The TV Set (2007)

Written & Directed by Jake Kasdan

When I sat down to watch Jake Kasdan's The TV Set, I knew I was in for a treat, I've loved all of his projects so far, I just wasn't aware this one would be so uniformly different. It works, and in spades, The TV Set, to me, is Kasdan's Adaptation., the one work of such startling originality, it took me completely off guard.

The TV Set doesn't have the same narrative or surrealist tone that Adaptation. had, and really, it's wrong to even compare the two. But what they do have in common with each other, is both are about the frustrations and setbacks of the entertainment industry, Adaptation. focuses on the feature film, and The TV Set is about a television series.

The entire movie has a very sardonic tone, and David Duchovney plays the perfect deadpan main character. Every step of the way he is contemplating his life with this series. First, it gets green lit for a pilot. When he tries to manipulate the casting, it blows back in his face, because everything he wants to do, he has personal, rational reasons for. On the other hand, the Network has completely different, impersonal, irrational reasons for changing his show. As an artist, Michael (Duchovney) uses the show to tell a personal story about characters dealing with the suicide of the main character's brother. Lenny (Sigourney Weaver who's just perfect) is the Network Exec overseeing production, and she suggests they do away with the brother's suicide. Michael explains that without the suicide, there's no show. She doesn't bother to think about that fact and keeps making suggestions "What if he's in prison instead?"

With every frustration, Michael is about to walk away from the show, if he can't have it his way, he won't have it at all. This is exactly when he realizes his wife is about to have their second child, and he needs to make the show, reguardless of its content, even though every change to his vision is a metaphorical stab to the chest. So he balances these two facts and in the meantime deals with the stress of trying to make this show, on time, and with the resources he's been given.

At the same time, the narrative also focuses on Richard (Ian Gruffudd), a British exec who has been brought over to help the Network regain its champion status. Richard is a smart, well spoken, and rational person, so his style and point of view are often trounced by the loud, thoughtless Lenny, even when Michael and Richard agree that putting a ridiculous element into the show will degrade its integrity. But Michael and Richard are fighting a losing battle, where money talks the loudest, and good intentions are only on the page.

The film is low-key, with many of its funny moments completely off the screen, in the mind of the viewer who is apparently the only person in each scene that understands its ridiculousness. It is well acted and smart, it presents new ideas about the creative process, and at the same time, comments on the processes already in use. For being a quiet, character driven movie, it is suprising light on dialogue or crazy moments, but it still succeeds in being overtly hilarious. The sad fact is, the audiences this movie depicts pandering to, is the wide audience that will never get or love this movie. But that's the type of movie it is, made for a specific audience, to be consumed by it. Very Jake Kasdan-y in its approach and execution, this is the type of film that often tries to get made as an indie first-feature, when really, only someone with the point of view and talent of someone like Larry Kasdan's son should really be making films such as this.

9.3/10