Feel free to turn off The TV Set

The TV Set

Rated R for: Language
Running time: 1 hr, 28 min
Starring: David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver

Rating: One and a half stars (out of four)

On DVD now



The television industry is a bitch.

Then again, so is the music industry, the movie industry, and just about any other industry that has to do with the entertainment business. Satire of said industries is old hat, yet, on the grand scale of things, you don't see many movies or shows exploring the underside of Hollywood.

These types of satire can be really good. Or fall flat on their face. The TV Set, the little seen film from writer/director Jake Kasdan, does the latter. But they try, and for that you have to give them credit. And, surprisingly, the film, despite not quite achieving its grandiose ambitions, is still watchable, which is really saying something.

David Duchovny stars as Mike, a writer whose dream just came true: his television script has just been picked up by a network, and is being made into a pilot.

What Mike soon learns, of course, is that the television industry can swoop in and destroy a writer's vision, which is exactly what happens when network president Lenny (Sigourney Weaver) starts to make the creative decisions.

First, Mike's first choice for the show's star gets passed over for a much more "broad" actor, even though Mike's comedy is supposed to be of the darker, more sober variety. Then, Lenny asks Mike if he wouldn't mind changing up the premise a bit: instead of the main character's brother committing suicide, couldn't he just remain alive, instead? After all, Lenny reasons, suicide is so "depressing." Nevermind the fact that Mike's own brother killed himself, inspiring him to write the script. They were hoping for a show more like "Northern Exposure meets Ed."

And it all goes downhill from there. You get the idea.





It would be sad to watch Mike's show fall into ruin right before our eyes if we gave more of a damn about him. Problem is, we really don't care all that much.

That same problem resonates even more with some of the other characters in the movie, a few of whom get their own useless subplots, one of which gets resolved in a rather unsatisfactory way, another of which never gets resolved at all.

And many of the scenes linger way, way too long. I get that they were going more for the feel of a play than a movie, but, damnit, you have to keep things interesting to keep your audience engaged.

Which is all well and good, really, because, in the end, we don't care about the characters, we hardly care about the story, and, once the movie finally reveals its incredibly abrupt ending, we're left with a perplexed, "That's it?"

Ironically, the movie about a TV showing being developed doesn't feel developed enough itself. They don't build the characters up enough for us to care about them, they don't care enough to tie up loose ends, and, as mentioned, the movie just sort of stops, and the audience is left wondering why they just spent nearly an hour and a half watching a story that never feels complete. The film isn't bad, necessarily, just not very good.

As I mentioned before, it's watchable, but barely. Unless you're really bored, or a huge Duchovny fan, you'd be best leaving The TV Set alone.