The TV Set

A hair-raising comedy of art and compromise, THE TV SET follows an idealistic writer (David Duchovny) as he tries to navigate his TV pilot down the mine-laden path from script through production to the madness of prime-time scheduling - all while trying to stay true to his vision. Along the way he has to juggle the agendas of a headstrong network president (Sigourney Weaver), volatile young stars, a pregnant wife and an ever-optimistic personal manager.

“Writer-director Jake Kasdan and executive producer Judd Apatow — both veterans of the brilliant but canceled NBC series Freaks and Geeks — know a thing or two about the Sisyphean struggles of doing quality, personal work in the network-television meat market. Their cautionary tale of an Apatow-like writer-producer (David Duchovny) as he runs the humiliating gauntlet known as pilot season won’t exactly surprise anyone familiar with Blake Edwards’ S.O.B., Christopher Guest’s The Big Picture or those myriad other insider portraits of bastardized artistic genius. But Kasdan doesn’t just set out to bite the hand that feeds him. At its best, The TV Set is wry and even laugh-out-loud funny about the messy tangle of art, commerce and family, as talented creative types try to stay true to themselves and put food on the table. The movie is also a treasure-trove of inspired comic personalities, including Justine Bateman (luminous as Duchovny’s very pregnant wife), Sigourney Weaver (as the network president who swallows her prey whole) and relative newcomer Fran Kranz (as the talented but insecure young actor who quickly learns that, in TV, less is rarely more). Whether audiences will want to see this instead of curling up on the sofa with the latest episode of Slut Wars is anybody’s guess.” (Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly)