The TV Set

Jake Kasdan’s The TV Set is a sharp, observant satire about the corruptible nature of modern American television that dissects the hilarious, soul sucking demands of network execs pertaining to network TV’s desperation to reach wide, general audiences. Sigourney Weaver is brilliantly funny as one such exec in this film. Her Lenny is a ruthless, somewhat absent minded professional who actually casts Lucy Lawless over Hope Davis. She’s recently commissioned a pilot by an up and coming “artsy” writer (David Duchovny) and hired a former BBC exec (Ioan Gruffudd) for the sake of integrity, but as with most business heads, she’s got her eye on nothing more than profits and soon both of her latest employees are bouncing off the walls with frustration.

The film follows the process of making a pilot from casting through to the May upfront presentations. There are ample ludicrous requests from the network, or moderate “concerns” as they choose to phrase them. Among them is the casting of the awful Zach Harper (unknown Fran Kranz in a scene stealing performance) as the show’s lead primarily because he’s likable and Lenny’s daughter, Bethany, (with whom she clears all her projects) will love him. Duchovny’s struggling writer character is caught in a constant battle, morally debating whether it’s worth making his show once it’s been brutalized so badly by mass market interests. The film’s greatest surprise is that it actually makes him a character that we feel for despite the ludicrous comedy happenings going on around him. It’s close to Christopher Guest’s comedy masterpieces in the way that it balances fiercely funny wit and quietly moving human moments.

In an age full of cheap, exploitatious reality TV (in the context of the film, it’s a new reality competition called “Slut Wars” that Lenny’s pimping), it’s refreshing to see someone actually going after the networks for their lame artlessness and overburdening commercial demands. TV’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” was doing a pretty good job until it was yanked off the air. Perhaps there’s someone like Lenny calling the shots over at NBC.

Grade: A-