TV Stars in The Movies

The holiday movie rush has produced some truly excellent and some disappointing fare. But one thing has remained true: TV stars are really bringing it to the big screen this season. Click on the movie titles to read reviews from our sister site My Cinema.

First there's the rush of TV faces who play a crowd at a dinner party and make up the brief but best part of Fair Game. Current TV superstar (and longtime My TV favourite, from way before Modern Family) Ty Burrell is there alongside beloved character actors from past TV seasons like FRIENDS' Susan (Jessica Hecht) and Grey's Anatomy's Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith). Fantastic Broadway player Norbert Leo Butz formerly of ABC's short-lived The Deep End also joins them for dinner.


Grey's Anatomy's Sandra Oh livens up a dreary adaptation of Rabbit Hole, as she does for anything she's in, former Joan of Arcadia star Amber Tamblyn, Everwood's Treat Williams, Lizzy Caplan from Party Down/The Class and Gossip Girl's Clemence Poesy fill the limited supporting roles in James Franco (Freaks & Geeks/ General Hospital)'s tour de force 127 Hours. and That 70's Show's Mila Kunis continues her rise to film stardom with an impressive and My Cinema Award (among other awards)- nominated supporting performance in Black Swan. 

Gossip Girl's best actress Leighton Meester gives the performance of her career so far in Country Strong as a beauty queen-turned-country singer on tour with her idol. Meester delivers excellent vocals and a compelling performance as the surprisingly multi-faceted Chiles Stanton.

And then there's Burlesque. The musical is absolutely packed with TV stars delivering excellent performances. Grey's Anatomy's Eric Dane plays a slick real-estate tycoon and Veronica Mars herself Kristin Bell plays the star of the burlesque show, showing off that Tisch musical theatre degree that so many people forget about. David Walton (100 Questions/Perfect Couples) and Dianna Agron (Glee) put in fantastic turns in tiny but important parts, and pros of the reality dance world Julianne Hough (Dancing with the Stars) and Chelsea Traille (So You Think You Can Dance) hold down the burlesque chorus. Perhaps the best TV star performances come from former OC stars Peter Gallagher and Cam Gigandet. Gallagher, always reliably excellent, plays Cher's ex-husband and co-club owner. Gigandet, remembered fondly as the guy who killed Marissa, nails the easily-fumbled role of Christina Aguilera's unavailable love interest with easy charm and sincerity.

If you're going to the movies this month, you're bound to see some truly excellent film actors. But don't forget where a lot of them find their home- TV.

Season Wrap Up: Party Down

I watched the first episode of Party Down in an almost perfunctory manner. I mean, come on, it was by the guy who made Veronica Mars, and had promised guest stars that ranged from George Takeii to Rick Fox to Kristen Bell. And I really enjoyed that first episode, but I'm an inherently lazy creature and if something can't be TIVO'd more often than not I forgot about it.

Thank G-d for the summer TV hiatus. Because, as it turns out, that first episode just held the seedlings of the show to come.

Over its first ten episodes, Party Down deepened its characters and upped the hilarity factor incrementally. Although I'm still not entirely sold on the boss character Ron (he more often than not feels like an even sadder Michael Scott rip off), nearly every other main character has come into their own.

Especially Kyle, played by Ryan Hansen or as I like to call him Dick Casablancas, a character that had the unlikely effect of causing me to rethink my entire position on Dick Casablancas. Hansen imbues Kyle with so much dim-witted good natured boyishness it's hard not to like him.

Party Down walks a difficult line between slapstick ridiculousness (the penultimate episode takes place at a "Happy Acquittal" party for a mobster) and a sincerity that is almost shocking. The final episode, set at a gay wedding, is all about not giving up on your dreams. It could easily be a cloying message, but the episode is also about mushrooms, giving sexual favors to advance your career, and causing Sulu to go into anaphylactic shock.

There are still things to work on. In particular, Martin Starr's character, Roman, too often feels like just the butt of the jokes. I'd like to see Ron given more depth too, although with the finale they sort of started to show some growth on the whole "dark side of Michael Scott" thing.

Adam Scott, as Henry, the washed up actor turned caterer, grounds the show, and his relationship with Casey (Lizzy Caplan) works surprisingly well. I thought for sure that we were in for a slow, Jim-and-Pam-esque burn on this, but the couple gets together within the first five episodes; and their chemistry should be a lesson to all TV writers looking to hook up their main will-they-or-wont-they duo. They're cute and witty without ever seeming forced or cloying. It's a love story told on the brink of the void of depression and it works really, really well to offset the ridiculousness of bratty sixteen year olds, high school reunions, and possible hotel sex with Rick Foxx.

The season finale was a big game changer for the show. Casey's off to a cruise ship to pursue stand up comedy. Kyle's just been cast in a movie. Ron, it seems, will finally get his Super Crackers franchise. Constance is off with her Belarusian mobster. And Henry, despite his best efforts, may now be the new boss. While I'm all for character development, I've loved this season far too much to hope that any of these changes last. For one thing, I'll be super sad if Casey's actually gone (Casey was so cool I ALMOST forgot all about Caplan's recent turn on True Blood... almost.), unless of course that means that Henry will start up a relationship with recent guest star Kristen Bell. I didn't know it was possible for me to love Bell any more, but hearing her bark out orders like "you will be present at the fireworks, but you will not look up." and then proposition Henry was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

FINALE GRADE: A+ (any episode with this much VMars gets the +)

SEASON GRADE: A-

Starz: keeping with the times

A major pet peeve of mine is when networks make a big show of taking their material off of YouTube. I think being able to watch an SNL sketch on YouTube just garners interest in the product itself; I think it would bring in viewers to the full network show. So it always seemed to me that the execs who are pulling their material from the web must be out of touch, unable to understand the positive effects that forward motion in the industry can have on their network. 

So imagine my delight at the fact that Starz is making every effort to make its new show Party Down accessible. Not only did the network make their show available on YouTube (slightly edited, to maintain incentive to subscribe to Starz on your TV) but they also are in bed with the incredibly successful Netflix. Netflix is, in itself, a revolutionary brand that is, if nothing else, always surging ahead with the times, and a distribution deal between them and a small network like Starz shows brilliance on both sides. 

Making a product so readily available to the public not only gives me hope that maybe the Starz executives actually know how to deal with an ever-changing industry, it also says that they really care about their product, and they want people to be able to see it, through whatever means they can. 

Are We Having Fun Yet? (aka Pilot Watch: Party Down)

Party Down, the new comedy on Starz from Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas and universally beloved film actor Paul Rudd, is the type of deadpan humor we've grown to expect in the age of The Office but with an inherently absurdist bend. It follows the exploits of Party Down, a catering company in the Los Angeles area, and therefore every episode will have our main cast of caterers (almost all of whom harbor ambitions of entertainment-industry greatness) interacting with a new bunch of clients.

The cast is a veritable whose-who of familiar faces, which fits. Just as the people on whom they are waiting find themselves wondering "where do I know that guy from?" we in the audience know these actors as slightly-more-successful versions of their silver screen compatriots. In the lead, we have Adam Scott, whose guest starred on nearly every television show known to man, including the main casting pool for Party Down, Veronica Mars (where he played the teacher who it turns out did have sexual relations with that student in the episode "Mars Versus Mars"). Scott's character is a broken down actor, haunted by the constant reprieve of "Are we having fun yet?" which was apparently his catch phrase in a string of commercials. He's also our anchor within an absurd world, and a fairly nice guy to boot.

To fill out the cast, we have the erst-while Vinny Van Lowe, Ken Marino, as the completely irony free boss hell bent on one day owning a shrimp franchise. We also have Dick Casablancas from Veronica Mars (real name: Ryan Hanson), Bill Haverchuck from Freaks and Geeks (Martin Starr), the not-a-lesbian chick from Mean Girls (Lizzy Caplan), and Jane Lynch (from pretty much everything funny, from Role Models straight on through to a guest starring role on Veronica Mars as the teacher who fights against getting the election results overturned in the episode "Return of the Kane"). On top of that, every episode is going to have guest spots from semi-big names, especially to fans of Veronica Mars, like Jason Dohring (Logan, but if I have to tell you that you probably don't care) and Alona Tal (Meg), as well as the biggest Veronica Mars name of them all, Kristen Bell. This episode featured Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars), answering the immortal question of what Keith Mars looks like naked. As the old saying goes, some questions are better off never answered.

The show is a funny, poignant look on life between the precipices of despair and success, and is filled with wit and surprisingly bawdy humor. Although the show airs on Starz, you can catch episodes on Netflix.com in streaming video.

What's New?

With premiere time part 2 of the year getting under way, it's about time that we here at My TV let you in on what we're watching.

*shows with an asterisk are Kelly's most anticipated/favourites

What We're Watching (or at least taking for a test drive)

* United States of Tara (Showtime, Sun 10:00)

Created by Steven Spielberg, writen by Diablo Cody, starring Toni Collette, John Corbett and Rosemary DeWitt- perfect. 

*Dollhouse (FOX, Fri 9:00)

Joss Whedon is a genius. 

Better off Ted (ABC, Wed 8:30)

We love Portia, Andrea Anders is pretty funny and it looks like a lot of fun. 

Castle (ABC, Mon 10:00)

NATHAN FILLION!!! that is all. 

*Cupid (ABC, premieres March 31, Tues 10:00)

We need a replacement for our dearly departed Valentine, and Bobby Cannavale is always charming. Oh, and this version doesn't have Jeremy Piven- always a plus. 

Harper's Island (CBS, premieres April 9, Thurs 10:00)

Out of sheer love for Chris Gorham this long shot will get at least a one week trial from My TV. 

*Kings (NBC, Sun 8:00)

It looks damn cool and there's a need for dramas that aren't sci-fi or procedural. 

In The Motherhood (ABC, premieres March 26, Thurs 8:00)

It was a web hit. Hopefully it won't be too stupid. The comedy pedigree in the cast deserves our respect though. 

Parks and Recreation (NBC, premieres April 9, Thurs 8:30)

We'll follow Amy Poehler anywhere, though this doesn't promise to be a favourite. 

*Party Down (Starz, premieres Tomorrow, Fri 10:30)

Rob Thomas writes good stuff! Also: Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, Jane Lynch and Lizzy Caplan. Plus amazing guest stars like Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring and Rob Corddry.

Southland (NBC, premieres April 9, Thurs 10:00)

Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) is back on TV! How could we not watch that? Also: former West Wing showrunner John Wells is at the helm. 

The Unusuals (ABC, premieres April 8, Wed 10:10)

Amber Tamblyn + Adam Goldberg make up for our left over Michael hatred that prevents us from ever really embracing Harold Perrineau. 

Recipe for Success

Set Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas free on a low-pressure network like Starz. 

Add a winning comedy concept (a catering company full of wannabes). 

Then give him a plethora of Mars alum to work with (Vinnie Van Lowe, Dick Casablancas, Logan, Meg and Veronica herself... just for starters).

And add a sprinkling of other winning cast members (the incomparable Jane Lynch, the always likable Lizzie Caplan, and Ryan Devlin, whom some may remember as the guy who appeared on my TV for 1 hour of Valentine this fall and made me giddy for months).

The result is Party Down, a new comedy premiering Friday, March 20 on Starz; sure to be a treat for any Thomas fan. 

For the full story, visit "Watch with Kristin" at Eonline by clicking here