Season 4 is the end. It's important to Aaron and I to be able to finish the story in a way that is satisfying to our audience. This is going to be a big year for Erica, and by the end of it - she will have finished the journey she started...

Jana

D: (And listens hard for an unspoken "and Dr. Tom" in there after Erica.)

I'll be in shock mode for a few days, but thank you for the quick confirmation, and massive props to you both for ensuring we're not left forever with a hack-up or cliffhanger finale. Way too much of that one tv nowadays.

I'm sure we all have a zillion questions but... yeah.

As a US fan and spending the last three weeks watching the first two seasons of Being Erica via DVD - I'm saddened to hear that this show will end so soon. By the end of Season 2 - I felt like I was finally watching Erica grow into herself. Only to find out I have two more seasons and Erica will be no more except maybe in my fanfics!

I have no real interest in watching any remakes of any TV shows. Being Erica will be no different in my view. I'm going to really miss this show and miss this cast of characters that I have come to love in such a short time.

I wish you the best Jana, I really do, but I am so going to miss Being Erica. I look forward to these episodes every morning after getting my kids off to school.

I hope you create another TV show. I look forward to watching it. I will not be viewing any US or UK remakes.

Thanks much for reading my comment.

Caz of Maine USA

I'm really bummed it's the last season, but I do love that they will end it correctly. :)

Aw, I'm kinda disappointed. I mean, I don't know how long I expected it to last, but I wonder why they decided to end it after season 4. Maybe it says in the articles; I'll go read them now.

That's sad, but four seasons is a decent run, and it will be good to have the series wrapped up nicely. That's more than you can say for a lot of series.

I'd definitely much rather it end marvellously at season 4 than it go on for 10 crappy seasons.

I completely agree. If you can't make it great, don't make it at all.

Being Erica is about one woman's transformation - and right now, Erica the character has evolved so much from season one that she risks evolving right out of the format. She can't be the lost woman with a list of regrets, that's just not her anymore.

It feels like many shows have a natural end point, a point where the story naturally needs to end, or change into something completely different. We decided that we didn't want to risk the slow decline that many shows experience when they continue past their natural end point.

So we end it, we answer the burning questions and hopefully...hopefully people get it and feel satisfied when it's all over.


Jana

I'm glad that the cast/crew/writers will go into this season knowing that it's the last. I know they'll put their hearts into it and it'll be fantastic. Bring on the final season! I can't wait to see what this little show will do :)

Reposting a bit of my comment from atatteredrose's journal discussion. I was not expecting that this at all though (the 'end', not the renewal).

The only upside I can find is that I am glad they have a defined endpoint they can plan for. That means there is no excuse for ends left hanging, there won't be a season finale that inexplicably turned into a series finale when CBC does something stupid and not renew BE for a fifth season. There is nothing I like less than a show that drags on too long.

At the same time, I think Being Erica needs - and could support- two more seasons. Probably not more though, truthfully, without stretching thngs just to fill time. I don't think thirteen episodes is enough time for everything to come to some sort of resolution, both for Erica (which is of course the largest point of the show), and the other characters (read: mostly Dr. Tom, who I view as more than just a facilitator for her arc) and the general story.

I guess the one thing that strikes me as too bad then is that I feel if this one will be the last one, I feel like a lot of the last season was wasted. Not that I didn't enjoy it still, but....wasted. I hate to pick on Adam like so many people do, but the overfocus on his character last year and the forcing of his relationship with Erica is a large part of that. Not only do you have to develop things further, but you have to come back from that in thirteen episodes.

Given the expectations I have for this show, I don't see myself being satisfied at the end coming in 13 episodes. I hope they prove me wrong!

Dr. T is the "X factor" eh? I just don't know what to think after this season - he's always had these amazing arcs (which, I just realized, is massive kudos to Riley, for building them into Dr. T's actions until the reveal), but this year he didn't really connect with Erica, then his arc petered out and I'm not sure what to think about that. Will it all pay off with epicness-beyond-all-epicness in season 4, or was the anvilly 'father daughter' message as far as it's going? (I know interviews have indicated everyone is aware Erica and Tom work on multiple levels, but lately we're losing that.)

When I first heard about it, the show was called "The Session" and I'd thought it was renamed "Being Erica" to a) avoid competition with the Gabriel Byrne show that year also called "The Session" (except it's "In Treatment" - I may have been imagining things) and b) to brand the show more accessible to the female demographic. I think you and I been watching "The Session," ie, the show that a little more manly, a little more technical, and a little broader concept.

I give Michael Riley a lot of credit as an actor, both in this show and others. He's so much of the reason Dr. Tom works, and is more than a cardboard character there just *for* Erica. Even when the writing isn't about him, and he could be interpreted that way, he's acted with a lot more depth.

You make a really good point about season three. I think that was one of the failings this year, was that disconnect from Erica, because that had been one of the big strengths of the show previously. I imagine there is a lot of...leeriness, at making Dr. Tom seem like a crutch when she should be moving beyond needing her own therapy, but their connection was more than pontificating therapist/patient - and it was a central part of the show, and part of what drew me in. No, not in a shipping way except in fandom land :), but in a true way of platonic love. They struggle with him as a complete character, and the show struggles more to resonate with the audience without their personal connection - and their one on one interaction. Which needs to come back.

I think it might be overly optimistic to hope that was a planned thing, with broader implications. Still, I'd rather hoped that before, especially as there were some things with him that seemed vaguely out of character too ie the way he dealt with Erica and Adam, so I was hoping it was part of a plan, rather than a failing.

Dr. Tom isn't the only thing I think that needs to be part of where the show goes as it ends, but he is a large part of it - at least in the context of him and Erica. They made him more than just a facilitator for her, and now I think they need to deal with that further :)

Apparently you and I have our own unique interpretation of what the show has been, but I think it was largely written that way, even if unintentially. It's not just about Erica, for me at least, though the show would never work if they tried another patient. It's about the 'world' of the show just as much (to use a way too broad term, but there you are).

They struggle with him as a complete character, and the show struggles more to resonate with the audience without their personal connection - and their one on one interaction.

Beautifully put, and so very true. We've seen, as the show goes on, Dr. T withdrawing further and further in his role of "crutch" - from "Under My Thumb" when, in a snit, he leaves her in the present and doesn't show up until the next episode, to "The Importance of Being Erica" when he spends the episode "waiting" for her to make herself ready to chose a door, and then this season where the one-on-one is so greatly reduced. I would say that for the most part, the balance has been pretty good between having their relationship be more distant, versus keeping the threads of the old dynamic (though this was overshadowed by other concerns.)

Where I'm very intrigued is the point you make of the struggle to make Dr. T a complete character - it's so counter-intuitive, as this season has actually had much more development for Dr. T as a character than any other season - from the return of Sarah to Dr. N and Dr. A being all about Dr. T, to the changing of the past... I still remember GASPING when he disappeared from the shot while Erica was freaking out over Kai's news that she's missing in 2019, only to have the camera pan over to where he was hiding after she'd walked off. But the thing is, NONE of it feels real until he's connecting with Erica, and this was my eternal struggle this year - I kept saying "okay, now they'll talk about what's going on, they'll acknowledge it, something..." and they never did.

We got close with the apology post Blow Up in "Physician, Heal Thyself" and that was beautiful. Then, nothing. And that's what's weird - because while it doesn't feel real because Erica doesn't know, the format of the show, with Erica as central, means that to an extent it ISN'T real, until she knows. Which means that logically, we are in the midst of a huge arc with that, that will pay off next year. During that apology, Erica is once again reaching out her hand in friendship, and Dr. T once again refuses to open up. Every decision he makes after follows from that one - he's trying to keep her at a distance and keep himself feeling safe and comfortable in a life he has control over.

It's about the 'world' of the show just as much (to use a way too broad term, but there you are).

Broad, but contextually correct :D I keep saying the show is based on their relationship, but I can't prove it and now I'm wondering if anyone else is necessary at that level? (I love the impossible questions at 3am *g*)

While I understand the reasons and everything... it's still super sad news. :'(

Yupyup ;'( Hence a week dedicated to wallowing. Because I intend to enjoy the heck out of it when it comes back ;)

When it all ends I'm probably going to have to keep rewatching it from the start. :P I love this darn show far too much.

Not just you :P I've already done the math: there will be the perfect amount of show to rewatch the entire thing in a weekend. *veg*

Although I'm sad that the series is ending, I'm also happy that it's ending properly. I would much rather see it to a logical end after 13 episodes than have it drag on for another 3 seasons and be cancelled after a major cliffhanger.

Besides, I was completely convinced that the series was over after the third season so to get what is essentially a bonus 13 episodes that tie up all the loose ends and leave the series with an ending that is actually satisfying makes me nothing short of excited for what I assume to be September.

I've often been curious about the elements that contributed to the themes in your show. I sometimes feel there's a bit of COURSE IN MIRACLES thrown in there. I take it you grew up Jewish so no doubt there is influence there. I love the show although sometimes it freaks me out a bit as I feel taking metaphor and physically making it literal in terms of life changing and altering reality is more close to the truth then the "fiction" or "sci-fi" aspect to the writing that many would classify it under. I would love to hear your thoughts. I've sometimes thought that Erica died in the pilot and this whole experience has been a bit like LOST. In the finale of last season (not the Holiday episode) when Dr. Tom said to Erica that "She passed" my heart skipped a beat. I almost died a few years ago and ever since my life has been improving and changing so when I saw that episode I was a bit uneasy but also felt you really were hitting on a profound truth.

Hmmm for some reason only half the post can be seen. I tried reloading but still same.

As a painkiller for the withdrawal, you can all try watching(again) movies like The Man From Earth, The Glass House, The Time Traveler's Wife. Being Erica ended in Dec 2011 but you know, I only started Season 1 Episode 1 3 weeks ago at the end of Jan 2012. Took me two weeks to go through Season 1, another week to finish off Season 2. Without meaning of any disrespect, I found somewhere starting in Season 2 all the way to the end of Season 3, the series was a bit flat running low on imaginative steam, so I shamefully did my bit of time traveling with the fast forward button and before I knew it, in less than 12 hours I covered all of Season 3 till the Season 4 Episode 9. I am going to take it easy with the last two episodes. Do I want this to go on forever...no, it's not possible. I will end where it end.