jeroleva elwood janett
Catrin Muzquiz
I've never watched It's Always Sunny, but I found Jimmi Simpson's quips in his prince-and-the-pauper role to be by far the funniest part of the episode. But the rest was still interesting, especially the Henry/Casey tension. If this is the weakest, I can't wait for the rest.
Yeah, this was just wonderful. Which I know is an odd word. PD has a unique warm vibe for a comedy built around near-constant humiliation and awkwardness.
Community is close in that way, but has more jokes and is more absurd.
Big fan of this show, so glad to have it back.
Was hoping your opener was going to be "Just as soon as I get some leftover Chinese food and watch the Mentalist"
I have to concur with everyone else. If this is the weakest episode out of all of them, we're in for an awesome season.
Curious what happened with Jennifer Coolidge, they never addressed her character. Did her character get canned between this season and the last one in favor of Megan Mullaly? Wasn't that big a fan of her on the show, just wondering what that deal was.
Wow, if this is the weakest of the season, I'm really, really looking forward to the rest of it.
I don't particularly like or dislike Lydia yet, but I think Mullaly has a better chance to fit in with the show than previous guest cater waiter Jennifer Coolidge (who I think is great otherwise, but whose comedic style don't mesh with this show at all - at least, not as a regular).
Oh, and Jimmi Simpson was pretty fantastic in this episode! I just love how much his character enjoyed being Dennis. And it doesn't hurt to see Roman dressed up like that.
Jimmi Simpson was awesome in this episode. I hope to see more of him in other things (BTW, Fred Savage directed this and as he directs a lot of the IASIP episodes, I figure that's how the McPoyle connection occurred). Also, I don't think you mentioned it in your article, Alan, but Party Down is also playing on the DirecTV 101 channel. Do they have a similar deal as with FNL where DTV is subsidizing some of the show?
watched the fifth episode (the Steve Guttenberg episode) on the starz website and it was just completely awesome. so much fun watching this group of actors work together, going to be very sad to see them all go their separate ways next season.
Note to people with Comcast On Demand, there is a second episode available to watch ("Steve Guttenberg's Birthday")
So sad. My spell checker doesn't recognize Guttenberg. If I was typing this from 1985, it sure would have.
Weakest of the season? In that case this probably is a pretty good season coming up.
I actually thought this was a strong premiere if not best episode of the series so far. I thought it effectively reviewed everyone's personality type: Henry's Jim Halpert groundedness, Ron's energy with idiotic backdrop, Roman's all-talk but no substance arrogant demeanor, etc.
And yes, very surprised no Kostroff shout-out; always good to see 'The Wire' alums popping up...far fewer though than I'd like.
You really think this is the weakest episode? I thought it was stronger than the second one. I was really looking forward to the return of J.K. Simmons and it let me down a little bit. Still a great ep though.
Anyone without Netflix or Starz who wants to watch the show can also catch this episode, the Steve Guttenberg episode and 3 from season one on Fancast- www.fancast.com/tv/Party-Down/
They are all awesome!
BigTed, I got Jimmi Simpson and Michael Weston mixed up for ages. I think it was because, early on, I had an aversion to both of them based on the first parts I remember seeing them in - Weston was tremendously creepy on Six Feet Under and Simpson (appropriately) off-putting on It's Always Sunny. I think it helped me finally differentiate them when both actors appeared on House. I've warmed to both considerably - particularly notable with Weston, who used to make me practically jump out of my chair every time I saw him. As for Simpson, I agree with Jeff W. that his quips provided some of the biggest laughs.
Overall, I thought tonight's episode was a success - can't wait for the rest of the season!
Alan, is there any chance of you doing an article about the many ways this show is available to watch? I don't think I can recall a series that aired on so many different platforms: Starz, Netflix, DirecTV, online...is this the future of TV?
Me excited this is back, and me definitely want to watch it... but enough to subscribe to Starz-with-a-Z? Bad enough me had to sign up for Peacock for Poker Face! Me might wait until season is done, do free trial, and watch whole season in week... but me also know that not incentivizing Starzzz to do more seasons of show. It real moral quandry.
There are primarily two reasons to revive\u2014rather than reboot or remake\u2014a television show. The first is because the show was in some way unresolved, creating built-up audience demand for a proper conclusion. The second is because there is so much general goodwill toward a given show and its characters that the idea of them returning is enough to cut through the clutter of Peak TV.
You will note that these are both business logics, because revivals are often best understood through this lens. Outside of an example like Twin Peaks, it\u2019s hard to think of an example of a revival that actually felt like it was driven by a creative impulse rather than the increasing dependence on existing intellectual property within Hollywood.
Which brings us to Party Down. On a creative level, \u201CKyle Bradway is Nitromancer\u201D actually makes a pretty comprehensive argument that there was creative justification for a revival of the short-lived Starz comedy series. The general premise of the show is a solid starting point\u2014a group of struggling cater-waiters in Los Angeles fight against the inertia of their depressing lives to try to make something of themselves lends itself to checking back in on those characters a decade later. Who got out? Who made it big? Who\u2019s still wearing the pink bowtie?
But the episode also goes to great lengths to have the events at the end of the second season\u2019s finale, \u201CConstance Carmell Wedding,\u201D feed into the events in the present(-ish) day. Whether in Constance\u2019s new status as a widowed patron of the arts, references to Ron\u2019s affair with the owner\u2019s daughter, Roman recalling his magnum opus written on toilet paper, and most centrally Karma Rocket\u2019s accidental anti-semitism, the episode treats that finale as an unfinished sentence. We thought the finale had a period at the end, but it was actually a semi-colon, waiting for the next chapter in the story.
Okay, that\u2019s hyperbole: critics watched Party Down when it aired, Starz\u2019s distribution deal with Netflix expanded its audience in the immediate aftermath of its cancellation, and certainly some number of people have stumbled onto the show in the thirteen years it\u2019s been off the air. But at the time, it was among the lowest-rated shows tracked by Nielsen, as the premium cable network\u2019s attempt to break into original content struggled to get anything approximating viewership. Even if you argue the show became a \u201Ccult classic,\u201D there is absolutely no good economic argument for reuniting the show\u2019s cast, compiling a new assortment of famous guest stars, and investing in a continuation of a story that at best hundreds of thousands of people were ever invested in.
But as one of those people, I found \u201CKyle Bradway is Nitromancer\u201D to be a suitably funny and narratively compelling re-entry into this world. There\u2019s a little too much going on plot-wise for the show\u2019s comedy to really let loose\u2014the best Party Down episodes are when the party spins out of control in ways that pull in all the individual character beats swirling within it, but this is actually a low-key affair, as far as parties go. Most of the people at the party probably don\u2019t even realize any of the episode\u2019s drama was unfolding, which means the focus is really on how each former or current member of the Party Down team is processing this period in their lives.
For me, it was hard to focus on anything other than the fact that circumstances require all of these people to be back in a pink bowtie sooner than later. The episode doesn\u2019t rush this process\u2014it\u2019s obvious how Kyle getting booted from his Nitromancer role in favor of his friend who shares the same agent (Quinta Brunson) is his pathway back to Party Down, and Constance\u2019s investment in the business is obviously a way for her to eventually suit back up. But Henry is a more interesting case, because when we meet him he\u2019s settled into what sounds like a living: a job teaching high school English! A wife and kids! He even bought a house! In Los Angeles! And while Lydia and Constance wistfully think about what could have been if Casey wasn\u2019t busy shooting in New York and had returned for the party, Henry\u2019s life isn\u2019t as pervasively sad as it was a decade earlier, even if the context means we\u2019re naturally reading his somewhat tense calls with his wife or his chemistry with Eevie Adler (Jennifer Garner) through that lens.
There\u2019s no resolution to his story, though. He works with new employee Saxon and it;Roman to figure out that it was Karma Rocket\u2019s guitarist (Fran Kranz) who posted the video as revenge for Kyle quitting the band for his acting career, but other than clearly staying at the party longer than his wife expected, it\u2019s not like this party changed his life in the way it changed Kyle\u2019s, or even Ron\u2019s for that matter. And as far as we know, he\u2019s no closer to the pink bowtie than he was when the episode began, despite the fact\u2014spoiler alert\u2014he\u2019s in the crew photo on the website that the URL on Ron\u2019s truck directs to.
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