Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! This week, I’m continuing the Sitcom Potpourri, featuring a few short-lived comedies I otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to highlight in full — offering brief commentary that culminates in the selection of an episode (or episodes) that I think best represent(s) each series at large, based on what I’ve seen. For this post, I’m looking at three mid-2000s cable single-cams that exist as aesthetic children of the showbizzy and metatheatrical Curb Your Enthusiasm. But first, I must note: I’m not spotlighting everything that fits this description and helped make this a recognizable and tiresome mid-’00s trend — such as Entourage (2004-2011, HBO), which had a lengthy run and whose sense of humor is maybe dubious, along with the fairly dramatic Unscripted (2005, HBO), the funny but British-originating Extras (2005-2007, BBC), and several others that blurred the line between reality and scripted too much to be compared to the shows highlighted below. However, I will be covering The Comeback(2005; 2014, HBO) — soon — so consider this post an appetizer…
PILOT SEASON (Sep 2004, Trio)
Premise: An inept talent manager hopes to revitalize his career during pilot season.
Cast: Sam Seder, Sarah Silverman, Jon Benjamin, David Waterman, Ross Brockley, Isla Fisher, David Cross, Andy Dick
Writing Staff: Sam Seder & Charles Fisher
Thoughts: This semi-improvised comic mockumentary series about several Hollywood wannabes was a sequel, as literally explained in the opening titles, to a 1997 indie mockumentary film called Who’s The Caboose?,which was written by the same duo and featured a lot of the same cast in the same roles. It has since been described as a limited or miniseries, but that’s due to the doomed fate of Trio, a cable channel whose declining prospects made Pilot Season’s prognosis poor even at the time of release… despite some good press that reviewed the show positively and in fact referred to it as Trio’s first comedy series — implying that it could be ongoing. I also believe it could have continued, for its organizing principle of there being “120 days in pilot season” creates a natural excuse to annually revisit these characters and thus offer a sustaining situation. But, alas, Trio folded in 2005 when it was dropped by DirecTV and lost two-thirds of its audience. So, this became that channel’s first, last, and only foray into the genre. It’s a valiant offering though — the actors aren’t playing versions of themselves, but the mockumentary format contextualizes them comedically and in emphasis of a generated metatheatricality that supports the premise. This also helps justify its semi-improvised style, which can occasionally, as in early Curb, make the proceedings feel unfocused, especially when there are so many people being followed and the pressure of the ticking clock sometimes gets lost. Fortunately, with a central through line about the lead’s efforts to save his career via the help of an ex that he would also like to win back romantically, there’s enough to grip onto with him as a situation and engine for plot. And as for the showbiz satire, it’s actually got a compellingly grim view of Hollywood — a world of sad people with illusions and delusions. This gives the piece a perspective, yet doesn’t detract from the humor, which comes from the gap between what we think and what the characters think — all of them surprisingly well-defined. Of course, as an insider-y industry-based sitcom, it’s also fundamentally idea-driven — one of many series airing in either 2004 or 2005 that were premised in show business and overly self-aware about it (from Entourageto “reality” shows like Kathy Griffin:My Life On The D-List). Pilot Season is one of the better examples — funny, unique, and not try-hard, with respectable character work as well.
Episode Count: Six episodes | Episodes Seen: All six
Key Episode: #5: “Cat Fight” (09/09/04)
Why:The show’s narrative focus sharpens in the last two episodes, to the benefit of both the characters and the comedy. This penultimate entry, in particular, has several laugh-out-loud centerpieces, including some comedic tension between Sarah Silverman and Isla Fisher as two actresses in competition for a role. (Incidentally, Pilot Seasonwas repurposed in 2009 as a web series — the six half hours produced for Trio were split into 30 short segments.)
FAT ACTRESS (Mar 2005 – Apr 2005, Showtime)
Premise:Actress Kirstie Alley seeks a career resurgence despite her recent weight gain.
Cast: Kirstie Alley, Bryan Callen, Rachael Harris, Kelly Preston
Writing Staff: Kirstie Alley & Brenda Hampton
Thoughts:A single-camera semi-improvised half-hour cable comedy about an actress playing a version of herself in a situation with fictitious constructs but room for other celebrities to come in and send up their own images as well, Fat Actressis obviously in theCurbmold, and together with all the other showbiz laffers that made it to air around this time — Entourage, Extras, The Comeback, etc. — it helped create fatigue about this sort of effort, which was now considered navel-gazey and trite, with a deliberately winking sensibility that had since become too common to still be clever. But this one was different — both in design and tone. For starters, it isn’t a mockumentary, so its meta is confined to the premise, and it doesn’t even offer the kind of handheld single-cam veritas-implied look that Curbmaintained after its initial 1999 special. No, it’s a much more polished and produced single-cam, which helps divorce it from the literal realism otherwise suggested by the presence of Kirstie Alley as Kirstie Alley. Additionally, it’s very broad — with a sense of humor that, simply, is grander and more dominating than most of the other entries’ in this category (such as the muted Entourageor the mainly dramatic Unscripted), and its corresponding plots are more willing to go big and ridiculous for hahas. Naturally, in being so purely laugh-seeking and thus unserious, it was more disliked by critics than many of these other meta industry shows, which were merely tiresome. Only Curb was as comedically inclined, and it boasted smarter storytelling and, well, funnier, less effortful ideas.
This series’ big handicap, precluding greatness, is in its title — Fat Actress; so much of its premise revolves around Alley’s weight, and while I personally don’t take umbrage at fat jokes on principle, for they can sometimes be reflective of character (mostly for the one making those jokes) and therefore valid sitcommery, utilizing a regular’s appearance in story as their flaw is not only narratively limiting, it’s also less satisfying than using actual personality, or character, quirks. Accordingly, Fat Actress has a tougher setup — it’s basically a single-cam version of the silly slapstick antics of a Cybillor aBette, two not so-great yuk-yuk sitcoms about middle-aged female entertainers trying to hold onto their careers… only now with the added wrinkle of the lead’s weight being her prime obstacle. It unfortunately resembles Cybill in its spiritual ethos as much as it resembles Curb, and yet it makes things even harder for itself with a narrower, less pleasant premise… That said, while this doesn’t set the series up well, Alley is always hilarious, and her supporting cast is top-notch. What’s more, I appreciate any cable sitcom that prioritizes com. It may not be as well-designed as I’d like, and some of its ideas may be dumb, but it’s a funny show, and thus much more worthy of consideration than its unfunny contemporaries.
Episode Count: Seven episodes | Episodes Seen: All seven
Key Episodes: #4: “The Koi Effect” (03/28/05)
#5: “Crack For Good” (04/05/05)
Why: #4 guest stars both Leah Remini and Mayim Bialik (as themselves) and has a silly idea that’s nevertheless amusing, uniquely playing to the Fat Actresspremise. Episode #5 introduces Kirstie’s brother (Christopher McDonald), mother (Connie Stevens), and father, and boasts several memorably outrageous comic notions. Also, I didn’t officially cite it, but the premiere is a straightforward sample of what the series wants to be — with boisterous moments therein.
HOLLYWOOD RESIDENTIAL (Jan 2008 – Mar 2008, Starz)
Premise:A wannabe actor hopes the celebrity home renovation show he cohosts will bring him to stardom.
Cast: Adam Paul, Lindsey Stoddart, David Ramsey, Eric Allan Kramer
Writing Staff: Adam Paul & Andy Bobrow
Thoughts: Although airing after the 2005 boom in single-cam showbiz meta vehicles that were directly influenced by Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hollywood Residential was actually executive produced by Cheryl Hines and aesthetically belongs in the family. It doesn’t feature a lead who’s playing himself, and it’s not in the mockumentary format that had since become popular as a result of The Officeand all its ensuing pals. But it’s another single-camera sitcom set in the entertainment industry that invites weekly support from celebrities who guest as themselves. In fact, it’s something of a throwback to Curb’s own forebear, The Larry Sanders Show, in that it’s basically a backstager, with a defined fourth wall within the situation itself, separating the characters we’re following and the television product they’re making — not a talk show this time, but a celebrity home renovation show. The concept, thus, is appropriately metatheatrical and nothing new, but the Home Improvement house renovation twist gives story something of a different hook, along with a good excuse to invite guest-star-of-the-week fare (just as Head Case, a concurrent Starz sitcom with celebrities, was doing via its “therapist to the stars” premise). Yes, there is some fun here with the celebs who play themselves, but more worth discussing are the elements of the regular situation — especially star Adam Paul, who’s funny enough to carry a show… in spite of a design that is otherwise not as original as it thinks, with only average story ideas and not much within the premise beyond his central presence to provide reliable value. Early entries are naturally consumed by their episodic notions — not ideal sitcommery — but even as the run progresses and the series starts laying the groundwork for a romance between the two costars, a lack of strong character work and the generally clichéd nature of this narrative suggestion reveals Hollywood Residential to be a dull effort within its subgenre — and never hilarious enough to allay any of these concerns. Ultimately, it’s just so-so: this post’s least interesting.
Episode Count: Eight episodes | Episodes Seen: All eight
Key Episode: #3: “Dominion Day” (02/06/08)
Why:This is the funniest installment; it guest stars Carmen Electra, whose dog the lead accidentally kills while he’s working on her house — setting in motion a PR crisis that his partner’s lawyer (played wonderfully by Catherine Reitman) must fix. It’s an amusing idea and a showcase for Paul, along with the Hollywood world in which the series is trying to freshly exist.
Ultimately, I say… ENJOYPILOT SEASON and some parts of the flawed butSTUDY-worthy FAT ACTRESS, and FORGET HOLLYWOOD RESIDENTIAL.
Come back next week for a new Wildcard Wednesday! And stay tuned Tuesday for more Curb!
