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The TV Set (2006)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer (WGA):
Jake Kasdan (written by)
Tagline:
A place where dreams are canceled
Plot:
The story of a TV pilot as it goes through the Network TV process of casting, production and finally airing. full summary | full synopsis
NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
Sigourney Is The Best Medicine
(From FilmExperience. 4 June 2009, 7:52 AM, PDT)
Jake Kasdan to Direct Bad Teacher
(From FilmJunk. 28 May 2009, 2:58 PM, PDT)
(From FilmExperience. 4 June 2009, 7:52 AM, PDT)
Jake Kasdan to Direct Bad Teacher
(From FilmJunk. 28 May 2009, 2:58 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
Knowing spoof of theTV business
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US TV Schedule:
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | David Duchovny | ... | Mike Klein |
 | Sigourney Weaver | ... | Lenny |
 | Ioan Gruffudd | ... | Richard McCallister |
 | Judy Greer | ... | Alice |
 | Fran Kranz | ... | Zach Harper |
 | Lindsay Sloane | ... | Laurel Simon |
 | Justine Bateman | ... | Natalie Klein |
| Lucy Davis | ... | Chloe McCallister |
 | Willie Garson | ... | Brian |
 | M.C. Gainey | ... | Hutch |
 | Wendle Josepher | ... | A.D. |
| Philip Rosenthal | ... | Exec. #1 / Cooper (as Phil Rosenthal) |
| David Doty | ... | Exec. #2 / Rose |
 | Matt Price | ... | Exec. #3 / Berg |
 | Simon Helberg | ... | TJ Goldman |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for language.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
88 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Sigourney Weaver's character was written as a man. It wasn't until late in pre-production that it was decided that the role of could actually be a woman instead. Still, no line was re-written for the gender change. Even the name Lenny was kept.
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Quotes:
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Californication: The Devil's Threesome (#1.10)" (2007)
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Soundtrack:
Shake It
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This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (30 total)
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Die-hard fans of network television are sure to get a kick out of "The TV Set," a rib-tickling parody about the making (and possible unmaking) of a TV pilot. Mike Klein (David Duchovny) is the writer who has high hopes for his new dark comedy series entitled "The Wexley Chronicles" - until, that is, he sees the purity of his artistic vision becoming increasingly compromised the longer the filming goes on. Klein views his creation as a cutting-edge mixture of comedy and tragedy, but the powers-that-be seem to have their own concept of where it ought to be heading (i.e., the tragedy is too depressing and the comedy needs to be kicked up a notch or two if the show is to have any chance of achieving broad popular appeal). The foremost liability is that, against his better judgment and strenuous protestations, Klein has been saddled with an actor, Zach Harper, who's a scenery-chewing ham if ever there was one (whom, naturally, the show's ham-fisted producers feel is just perfect for the role). In short, Klein finds his work being undermined and sabotaged every step of the way by bottom-line corporate executives, intrusive producers, sycophantic underlings, temperamental performers, fence-sitting decision-makers, knob-turning test-audiences, and even a pregnant wife who, though supportive of Klein's vision, keeps insisting he hang in there for the sake of the baby on the way.
"The TV Set" succeeds primarily because it has been conceived more as a gentle spoof than as a full-throttled, rip-everything-to-shreds farce. As such, it resists the temptation to go more broad and over-the-top than it needs to in its comedy, thereby allowing us to relate more fully with the characters. Basing the film in part on some of his own personal experiences in the business, writer/director Jake Kasdan has written a sly script filled with subtle humor, laugh-out-loud moments and cunning insight into all the behind-the-scenes compromising that goes into the making of a TV show.
The film is further buoyed by its sharp and delightful cast, consisting of Duchovny (his face all but buried under a bushy beard), Ioan Gruffudd, Judy Greer, Fran Kranz, Lindsay Sloane, Justine Bateman and Philip Baker Hall. Sigourney Weaver deserves special recognition for her juicy turn as the producer whose ratings-driven ruthlessness is barely hidden beneath a thin veneer of faux caring and sweetness (think of this as a somewhat toned-down version of Faye Dunaway's character in "Network").
"The TV Set" makes it clear that's it's hard for any artist to keep true to his principles in a cutthroat industry where business generally comes ahead of art, and where the lowest-common denominator often serves as the sole criterion for deciding which series will be green-lighted and which will be stopped dead in their tracks. But it does so in such a lighthearted, tweaking sort of way that it prevents any potential bitterness or rancor from slipping into the tone.