"The TV Set" - A Review
As the opening night selection at the Florida Film Festival, The TV Set establishes just the right tone for a 10-day celebration of movies: intelligent, funny, thought-provoking, and star-studded.
Written and directed by Jake Kasdan, who has worked on television shows such as Freaks and Geeks and directed films including Orange County, this new independent comedy peeks behind the doors of a television network as it struggles to bring a new show to the small screen.
Intelligent and Thought-Provoking David Duchovny stars as Mike Klein, the writer and creator of a new television series called The Wexler Chronicles, based on his own life after the suicide of his brother.
The story begins with Zach, an over-the-top young actor (Fran Kranz), attending the final casting session.
Although Mike invited Zach to the audition in order to make the other actor look better by comparison, the network executives (Sigourney Weaver and Ioan Gruffudd) issue an ultimatum: They will only produce the pilot if Zach is the star.
This provides our first indication of exactly how this network is run.
While assuring Mike how much they love the project, they proceed to change the story, the tone, and nearly everything else about the show.
Meanwhile, Mike, a man whose wife (Justine Bateman) is pregnant with their second child, must wrestle with his conscience about adapting his lofty concept into a silly lowest-common-denominator sitcom.
As his stress from the situation worsens, his back goes into spasm and he's hospitalized for a panic attack.
His perky manager Alice (Judy Greer) manages to put a maddeningly positive spin on each disappointing development.
A Sensitive, Rational Counterbalance Mike watches his dream further disintegrate during production, promotion, and airing of the series.
In addition to the thematic differences from the original concept, the show's name is changed to Call Me Crazy, based on how a few people at a shopping mall responded to a survey, and the show's soundtrack is punctuated with flatulent effects.
Duchovny delivers a sympathetic performance as the sensitive, rational counterbalance to Weaver's insensitive and irrational network executive - someone who destroys the integrity of a show such as The Wexler Chronicles while fostering the success of the network favorite, Slut Wars.
The TV Set will entertain anyone who's ever turned on the boob tube, but may discourage anyone who has ever considered writing for television.
Written and directed by Jake Kasdan, who has worked on television shows such as Freaks and Geeks and directed films including Orange County, this new independent comedy peeks behind the doors of a television network as it struggles to bring a new show to the small screen.
Intelligent and Thought-Provoking David Duchovny stars as Mike Klein, the writer and creator of a new television series called The Wexler Chronicles, based on his own life after the suicide of his brother.
The story begins with Zach, an over-the-top young actor (Fran Kranz), attending the final casting session.
Although Mike invited Zach to the audition in order to make the other actor look better by comparison, the network executives (Sigourney Weaver and Ioan Gruffudd) issue an ultimatum: They will only produce the pilot if Zach is the star.
This provides our first indication of exactly how this network is run.
While assuring Mike how much they love the project, they proceed to change the story, the tone, and nearly everything else about the show.
Meanwhile, Mike, a man whose wife (Justine Bateman) is pregnant with their second child, must wrestle with his conscience about adapting his lofty concept into a silly lowest-common-denominator sitcom.
As his stress from the situation worsens, his back goes into spasm and he's hospitalized for a panic attack.
His perky manager Alice (Judy Greer) manages to put a maddeningly positive spin on each disappointing development.
A Sensitive, Rational Counterbalance Mike watches his dream further disintegrate during production, promotion, and airing of the series.
In addition to the thematic differences from the original concept, the show's name is changed to Call Me Crazy, based on how a few people at a shopping mall responded to a survey, and the show's soundtrack is punctuated with flatulent effects.
Duchovny delivers a sympathetic performance as the sensitive, rational counterbalance to Weaver's insensitive and irrational network executive - someone who destroys the integrity of a show such as The Wexler Chronicles while fostering the success of the network favorite, Slut Wars.
The TV Set will entertain anyone who's ever turned on the boob tube, but may discourage anyone who has ever considered writing for television.
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