By April MacIntyre Mar 20, 2009, 4:05 GMT
The terrific new show on Starz to follow "Head Case" is "Party Down", a hilarious mise en scene of aspiring actors knee-deep in catering work.
Jane Lynch - The terrific new show on Starz to follow "Head Case" is "Party Down", a hilarious mise en scene of aspiring actors knee-deep in catering work. © Chris Hatcher / PR Photos
"Party Down" premieres Friday, March 20, 2009 at 10:30 PM ET/PT on Starz.
As employees of the L.A. catering company Party Down, we are introduced to a group of struggling dreamers who are stuck working for tips while waiting for their big break mingle with guests at everything from sweet sixteen parties, young conservative get-togethers to porn actor parties and lavish Hollywood soirees.
Jane Lynch plays a woman who was once an actor who did bit parts, which she likes to talk about occasionally. She has a tendency to get too chummy with the guests at the parties.
Ken Marino is the team leader. Adam Scott plays Henry, the failed actor who has returned to his old job at Party Down.
Ryan Hansen plays an aspiring actor/model/rocker who likes to hit on ladies and wants to hit it big. Martin Starr is Roman, a geeky screenwriter who thinks everyone who doesn’t get things like references to Repo Man are idiots.
Lizzy Caplan plays a comedian with marital problems who is constantly trying to resolve her issues with her husband while at work.
Rob Thomas, one of the series' four executive producers, called on friends from his "Veronica Mars" days to help "Party" out.
Thomas talked about the show's inspiration recently at the winter TCA's. "I ran into an acquaintance of mine who was cater-waitering at a party. And we had been brainstorming. We had been working on the show and I started telling him the idea for the show, and I realized, about halfway into this conversation there was no good way out of that. 'You know, it's about those people who come to L.A. chasing a dream, and they've been at it too long, and they find themselves in a dead-end job...' And about that time, I felt very bad about that. You know, I played in a band in Austin for about ten years and all of my friends back there are guys still plugging away in their bands. So it's a milieu I know very well."
Actress Lizzy Caplan shared her own party down past. " catered a few parties, and they were like premieres. And it was interesting because it just...the whole experience made me so angry. Like having t go around and serve these people because I was so convinced that, like, 'It should be me. You should be serving me.' It's like there's nobody really cockier than the unemployed actor."
Comedic genius Jane Lynch had her own story. "I've been a waitress. I was a waitress for a long time. I never did catering. But...that's what most actors do while chasing their dream, when I wasin Chicago anyway...is you would work in a restaurant. And you would always have this nice little subculture going on there. You're in a place where you don't want to be. You want to be somewhere else, but you've got to be here. And it's always very interesting, and there's interesting stories and the delusions that some people have about themselves an where they're going to be in just a short time. And then, there are those who know they're sentenced to doing this."
Enrico Colantoni and Ed Begley Jr. also appear in "Party Down" as guest stars.
The 10 episodes in "Party" takes you from a soiree for young conservatives to a porn-industry convention, which serves as backdrop for the skilled comedic cast to navigate. But this original comedy thrives as a true ensemble masterpiece as the players each get a chance to show off their respective character's unique qualities.
Airdate: 10:30-11 p.m. Friday, March 20 on Starz Cast: Ken Marino, Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Lizzy Caplan, Martin Starr, Ryan HansenCreators-executive producers: John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge, Paul RuddDirector-producer: Fred Savage
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