We're cancelled? What the hell for?
Hello FAN readers, and welcome to the wonderful world of failed television. My name is David (some of you may know me as davethedave) and this week I’ll be looking at a program by the name of Party Down. In early 2009 when I heard of this show, the title threw me off a bit. I looked at the cast, and with people like Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Ken Marino and Martin Starr, I was confused, yet interested. With the title being what it was, and characters by the name of Ronald Donald and Roman DeBeers, I was expecting to be given a half an hour of low brow and alcohol induced humor. While good, I was not excited about Judd Apatow’s movie style on television (but I loved Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks, go figure). Luckily for viewers such as myself, I was wrong. Sadly for the show’s ratings, maybe they should have gone with more of that. Don’t get me wrong, they take advantage of being allowed show boobs, doing drugs and swearing on STARZ, so if you want that, check it out too.
Party Down is centered on a main cast of five struggling entertainers and a man with a big dream . The entire main cast is suffering drowning in failure, but essentially this group of people is a perfect storm of abject misery. Henry is a famous commercial actor who can’t get work. Casey and Kyle are new comers waiting for a break, Martin is a sci-fi writer and Constance is an old time actress that used to be a big deal, seemingly largely due to the fact that she slept with a lot of people. That leaves the man running the show, Ron. He is the played by Ken Marino of The State fame, and dreams not of the big screen, but of running a new Soup R’ Crackers, which is the fastest growing non-poultry, non-coffee franchise in southern California.
Being caterers in SoCal, these misfits get to hobnob with the very people that they want to impress and someday be. Sadly, they do while wearing pink bowties, “crisp” white shirts and on some occasions, carrying trays of penis shaped snacks. It’s very hard to make Steve Guttenberg take you seriously when you show him a bunch of tiny dicks. Serving the Hollywood elite only fueled by hate and liquor makes Party Down catering company the choice of the desperate and causes nothing but headaches for Ron, the only one that gives 1/8thof a shit.
So much so, he will die for it.
The cast and dialogue really drive the show. The plots are interesting in the fact that they happen in very odd places, but they are not all that original. Each character basically does the same thing in most episodes and there isn’t a real overlaying plot. Each character pretty much has a set interaction, varying from moments of true friendship in between all the bickering and mocking. In the first 10 episodes , each character can be broken down easily.
Roman: Snobby writer that looks down at everyone.
Kyle: Pretty. Dumb. Blonde. Perfect for Hollywood, it’s just harder as a man.
Henry: So miserable he seems happy. Wise cracking smart mouth who everyone loves.
Constance: Also dumb and blonde, but she’s more than dumb. She’s old and crazy.
Casey: Like Henry, but is still trying be an actress. Dislikes most people.
Ron: The willful leader. He busts his ass in order to kiss everyone else’s.
In the 1st season, that’s pretty much it. No real plot to speak of. Soup R’ Crackers and various acting jobs are running jokes, but they are not really plot important. The situations that come up at the parties (like skinny dipping and flag burnings) drive the happenings.
Wait….wait, I forgot the one plot point. I think I did this because it is so hackneyed that it does not even stick out. Like most things that have ever been written or filmed, there is a love story. It’s not Kyle with some lotion in front of a mirror, no; it is our two main characters Casey and Henry. It is vogue in Hollywood now to make movies about people just fucking as friends, only to find that they really are in love. Party Down beat that curve by two years. They start off hooking up at work in order to forget that they serve food to and with a bunch of bumbling idiots. This eventually devolves into a real romance. They do throw a nice twist in having the guy be the one that gets emotional and they call each other “man” and “dude” a lot, so at least it is not nauseating. It did give us the great love making line “call me Misses Butterworth bitch,” that I can only hope one day a special lady says to me.
Along with Henry, Roman is weird for Casey (meaning: wants her lady parts). It’s mentioned a few times, but all the relationships come to a head in episode 7 “Brandix Corporate Retreat.” The lovable losers are catering for a company picnic essentially, with special guest speaker and actor, Rick Fox. I think he also used to play basketball for the Celtics and some other people. Roman and Henry are jealous because Casey is hanging out with Rick Fox. Everyone’s feelings are let out, and Rick Fox nails Casey with his “hula hoop” dick. Ryan believes, and I bet he is right, that fucking Rick Fox is like fucking a handsome giraffe. I know we’ve all had the fantasy.
The second season saw some changes. The only success anyone had was met with more failure. Ron got his restaurant and quickly ran it into the ground. Casey went on a comedy tour, ending her budding relationship. Henry took Ron’s job and starts getting it on with a rival caterer. Ryan and Roman don’t do a thing, and Constance moves away, making room for Lydia, who is trying to raise money to make her daughter Escapade (not a car) a star. Lydia is played by Megan Mullally (you know, the annoying lady from Will and Grace not named Sean Hayes) and is a much better addition than Lynch. Thanks Glee for taking her away and making this show even better by getting rid of the worst character. Eventually, the status quo was reset, and Ron got his job back and the crew went back to messing around and never doing anything right.
Unlike Lydia, I fucking hate Steve Guttenberg.
Though not super involved stories, the show was an interesting enough premise and having an amazing cast helped make this show a hit among critics and people like me who like weird stuff. The series ended with each character having a bit of hope, and the final scene saw Henry going to his first audition in years, following his dream. Hooray. I am more interested where Roman’s masterpiece written on toilet paper from accidently getting high goes.
Sadly, critics were the only people that seemed to watch the show. Ratings tanked, and stars were bailing. Jane Lynch, though I hate her face, brought recognition to the show. She went off to do Glee. The other cast member leaving was Adam Scott. He went to do his role on Parks and Recreations. It’s a little hard to do a show without the main character, so STARZ decided to pull the plug on Party Down ending its two season run. Left behind is a lot of drinking, pill use, hatred, an bonding only because you are such a loser, only other losers like you. I don’t know if I’m describing the show now or most of my friend’s lives. Oh well, that was Party Down in a nut shell, I recommend finding it on DVD, the cast and dialogue are very funny and quotable, if that’s your thing. So FAN readers, I only have one question: Are we having fun yet?
