TV Set (2007)

"...a little wonder of a movie, as smart and sad and true as any comedy I've seen this year.  Dana Stevens, Slate
"...this very smart, very funny movie about the making of a network sitcom is a cut-glass gem of a showbiz conceit.  Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"Weaver is hilarious and horrifying.  M.E. Russell, Portland Oregonian
"A wickedly funny satire!  Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
"A tart, smart, closely observed satire of the television industry.  Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Editor's Note Go to any bar in Hollywood and you're sure to find a hard-done-by writer who is drowning his or her sorrows after being chewed up and spat out by the network television system. In THE TV SET, Mike Klein (David Duchovny) seems set to join them. Klein's script for a TV show called THE WEXLER CHRONICLES was inspired by his brother's suicide, and is very close to his heart. After selling the script to PDN, who are headed by a fearsome executive simply known as Lenny (Sigourney Weaver), Klein watches as everything from the casting to the production goes horribly wrong. Klein has one buddy at the network, a Brit named Richard McCallister. McCallister's former position at the BBC leads Klein to believe that some quality control will be exerted over his project, and hopes McCallister will pull it out of the mire of mundanity that PDN thrives on. But he's very, very wrong, and as Klein's dream turns into dust--the show barely resembles anything he wrote--his health takes a turn for the worse and he enters mid-life-crisis mode. Duchovny and Weaver are outstanding in their roles, adding just the right balance of humor and anger to their characters. THE TV SET is ostensibly a comedy, but may make for painful viewing for anyone involved in the industry, or anyone who hates seeing dreams shattered. But director Jake Kasdan (ZERO EFFECT) manages to add a large dose of absurdity to the proceedings, saving it from being too depressing, and making many of the scenes a genuine hoot.

	David Duchovny
	Ioan Gruffudd
	Justine Bateman
	Lindsay Sloane
	M.C. Gainey
	Philip Baker Hall
	Sigourney Weaver
	Jake Kasdan - Director
	Jake Kasdan - Writer
	Jefferson Sage - Production Designer
	Judd Apatow - Executive Producer
	Lauren E. Polizzi - Art Director
	Michael Andrews - Original Music By
	Paul Pressburger - Producer
	Seth Green - Featuring
	Tara Timpone - Editor
	Uta Briesewitz - Cinematographer

Box Office
"Having toiled in the industry, Jake Kasdan knows what he's talking about, and the accuracy of his shrewd parody concerning the fate of a sitcom during pilot season is a major strength." 04/01/2007 p.100

New York Times
"[I]t might have worked as a pilot in its own right. The humor is threaded almost invisibly beneath the surface." 04/06/2007 p.E10

Entertainment Weekly
"[T]his very smart, very funny movie about the making of a network sitcom is a cut-glass gem of a showbiz conceit." -- Grade: A- 04/13/2007 p.55

Sight and Sound
"[I]t's full of sly insider jabs at the inanity of the process, and the performances are spot-on." 03/01/2008 98

Reel.com 7 of 10
Much like the television pilot it revolves around, the pale satire The TV Set doesn't quite know what it wants to be. Though the film attempts to spoof the network development process, writer/director Jake Kasdan never really chomps down on his fleshy subject and tears it a new one, opting instead for a more hangdog approach. Perhaps Kasdan, who helmed the pilots of the short-lived series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, didn't want to bite the hand that's fed him. Okay, understood--but then, why bother? In addition, despite a few chuckles of recognition, this is a movie that drastically needed, in TV lingo, a punch-up; it's woefully short of laughs...The material also doesn't feel fresh, especially since much of the territory skewered here has been attacked with far more gusto in a raft of movies from Network to The Player, and on TV shows like Showtime's underrated Beggars and Choosers and HBO's Entourage. One can't help but wonder how parody maestro Christopher Guest might've lit into the TV world, given the comic mileage he scored sending up the movie business in both For Your Consideration and The Big Picture. - Gary Goldstein

Variety 7 of 10
An insider pic likely to produce a few knowing guffaws from the industry but only occasional chuckles from John Q. Public, "The TV Set" reps a mild parody of the process behind tube pilot development, but can't quite balance caricature with more serious side elements...A veteran of the ego-crushing process of small-screen development himself ("Freaks and Geeks," "Undeclared"), Kasdan knows his target, showing up the ways in which group decisions suck out originality and pander to the lowest common denominator...As usual, Weaver does the best she can with the lines given, though her Lenny is played in a broad manner, occasionally teetering toward an imitation of Faye Dunaway at her least subtle. Duchovny is solid if bland, and while he's not expanding his repertoire, he's well-suited to the role. Justine Bateman, as Mike's pregnant wife, exudes warmth and intelligence, coming off best in the few scenes she's given; it's easy to imagine wanting to come home to this woman after a tiring day...Kasdan's wise decision to shoot in widescreen Panavision pays off in the way it distinguishes between small-screen actions and the cinematic pic itself, and d.p. Uta Briesewitz's frequent use of controlled handheld lensing provides the appropriate sense of casual buoyancy in comic scenes. - Jay Weissberg