As Seen on TV

saw a screening because i knew one of the smaller-role actors. was prepared for another low-budget so-so sitcomy short. man, was i blown away. great pacing, character development, jokes that were funny and irreverent as hell. unbelievably good comic acting. well shot, too, in that shaky, arrested development way. george wendt is bigger and better than ever, and the woman with the lead role as "aimee" is perfect--i mean perfect. booze jokes, sex jokes, race jokes and outrageous situations are sewn together somehow to define a huge bunch of characters in a plot that actually moves along and makes sense. if somebody doesn't do something with this project it'll be a shame. would make a great adult sitcom, until the networks butcher it, anyway. the writer/director is a really young guy, and apparently put the whole deal together himself. pretty impressive.

I really enjoyed this short. It's odd and funny in the way that The Offfice or Arrested Development are. The characters are diverse and interesting. You've got the naive owner's daughter who runs the company despite only having experience as a grade-school teacher. A mousy receptionist who can't get the right birthday. Oh, and I really like the remodeling job they do in the break room. Since it was written as a pilot television show, I'd like to see more episodes. There are also valuable lessons. For example, I learned from this that American Indians are prone to drinking and that black people enjoy "Nehi" and other fruit flavored sodas. You won't learn that in school! I think this even invents a new stereotype involving homosexual men and cake.

It was as fun to work on the set with Ryan and his crew as it is to watch the final product. Creative, fresh and funny--we could use more comedies like this one! Each character was so well-developed, and even when you want to despise them for their political incorrectness, ineptness or plain rudeness, you just can't do it with a big grin on your face. The casting was right on...Helen Greenburg especially will have you hitting the rewind button over and over again. The writing was intelligent and clever, but the humor still was accessible. Seth Peterson's timing was impeccable and it was a pleasure to watch as his character's is sanity slowly slipping away while Anna Bocci's character proportionably gets unjustifiably confident. (I adore the out takes, of course, but that's because it's the only place you'll see me). Well, I'd still recommend it to anyone who is desperately missing "Arrested Development."