In the case of BREAKING BAD, I typically watch an entire season online before the next season comes out. It's one of those shows that you really want to devour all at once, but isn't water cooler fodder so you don't need to be current. Unfortunately, LOST is a show where you need to be current or you'll have it ruined for you, otherwise I'd watch it all on DVD.
There are also shows that I simply didn't get into in time because I wasn't in on the ground floor. That list includes Battlestar Galactica, The Wire and Deadwood. I eventually went back and became devout followers, and in the case of the first two became a live viewer. There is now another show to add to that list, and it's STARZ's PARTY DOWN. I've always been cognoscente of the show's existence, but it was on a channel I didn't get and eventually it fell to the wayside.
With the debut of season two, and a relatively empty queue list I've decided to begin season one of PARTY DOWN, and i'm very happy with my decision.
Maybe this post is premature, but after one episode i've emotionally bonded and committed to this show.
As a Ben and Jerry's employee, PARTY DOWN is extremely accessible to me. The intense level of reality that the show cultivates is depressing and hilarious.
The attraction of PARTY is the writing and the character actors that deliver. You'll recognize almost everyone on the wait staff from something else, whether it's Jane Lynch (GLEE, Role Models), Lizzy Caplan (True Blood/Mean Girls), Ken Marino (Role Models), Adam Scott (Step Brothers) or Martin Starr (Knocked Up, Adventureland). THe only person I didn't know was Ryan Hansen, who is a regular in show creator ROb Thomas's other stuff, like Veronica Mars.
This cast is what makes the show so great, in that they're not scene stealing stars. Like the staffers they're playing they're people who can blend into the scenery and become a party of the reality they're trying to convey.
I really like the developing dynamic between Caplan and Scott, which seems to foreshadow a love connection.
Scott is the show's lead, and he plays an actor who had his fifteen minutes and has given up that life. At this point we don't know what happened, but we can glean that the experience has changed him. (To the point where he doesn't enjoy a handy from a MILF during the premier.)Unfortunately, I don't think Jane Lynch will be a regular on the show. Martin Starr seems to be playing the same misunderstood loser he always does, which is ok as long as he's thrown into some interesting scenarios.
As long as PARTY remains true to the pathetic premise it offers I'm in for the long haul. In my book the show is more promising than other semi-scripted comedies like CURB.
I really look forward to getting down with PARTY DOWN.
1 comment:
More promise than a show like Curb. This show wakes up every morning wishing it could be half as funny as Curb. Please re-watch the Curb episode "The Survivor", specifically the dinner table scene, and tell me again this t.v. show on Starz (lol) is in the same league as Curb.
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