Palaest recommended

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

MBunge The TV Set wants to tell us what's wrong with television, but the tone and substance of the film never rises above a snarky whine.The story follows a writer (David Duchovny) who's trying to sell his show to a network. Things start in a conference room full of suits, deciding who's going to star in the show, moves through shooting the pilot and concludes at the grand unveiling of the network's new schedule in front of a convention hall full of network affiliates. Writer/Director Jake Hasdan thinks he's showing us how talented people end up making terrible shows, but he's not fair and honest enough to do that.Hasdan wants people to see David Duchovny as this talented guy with a great script battling to protect it from self-indulgent actors and directors and a network executive (Sigourney Weaver) who is relentlessly trying to dumb the show down and tear out its creative soul. The problem is that while we see a lot of terrible changes made to it, we never get to see the supposedly great show being butchered. It's a sitcom that we're told is smart and funny and touching, but we never get to see any of the smart, funny stuff and the touching scenes we see are straight out of a daytime soap opera. The movie is essentially a scam that wants to make fun of all the stupid, nonsensical stuff that happens to create bad TV without showing us what good TV actually is. It never rises much above mildly amusing because the punch lines are almost all based on the contrast between the silly and shallow ideas of the network executives and the smart and worthwhile ideas of the writer. But since we never get to see the writer's great ideas, the contrast is weak and so is the humor.I must say, if Weaver's performance is at all close to the real thing, you do get a sense of sympathy for people in television. She's got no real taste at all and relies on her teenage daughter to tell her what's good, but is entirely convinced that things should be done her way and holds the success and failure of others completely in her own hands. The TV Set portrays working in television like it's living in a totalitarian state, where standing up against the powers that be requires heroic courage and a willingness to suffer.The film also comes at the good TV vs. bad TV from another perspective. Ione Gruffud plays a former BBC executive who's been hired by the network to improve the quality of their shows. The movie briefly uses him to embody a different approach to television, one with more high-minded goals and more respect for the creative process. But he soon knuckles under and goes along with Weaver's crude, lowest-common-denominator style and the movie never really explains why.That's because the story scrupulously avoids examining the true root of all TV evil…money. Why do network executives make so many idiotic suggestions and force writers and producers to accept them? It's because creating a television show is hugely expensive and overwhelmingly ends in failure. A network might introduce 10 or 12 new shows a year, each costing millions of dollars an episode. Yet, if the network is lucky, one and only one show might be a hit and maybe another one or two will grab enough audience to barely keep them on the air. The rest are quickly canceled and all the money spent on them is wasted, like it was shoveled into a hole or used to light someone's cigar. Kasdan never comes close to confronting this basic equation - enormous amount of money spent + huge likelihood of failure = a desperate compulsion to do anything that might increase the chance of success to the slightest degree.Without acknowledging that basic truth, Kasdan can't really tell the story he thinks he wants to tell. What's he's created is a mild satire that's neither dark enough or truthful enough to appeal to anyone who doesn't work in television and hasn't experienced the process firsthand.The film does also focus on the young actors who get cast to star in Duchovny's show and tries to show the pressures put on them and how it can turn them into not very pleasant people but again, it's not funny or sharp enough unless you've personally witnessed that sort of metamorphosis.The TV Set is a movie about television, but you get the sense that if Kasdan had been more successful in television (and Duchovny had been more successful in movies) that it would never have been made. This is filmmaking in lieu of therapy.

movieman_kev David Duchovny stars as Mike Klein, a television show writer who hopes that his heartfelt new pilot that he wrote after his brother's suicide gets picked up for the fall season. But he has to deal with compromising his vision to the network executives' bottom line (ratings) if he wants to see it on the schedule.Well acted, especially by Duchovny and Sigourney Weaver, if a bit black and white satire. Not as biting or pointed as I sensed that writer/director Jake Kasdan wanted it to or could've been, but entertaining and poignant enough to make it a good watch regardless. And is miles above his much better known, "Walk Hard" My Grade: B-

Siamois Jake Kasdan chose a fascinating subject to write about and direct. Although the result of such a fantastic premise could have been better, it's still a great 90 minutes to spend for just about anybody with an interest in TV and movie entertainment. Throughout the movie, we get to meet colorful and interesting characters, most of them brilliantly played by a solid cast. Sigourney Weaver's character is probably the one with the best material and injects a dose of comical cynicism that reminds me of a Stanley Tucci. It's nice to see her in that kind of role. The rest of the cast is very good with perhaps David Duchovny struggling a little in the lead role.But without a doubt, the star of the movie is the premise and Kasdan's commentary on the so-called "creative process" behind TV shows and how he reveals what goes behind the scene. Although we are clearly in fiction, many of us who have been involved in this business will recognize that there is more than a little grain of truth to this story. I have read a lot of comments panning the ending of TV Set, something which I can't agree with. Clearly, a lot more material could have been added to the movie in-between its beginning and its end, but it does seem Jake Kasdan's priority was to showcase the process of a TV show's creation from beginning to end and in this way, it succeeds and its ending is very much on target.I think this movie could have become an all-time classic if not for some flaws. The first of which is that the material, characters and dialogs vary wildly in tone and quality. And although I don't dislike Duchovny, I really think a better actor with more range would have added a lot of effect. The whole subplot about Klein's back problems was also totally unnecessary and detracts from the effect Kasdan was probably looking for as well. And finally, in a perfect world, Kasdan would have added another 30 minutes and used his mix of drama and comedy to greater effect.Still a solid 7 for revealing a world that should no doubt depress a lot of TV fans and hopefully, make them question their sense of taste and perspective, or lack thereof.

S.R. Dipaling Producer and screenwriter Mike Klein(David Duchovny,whose dry,stoic demeanor actually serves him even BETTER for comedy than drama)has decided to pour part of his life story into a script and a project for a TV series. Through about four months and plenty of experience with executives,test groups,agents,directors,crew and actors,he will most certainly come to regret that.Over that period of time,Mike watches in various shades of horror,disbelief,disappointment and despair as the personal story of his brother's suicide and how it affect his life turn into a sterilized,sexied-up and contrived network "ratings-getter". All the while,he's soft-pedaled by his loyal but woefully superficial agent(Judy Greer,who gets plenty of chance to shine here),put off by an oblivious director(Willie GArson)and getting his project raped by a team of network air-suckers led by a guile-as-natural-as-breathing chief of programming(Sigourney Weaver). Director Jake KAsdan dials it down from previous effort--more from the unexpectedly poignant "Orange County" than the dry,strange and sharp "Zero Effect"--to make a film that is wryly documenting the degradation of dreams,ideas and creativity in favor of ratings and profit. The complaints of this show that I've been reading have been two things mostly: pacing and Ducovny's acting. On the first count,I'd say the pacing was intentionally set to show how the creative process can die a slow and painful death due to plenty of "committee". As for Ducovny,well,he is what he is. Take it or leave it. As said before,he seems to work better for comedy since he doesn't feel the need to EVER punch up the lines,and to me,comedy is much better when the actors involved AREN'T trying to hit the marks. The best performances here were probably by Greer,Justine BAteman(as NAtalie,Mike's very pregnant,very patient,no-nonsense wife),Ioan Gruffudd(spelling?)(as the British producer who senses that he's losing control of both his personal AND private lives),Lindsay Sloan(as a vain,in-sincere hot,young actress. I know,I know...is there any other kind?)and Fran Kranz(as the over/under-acting douche who's letting his modest success get to his head). I'd be lying if I said this film was of superior quality,of course. My main(or chief)complaint is that this film is done at such an economy of information and plot that one might think that writer/director KAsdan was under a time and money constraint to make this show go into the can. I won't spoil the ending,but it feels like it was almost MADE to create a level of Love-it-or-Hate-it debate among viewers. Overall,this film does what it sets out to do,which is namely to offer an acidic,subtle(perhaps a little TOO much so)and funny account of the "creation" process of television. It may go over some heads,and it certainly isn't a perfect concoction,but it worked for me. Of course,it didn't do any favors for MY ambitions of creating a TV show(or movie for that matter),but I suppose it should be more of a cautionary tale than preventive. I sure hope so,anyway.