These Starz seem aligned.....so far

Seems there's a new foolproof formula for idiot-box comedy: the word "down" + veterans from the school of Judd Apatow + weekly alf-hour basic cable airtime = goodness.

First there was HBO's Eastbound and Down, the laugh-perfect rule-breaker that not enough people watched, foolishly, and now it's gone forever, seemingly. The plan all along was to restrict the series to only six episodes, so this was all predetermined, yet still frustrating and depressing. I've only come across a small handful of folks who've told me that they watch(ed) and love(d) the show, and that's irritating. HBO promoted Eastbound and Down poor as hell, relying purely on word-of-mouth for a show that didn't have lasting legs in the first place. What good does graudally-increasing buzz do for a show that only has six weeks to live? Instead of beating that gone-to-mundane-shit snooze Entourage down our throats every time a new season starts, HBO should've invested a few more dollars into marketing and spreading word about Eastbound, the ballsiest, sharpest comedy I've seen on the tube in ages. And easily HBO's best comedy in the last decade.

In the wake of Eastbound and Down comes the Starz channel comedy Party Down, about a ragtag group of struggling wannabe actors and screenwriters working as caterers in Los Angeles. Eastbound's cast was almost entirely comprised of "who's that?" heads (aside from Will Ferrell's small role and star Danny Mcbride's scene-jacking in Pineapple Express); Party Down, though, is packed with proven studs. Still has an ounce of the "I know that face, but from where?" but not as strongly. The lead is Adam Scott, who fans of Step Brothers will recognize as John C. Reilly's douchebag brother; its two female players are sexy/funny Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls, Cloverfield, HBO's True Blood) and always-on-point Jane Lynch (Role Models, The 40-Year-Old Virgin); there's an Apatow bit player mainstay, Martin Starr (dude from Knocked Up who grows his beard out); and then there's Ken Marino, who, if you're cool, you'll know as an original member of the oft-forgotten but still-working steadily The State comedy crew.


Any opportunity to post a Lizzy Caplan pic is one not to miss.

The show doesn't seem to have the anarchist touch of Eastbound, but that's not a bad thing. Party Down approaches its laughs with a calm confidence in the characters. This first episode has a couple sight gags (drunk guy swan-diving into a pool naked; Marino "rubbing one out" in a teenage girl's bedroom), and both work, but otherwise the show doesn't seem to harp on punchlines, or "zingers." Just casually humorous conversations, engaged by colorful, troubled, reality-detached dreamseekers dressed in white button-ups and pink bowties.




Fun fact: the pilot was directed Fred "Kevin Arnold" Savage, and represents a huge leap forward for the man (his last kinda-high-profile directorial gig was Daddy Day Camp 2, painfully). Also fun: One of the pilot's writers is Paul Rudd, which explains a ton. Watching the episode, I thought to myself a few times, "I could see Rudd playing Adam Scott's character." Being that Rudd is emerging as a perennial favorite in these parts, that's reason enough to stick with Party Down, ride out the rest of the 10-episode season.



"A new half-hour comedy on cable that I could very well grow to love" can only mean one thing ---- it fall off the programming map within months, like every other one from my recent past. Dear lord, let The Life & Times of Tim come back!