The Los Angeles Times’ Envelope dishes on “United States of Tara”‘s future possible victory at the awards circuit, pointing out how award voters welcome these kind of split-personality roles: Looks like United States of Tara” – written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody and starring Oscar and Emmy nominee Toni Collette as a woman besieged by multiple personalities – will be a formidable force at the Emmys, Golden Globes and other awards ahead. The parent network of “The United States of Tara,” Showtime, has emerged as a major player at the Emmys and Golden Globes in recent years. Voters of showbiz awards are suckers for these kind of split-personality roles we see in “Tara.” Maybe they feel like they’re getting a real bargain – several performances for the price of one vote? The full article can be read here.

The following articles comes from the New York Times, and while they’re not exactly in praise for Toni, they give “United States of Tara” a very in-depth review: Even “Diary of a Mad Housewife” never had an entry like this one: the heroine has a husband, two children and four personalities. In Showtime’s “United States of Tara,” Toni Collette (“Muriel’s Wedding,” “Little Miss Sunshine”) plays a woman with dissociative identity disorder, which was once known as multiple personality disorder. The show’s comic conceit is that Tara’s loved ones treat her illness as an unenviable but livable condition — like diabetes — and humor her multiple personalities as old family friends or pesky neighbors. It’s not played entirely for laughs. And that is why Showtime’s new half-hour series labels itself a “dark comedy.” A “light comedy” is a sitcom that finds its cultural collision by plopping an alien or a magical creature into the middle of suburban, middle-class America, like “Mork & Mindy” or “Bewitched.” The full article can be read here.

The following articles comes from the USA Today and features some nice quotes by Toni about her role in “United States of Tara”: Toni Collette isn’t all that complicated. Sure, she has been nominated for an Oscar (The Sixth Sense) and Golden Globes (Muriel’s Wedding, Little Miss Sunshine). But she’s still basically an actress looking for work. “I’ve never had that kind of idea of where I wanted to go,” she says. “I’ve always been swept off my feet by roles.” That’s exactly what happened with United States of Tara, which premieres Sunday on Showtime. “When I read the script,” she says, “it was like a juicy page-turner that was full of surprises, and it made me laugh out loud. It was very moving, and as soon as I finished reading it, I was like, Yep, I’m doing it.” The full article can be read here.

Article courtesy The New Yorker: Showtime’s two creepy-guy series, Californication (sex addict) and Dexter (serial killer), finished their seasons in December, making way for a trio of troubled-women shows – a new series and new seasons of two existing series – that begin this Sunday. In the première of “The L Word” ’s sixth and final season, the body of Jenny, a writer whose turn toward lesbianism provided the original story line of the show, is pulled from a swimming pool, and some of her friends are under suspicion; in “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” a young woman in London leads a problematic double life as a regular gal and as a good-time gal; and in the new series, “United States of Tara,” Toni Collette plays a woman with dissociative identity disorder (the term now sanctioned by the American Psychiatric Association for what used to be called multiple personality disorder). The full article can be read here.