Party Down Huge frustration of not being able to find viewers when it airedStarz in 2009 and 100 not because of how good the show is. I’m used to great shows, but not big numbers.
No, if you look at the ratings for Party Down, I’d be outraged, you’d think it was A somewhat esoteric show, designed for a niche audience. The reality is, not only is Party Down packed with already-familiar actors, they’re only in the decade that followed; it’s also A very broad, very accessible, often downright funny show. Sure, it’s a little smarter than your average bear, and its take on the culture surrounding Hollywood is sort of like the inside of a baseball. But its structure is that of a fairly conventional workplace sitcom with a narrative engine that can be infinitely updated, and it should set the stage for a long wacky party.
Party Down
BOTTOM LINE A very fun and very welcome comeback, albeit with some of the biggest songs pandering to the audience.
Air date:
Friday, February 9pm (Starz) Throwing:
Adam Scott
, Ken Marino , Martin Starr , Ryan Hanson , Tyrel Jackson Williams , Zoë Chao, Jennifer Garner , Jane Lynch, Megan Mullally
Created by:
John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd
That’s probably why this little show is often 100, Regular Starz The viewers on the show – unbelievable how bad just Party Down was in the first place – accu has drawn over the years enough new audiences to make a revival possible. It’s also probably why Starz’s new revival Party Down has been so universally successful. Even as new episodes—five of the six installments have been sent to critics—occasionally mark an effort to rerun some of the show’s biggest hits, Party Down back to solid ground in general, generating some laughs, many smiles and a lot of nostalgic warmth.
The third season of John Enboom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd’s comedy begins Years after the screen titled “Kyle Bradway is Nitromancer” finale, like the title, dedicated to 10 minutes of general catch-up.
Former aspiring actor Kyle (Ryan Hansen), apparently in steady work, is on the verge of his biggest breakout yet, in a potentially lucrative franchise. Play a leading role in the business. He hires the Party Down team, led by a desperate to please Ron (Ken Marino), as caterers. The team still includes Martin Starr’s Roman, with his attitude and love of hard science fiction intact, but Kyle invites the rest of the gang, including Henry (Adam Scott), Lydia (Megan Mullally) and Constance (Jane Lynch) as civilians join.
There is a party, usually with high profile guest stars, James Marsden as a more established actor and Jennifer Garner as producer to start a season long , but most of all, it’s TV’s version of Chris Farley’s celebrity interviewer persona. Remember Henry and Casey (Lizzy Caplan, too busy to come back)? What really happened to their relationship? Remember when Lydia’s daughter had a funny name (Escapade)? What happened to her? Remember Roman’s book and Ron’s various expansion plans? any progress? Speaking of memory, does anyone remember Henry being the “Did we have fun?” guy?
Everyone changed a little bit, but no one changed much, everything Lean towards a more condensed version of all the traits from the original series. Henry, despite having moved on with his life, feels extra lonely and mentions “Did we have fun?” Feeling more forced and tired in ten years. Kyle has more ridiculous actor delusions, Roman is more pretentious, and while Constance and Lydia have no reason to be there, they are who they are, just extras. If all six episodes of Party Down were so relentlessly backward-looking, I’d go from tolerance to boredom, but as Lydia says, “I love this stuff. Party. Party. Catch up. Do it again. I love seeing people from the past, and people from the past seeing other people from the past.”
This episode is based on The remainder of the season set up some plot lines, bringing some established characters back into the restaurant world for compelling reasons.
From there, Party Down is Party Down . why not? Yes, we had over a year when people stopped socializing entirely, and our socializing today feels different than it did in the pre-COVID era, but that’s acknowledged in the new episode. If COVID production protocols call for occasional soirees that may have fewer people than the soirees of the first two seasons? Everything fits.
Not all weekly events are hilarious – for every “Steve Guttenberg’s Birthday” or “Celebrate Ricky Sargulesh” there are two or three episodes of the original series It’s usually a lot of fun — but some of it is. “The 1st Annual PI2A Symposium” teamed up with the panel, featuring Callum Worthy and Nick Offerman as guest stars, and the episode was scathing, while mushrooming around a few characters The plot left me dumbfounded.
The overall tone and grammar of the show hasn’t changed at all, which isn’t surprising since Enbom continues to lead the writing team and several key directors are returning. If you like Quibi-related punchlines or the mechanics of Method performances, those are all there. If you don’t want to pay attention to the inside joke, Marino will end up running into a wall, tripping over something, or experiencing allergies or intestinal discomfort. Party Down There are levels.
The series misses out on Caplan, but serves as Casey’s replacement in parts, and Garner fits effortlessly into the whole, getting better with each episode, and in The installment of picking mushrooms culminates. As Party Down’s new head chef, Zoë Chao replaces much of Caplan’s zany energy. Tyrel Jackson Williams, as a new waiter, has the wildly popular TikTok dance profile, for those who haven’t seen his equally good work on the equally overlooked Brockmire To me, this will be a loose revelation). I hope season four realizes that Mullally and Lynch are clearly capable of shining in this venue, but aren’t necessary for the series as a whole, giving Chao and Williams more much time.
Overall, I hope season 4 continues the process of organically advancing the show and expanding the world – more than half of these episodes feature Party Down veterans Hire Party Down for their own party – not for niche parochialism. But more generally, I hope the audience that has built up since the show was originally canceled will show up in these new episodes, and we’ll get a fourth season.
