Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
EAN: 0024543460596
Format: AC-3
Item Dimensions: Array
Label: 20th Century Fox
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
MPN: FOXD2254690D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 2007-09-25
Running Time: 86
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 2006

An insightful and fast-moving comic look at the world of network television development. The story follows a TV pilot as it goes through the network TV process of casting, production, and finally airing, while showing that there is as much entertainment behind the cameras as there is in front.
An all-star cast bites the hand that feeds them in The TV Set, a sneaky satire of network programming. As a writer named Mike (David Duchovny, The X-Files) struggles to shepherd his semi-autobiographical sitcom into development, his vision--of a guy who's brought back to his home town by his brother's suicide and rediscovers his joy in life--is slowly eroded by a domineering network executive named Lenny (Sigourney Weaver, Aliens) who favors trashy reality programming like Slut Wars. The rub, of course, is that every crass suggestion Lenny makes improves the show's response from test audiences and brings the show a step closer to getting on the air. Almost everyone in The TV Set has connections to television--Judy Greer (Arrested Development), Justine Bateman (Family Ties), Ioan Gruffudd (the Horatio Hornblower TV-movies), Lucy Davis (the original British version of The Office)--and so have a keen grasp on the behavior and lingo of the media industry. Sometimes the satire is so close to the naked reality of TV development that it isn't even funny--but Weaver (whose own father was a television producer) gives an inspired performance that skirts truth and satire so adroitly it makes your skin tingle. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Rating:
Summary: Too Close For Comfort
Comment: Having worked in network television production at two separate studios, I have to say that The TV Set is far too close to reality to be at all comfortable. From the way a show is cast to the way it is shot to the way it is promoted, I am surprised that this got produced, let alone aired.

No, it is not Network, but Paddy Chayefsky is no longer with us either. From the sleazy to the smarmy, from the desperate to the despicable, from the manic to the mediocre, this shows them all in a quick slice of Hollywood. The unending compromises and dilutions that happen to produce the filler for television advertising is what you've got right here.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Knowing spoof of the TV Biz
Comment: ***1/2

Diehard 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.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Criminally underrated
Comment: The best advice the film's hero, an aggravated writer (David Duchovny) trying to protect an original and meaningful television pilot, receives is from a cinematographer, who perhaps speaks from experience: "I know this seems really important right now, but someday it will just be a blip." The scene occurs as a minor meeting between the two men -- this seemingly innocuous piece of dialog is the heart and soul of "The TV Set," a gentle satire of Network TV and a nimble drama about surviving both as an artist and provider-of-family.

Duchovny plays the role of the articulate writer perfectly: although this time, he disappears into his character (behind that beard) and wisely trades the deadpan sarcasm (he is wont to emote) for subtle irony. We absolutely accept him as a happily-married writer struggling to confront his brother's suicide by writing a TV pilot the Network sharks are itching to foul; they see top ratings, while he sees the show's integrity as his only chance to exorcise demons of the past.

"The TV Set" is a refreshing film because it relies on the subtlety of dialog and the careful building-up of characters for its narrative -- sure, there are villains here (Sigourney Weaver playing a ball-busting Network exec whose litmus test for quality is what her 14-year-old daughter thinks), and despite their promises of forthrightness, the risk they pose is real: they mean to corrupt artistic genius. Ioan Gruffudd is also excellent as the Network's creative director brought in from England to ensure quality. One of the greatest accomplishments of "The TV Set" is how his character slowly submits to the lure of power and greed; this transformation is handled with naturalism, and parallels in its contrast to the Duchovny character's own situation at home.

Jake Kasdan, who wrote and directed, adroitly channels personal experiences in the cutthroat TV industry (he and producer Judd Apatow created "Freaks and Geeks," canceled after first season). The result is a smart, fascinating dramedy about persevering through the sheer joy and pain of 'the creative process.

"The TV Set" ends beautifully, the only way it could. A criminally underrated gem from 2007.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: So So
Comment: This was a bit dull in spots and it seemed like it was trying too hard. However, this was a dark satire and I did laugh at times. The Lennie character is great...I liked her because she acted in the way that society says women are not supposed to act and that made the things she said/did even funnier. This show portrayed the truth about the entertainment industry and the foolish bureaucracy behind it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The TV Set
Comment: The TV Set

I really enjoyed this movie, it's something a little different.
All the actor's Duchovny, Weaver, Griffiths et al are all on top form.
The actor's commentary is very funny and interesting.
I would recommend this DVD.

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