and we can dive right into discussing it. In the first half of my Q&A with Being Erica’s Michael Riley, we discussed the mysterious Dr. Tom. In this part, Riley talks about playing his genesis, Tom Wexler, working with his own therapist, his favorite episodes and what’s ahead for Dr. Tom.

Note: While season two has already aired in Canada, this Q&A is intended for U.S. viewers who have not seen season two yet. Please put a spoiler warning if you are going to leave a comment about something that happened in season two. Readers, please be aware that there may be spoilers in the comments section.

The season two premiere is very Dr. Tom heavy. How would you describe the Dr. Tom that Erica meets when she goes back in time?

When she goes back in time, she meets Tom Wexler. That’s what was so interesting to play as an actor and goes back to what we were talking about at the beginning. I knew that “Dr. Tom” had come from. His genesis was Tom Wexler. I knew that for a whole season. It’s like Tom Wexler having gone through his entire list of regrets with Dr. Naadiah, who is his doctor. He’s now what Erica knows as Dr. Tom. It was just so fun to go back and finally play who that was. He’s obviously completely a different person. There’s some anger issues. He’s kind of whirlpooled down into his own kind of dark psychology. It seems like before doctors show up in this paradigm, the patient has to be at the end of their proverbial rope. Whether it’s Erica at the beginning of season one with her whole life falling around her ankles, ending up at the hospital after the allergic reaction. Dr. Tom had possibly an even darker time where Naadiah shows up and they begin their process. But it was fascinating to go back and play him. And to play both sides of that person in the same show was really great. It was fun.

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Tonight’s the night. Being Erica’s second season debuts in the states at 10 p.m. on SoapNet. The season premiere, entitled “Being Dr. Tom,” represents a shift to a much more ambitious show. The tables have turned and Erica must now help Dr. Tom as viewers finally learn about the mysterious therapist’s past. Earlier this month, I got to interview Michael Riley, who will break your heart in this episode. Riley was so passionate about the character and the show that I’ve split up the interview into two parts. Check back tomorrow to hear what Riley thought of the season premiere and what’s ahead for Dr. Tom. And if you haven’t read them yet, here are my Q&As with creator Jana Sinyor and Erin Karpluk.

Note: While season two has already aired in Canada, this Q&A is intended for U.S. viewers who have not seen season two yet. Please put a spoiler warning if you are going to leave a comment about something that happened in season two. Readers, please be aware that there may be spoilers in the comments section.

You’ve done your fair share of TV shows. What was it about this character that attracted you?

Jobs kind of arrive when they’re meant to arrive, I suppose. And it’s not like there was this big menu of what should I choose? Definitely when Being Erica came up, there was something about the mystery of who Dr. Tom was. The enigma about the character that I liked. Most of the time when you play anyone, they’re grounded in very terrestrial origins and all of that. The show had an interesting supernatural aspect to it. It was always grounded in some kind of reality. Dr. Tom, as a character, was clearly going to represent a lot of that mystery. The more I talked to Jana [Sinyor], the creator, about the show before we started, the more I just became intrigued about who he was and the chance to explore a character like that. It’s something I hadn’t done before.

Did you and Jana discuss who or what he is and where he comes from?

Definitely. Before we shot a stitch of film, before the beginning of season one, those were all my questions that I felt I needed to answer before I could even step in front of a camera. To really pick her brain about the paradigm of the show and who and, as you say, what he was. It was an interesting meeting. I got a lot of my questions answered, which was the good news. The bad news was you’re not going to get to show those kind of things until the end of the first twelve episodes. One thing that excites me about the second season is that’s when I officially started to be able to show some of the things Jana and I discussed a year previous about what he was, what his backgrounds were, where he came from and things like that. Although I knew a lot of those things in shooting the first season, I knew that I wasn’t going to get to really show an audience what they were. I kind of just made myself busy planting little clues about that, but knowing that I wasn’t actually going to be able to reveal what was behind the wizard’s curtain until a little later on. But we definitely talked all that stuff out in the beginning.

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Yesterday, Being Erica creator Jana Sinyor shared her inspiration for the show and the qualities that make Erica so great. But Erica wouldn’t be Erica without the show’s very talented leading lady, Erin Karpluk. Staying In’s Being Erica U.S. Premiere Week continues with a Q&A with the actress. In a chat earlier this month, Karpluk discussed what it’s like switching places with Dr. Tom, going back in time and whether she’d like to step behind the camera. We also talked about her role on another charming show, The CW’s Life Unexpected.

Being Erica season two premieres Jan. 20 at 10 p.m. on SoapNet. Catch up on season one on Hulu. And don’t forget to check out Erin Karpluk on The View this Wednesday, Jan. 20!

Note: While season two has already aired in Canada, this Q&A is intended for U.S. viewers who have not seen season two yet. Please put a spoiler warning if you are going to leave a comment about something that happened in season two. Readers, please be aware that there may be spoilers in the comments section.

First of all, congrats on winning the Gemini Award. What was it like to be recognized for the show?

It was great. We were nominated for nine and it was cool to be there, representing the show. I was there with all my producers. It was a really, really exciting experience. A little bit overwhelming.

When you first read the Being Erica script, what made you decide this was the TV show for you?

You know what I loved about it was the fact that she was so flawed. I find sometimes that even if a character on TV is flawed, they’re not really flawed. It’s kind of beautified, whereas Erica is just very human is the only way I can think of to describe it. And very relatable. I was also excited to do the show because it’s shot in Toronto, which is on the other side of the country for me. That was kind of one of the reasons why I wanted the show, as well. And the story. The time travel element… I think anyone can relate to wanting to go back in time and relive regrets. Certainly go back to that period in high school because I’m roughly the same age as Erica. To go back and listen to Guns N’ Roses again and Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

The show’s gotten a great response here in the U.S.. Have you gotten a taste of the reception? And why do you think people are responding to it so strongly?

I think some of the feedback that I’m getting is people are responding because of, again, how relatable the show is and the fact that regardless of who you are – your sex or your age or your class – everybody makes mistakes. Everyone has regrets. Even a lot of men. A lot of my girlfriends, they’ll get their boyfriends or their husbands to watch the show to support me in it, but then the next week, the guys will be like, “Hey, babe, you going to watch that ‘Erica’ show?” Everyone’s getting into to it, so that’s exciting.

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Welcome to Being Erica U.S. Premiere Week! To celebrate the show’s second season premiere on SoapNet this Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 10 p.m., I’ve got a trio of interviews. First up is creator Jana Sinyor, who after chatting with me earlier this month about the prospects of a third season, revealed how the show came to be, why Erica is so relatable, Jewish and awesome, and what’s ahead in season two.

If you haven’t caught this Canadian obsession of mine import yet, the entire first season can be found on Hulu.

Note: While season two has already aired in Canada, this Q&A is intended for U.S. viewers who have not seen season two yet. Please put a spoiler warning if you are going to leave a comment about something that happened in season two. Readers, please be aware that there may be spoilers in the comments section.

How did you come up with the idea for the show?

I’m thirty-three now. At the time, I was about thirty when I started thinking about the show. I was hitting a stage in my life where I looked around and I noticed that a lot of my friends were very accomplished in terms of their education. They were attractive and funny and intelligent and yet, there was this feeling that I saw all around. They felt like they were failing if they hadn’t achieved certain things by the time they hit thirty or by the time they were in their late twenties. If they hadn’t found a partner or if they hadn’t found a career that they loved or if they weren’t starting to buy a house or have children, there was a feeling that you’re supposed to be at a certain spot in your life by the time you hit thirty. I just started to really question that. Of course, everybody gets where they get in their own time.

I thought it was interesting and I thought it was something I was seeing a lot of. These women were talented and beautiful and wonderful and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them except that they put all this pressure on themselves to have achieved these things by this drop dead date. That was really the beginning of how the character of Erica Strange came to be. She’s really based on people I know and trying to make her feel really real is extremely important to me.

The whole idea of the time travel is just something I’ve always really been interested in. Why does time have to go one way? What if we could go back and relive stuff that we’ve done? What would we do differently? It was a marriage of those two areas of interest for me.

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Being Erica is only about to start its second season in the U.S. on Jan. 20, but already fans are wondering about season three.

The Canadian series, which gets a second life here in the states on cable network SoapNet, has already wrapped up its second season on Canada’s CBC.  So will Erica’s journey continue for another season?

“There is no official word as of yet” from the CBC, creator Jana Sinyor said during an interview with Staying In.

But don’t fret just yet, fans. Signs for a renewal “are looking very positive.”

“We’re very optimistic, but we don’t know for sure what’s going to be happening,” Sinyor added. “We have a good feeling.”

The show’s run on SoapNet has attracted many ardent supporters, from TV critics/reporters to bloggers to TV fanatics. SoapNet will even host a panel for the show on Tuesday at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour.

Sinyor has taken note of the response.

“Both myself and Aaron Martin – we run the show together – we keep up with all of the reaction. We go on the SoapNet website. We read the U.S. blogs,” Sinyor said. “It’s very important. It’s fascinating for us. It’s like it has this whole second wind kind of thing. It’s finished airing in Canada and now it’s just about to start up again in the states. We’re very excited.”

Although the series has yet to receive an official pickup, that hasn’t stopped Sinyor and her staff from getting the ball rolling on another season.

“We started to plow ahead on season three with early stages of development,” she said. “Figuring what we’re doing. Writing scripts and stuff like that.”

Being Erica’s second season premieres Jan. 20 at 10 p.m. on SoapNet. The network will air a marathon of the first season on Jan. 17 from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.

Check out my complete interview with Sinyor here, as well as Q&As with Erin Karpluk and Michael Riley part 1 and 2.