The TV Set

I can hear the pitch: “It’s like For Your Consideration with the hipness of The Player and the edginess of Network!” The family name might have also helped Jake Kasdan (son of Lawrence and brother of Jon) get this half-hearted satire green-lighted, plus a cast that includes David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, and Ioan Gruffudd. Duchovny’s Mike Klein is an idealistic writer who finally has a shot at getting a heartfelt series (it was inspired by his brother’s suicide) on the air. Weaver is the ogress in charge of the studio who says things like “Original scares me” and has her 14-year-old daughter test-screen everything. Gruffudd is the arty Brit imported from the BBC who gets increasingly compromised. Will the leveling bad taste of the ogress triumph or will the idealist writer stand up for his vision? Some of the dialogue is funny, and the performers do their best, but the real shame is that the “bad” version of the pilot beats the heck out of Kasdan/Klein’s pretensions.