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Movies / On DVD / The TV Set
The TV Set

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The TV Set (2007)

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Reviews Counted:73

Fresh:47

Rotten:26

Average Rating:6.3/10

Consensus: Offering both broad and insider jokes, The TV Set is a sharp satire that will please both the average moviegoers and pop culture aficionados.

Runtime: 87 mins

Genre: Television

Synopsis: Go to any bar in Hollywood and you're sure to find a hard-done-by writer who is drowning his or her sorrows after being chewed up and spat out by the network television system. In THE TV SET, Mike... Go to any bar in Hollywood and you're sure to find a hard-done-by writer who is drowning his or her sorrows after being chewed up and spat out by the network television system. In THE TV SET, Mike Klein (David Duchovny) seems set to join them. Klein's script for a TV show called THE WEXLER CHRONICLES was inspired by his brother's suicide, and is very close to his heart. After selling the script to PDN, who are headed by a fearsome executive simply known as Lenny (Sigourney Weaver), Klein watches as everything from the casting to the production goes horribly wrong. Klein has one buddy at the network, a Brit named Richard McCallister. McCallister's former position at the BBC leads Klein to believe that some quality control will be exerted over his project, and hopes McCallister will pull it out of the mire of mundanity that PDN thrives on. But he's very, very wrong, and as Klein's dream turns into dust--the show barely resembles anything he wrote--his health takes a turn for the worse and he enters mid-life-crisis mode. Duchovny and Weaver are outstanding in their roles, adding just the right balance of humor and anger to their characters. THE TV SET is ostensibly a comedy, but may make for painful viewing for anyone involved in the industry, or anyone who hates seeing dreams shattered. But director Jake Kasdan (ZERO EFFECT) manages to add a large dose of absurdity to the proceedings, saving it from being too depressing, and making many of the scenes a genuine hoot. [More]

Starring: David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, Judy Greer

Starring: David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, Judy Greer, Fran Kranz, Lindsay Sloane, Lucy Davis, Willie Garson, Justine Bateman

Director: Jake Kasdan

Director: Jake Kasdan
Screenwriter: Jake Kasdan
Producer: Aaron Ryder
Composer: Michael Andrews
Studio: ThinkFilm

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Reviews for The TV Set

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

Kasdan should have the expertise to write a backstage exposé of the TV industry. This one simply isn't funny.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
04/04/07
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com

if Kasdan's point was to use the film as metaphor, its attitude towards the audience is spiteful at best

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
04/05/07
Chris Cabin
Chris Cabin
Filmcritic.com

There's a smugness to TV Set that undercuts the humor. The movie is so confident of its artistic superiority to the commercial ventures it parodies that even its most sympathetic characters are not terribly appealing.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
05/03/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A mostly lightweight endeavor that never builds any genuine emotional traction. And you have to wonder if it's just a little too 'inside' to resonate with a sizable audience.

Full Review Source: Contra Costa Times | comment Comment
04/20/07
Chuck Barney
Chuck Barney
Contra Costa Times

Director Jake Kasdan's not-so-scathing satire of the slimy underbelly of television program development is neither funny enough nor biting enough to validate its overreaching goals.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
05/03/07
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The best thing that one can say about this film, is that it's probably too good for TV.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
12/06/07
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

What with its utter lack of passion, it's difficult to say if the film wants to be taken as satire, but if it does then this one counts as a toothless dog.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
03/25/07
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

[Except for Sigourney Weaver] everyone else looks so damn solemn, it's as if neither they nor their director understood this was meant to be a parody.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
04/06/07
Edward Havens
Edward Havens
FilmJerk.com

David Duchovny as the writer delivers a turn so listless and bland, you want to goose him with a cattle prod.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
04/06/07
Erica Abeel
Erica Abeel
Film Journal International

Kasdan, a TV industry veteran, knows his territory well and has translated his experiences with an obvious verisimilitude. But for all the dead-on accuracy of his characterizations and situations, there is little that is terribly surprising here.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
06/24/06
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A weak satire of network television programming, telling you nothing you don't already know and doing so without providing much more than the occsasional mild chuckle.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
05/17/07
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

An inside Hollywood comedy for people over whose head 30 Rock goes. Those people won't even understand that grammatical construction.

Full Review Source: Can Magazine | comment Comment
04/06/07
Fred Topel
Fred Topel
Can Magazine

Much like the television pilot it revolves around, the pale satire The TV Set doesn't quite know what it wants to be.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
04/06/07
Gary Goldstein
Gary Goldstein
Reel.com

Various news stories have noted the movie's accuracy, which I don't doubt, but the blanket antipathy makes for a wearying and predictable story.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
04/27/07
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

An insider pic likely to produce a few knowing guffaws from the industry but only occasional chuckles from John Q. Public.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/24/06
Jay Weissberg
Jay Weissberg
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

What's missing here is the sense that anything truly vital is at stake -- like, say, our cultural intelligence or the future of mainstream entertainment.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
04/20/07
Jeff Shannon
Jeff Shannon
Seattle Times

This satire settles for simply restating the obvious.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
05/05/07
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Everyone already knew showbiz is ridiculous, but the funniest example Kasdan can come up with is a manager who has never seen Taxi Driver.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment 1 Comment
04/27/07
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post

Airlessly insidery and only sporadically funny ...

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
04/07/07
Mark Holcomb
Mark Holcomb
Time Out New York
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for The TV Set

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