Staying In

Next time you can’t find anything to watch on the tube despite my weekly recs and all the wonderful TV on DVD, check out the TV industry satire The TV Set. The film follows Mike, a struggling TV writer (David Duchovny), as his shepherds his semi-autobiographical sitcom through the pilot process, from the casting session gone wrong to the disastrous Upfronts. Avid TV fans will be able to relate to the tortures and mistakes the network inflicts upon the pilot, whether they’ve been in the business or not. Like Mike, we all know what it’s like to get our cult-loving hearts broken by suits or to see our favorite show transformed by the network’s hand into something inferior.

Duchovny, not my usual cup of tea, brings just the right mix of bitter weariness and self-loathing to Mike as he helplessly watches his precious pilot unravel at the network’s doing. Sigourney Weaver is the ratings-hungry, Slut Wars-greenlighting network executive Lenny (the masculine comes from Weaver’s insistence that she should would only play the role as it was originally written — as a man). The catch is, she really thinks she’s doing the right thing. After all, the focus groups support her changes to Mike’s pilot.

The supporting cast is rounded out by the always fabulous Judy Greer (Miss Guided) as Mike’s agent, Lindsay Sloane (Grosse Pointe) as the the pilot’s love interest, Justine Bateman (Family Ties) as Mike’s pregnant wife, Fran Kranz (soon to be seen in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse) as the sum of every over-his-head, ego-inflated TV actor, Lucy Davis (the British Office), Willie Garson (Sex and the City) and Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four).

If all the biting TV satire hits close to home, that’s probably because it really did hit home for for the film’s writer/director Jake Kasdan, son of film director Lawrence Kasdan. Until recently, Jake mainly dabbled in TV, namely the much loved, but canceled NBC series Freaks and Geeks, for which he was a consulting producer and director. (Freaks and Geeks creator Judd Apatow is a producer on the film.) Kasdan also directed episodes of The WB’s teen soap satire Grosse Pointe, which was — you guessed it — canceled. In sum, Kasdan had a lot of personal material to mine for this film and it shows.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and then you’ll feel a bit bitter and disheartened just like every TV writer.