Tag Archives: Party Down

2012 Winter TCAs: ‘Breaking In’ banked on ‘New Girl’ success at FOX for comeback; star Megan Mullally confirms ‘Party Down’ movie

Today at the TCAs, FOX brought together its new, spectacular Tuesday night comedy lineup: New Girl, Raising Hope, and the back-from-the-dead series Breaking In. Co-creator of the Christian Slater workplace comedy Adam F. Goldberg shared with the critics in attendance the secret ingredient behind his show’s revival: New Girl‘s success. “[Fox Entertainment president] Kevin Reilly said, ‘I want to build a whole comedy night,’ so he picked up the [Breaking In] actors’ options,” said Goldberg. “I was in a holding pattern. Nobody wanted New Girl to work more than I did, because that meant we could come back.” He continued, “I got this e-mail [from Slater] saying we’re going to come back from the dead.” Slater commented, “I decided to relocate to Miami. As soon as you move away from where you shoot the show is when they decide to bring it back. I thought it was adorable.” More like, adorkable!

Megan Mullally, who will be joining the show as a series regular in season, was also in hand to celebrate Breaking In‘s renewal. With New Girl shining star Zooey Deschanel just a few feet away from her, Mullally made it known that “I’m adorkable — there’s going to be two.” She went on: “I met these people for the first time at Tuesday night’s table read. I just pulled it right out of my ass yesterday morning. That’s pretty much how it went.” Ha! On a more serious note, Goldberg said that the addition of Mullally’s character Veronica Mann (who is Oz’s boss at the Contra Security firm) will make the show “feel more like an office show — that meant building in more people in the office that could be funny. Also one thing that was missing for me was a foil for Oz, Christian’s character.”

In related news, it was announced that British actress Erin Richards (Being Human) has been added to the cast to fill in the “hot girl” void (my words) that the show will be lacking without Odette Annable’s presence. It has been confirmed that Annable’s Melanie will only appear in four of the upcoming series of episodes due to her series regular commitment to another FOX show House. Richards will be introduced in the season 2 premiere as the executive assistant to Mullally’s character. Breaking In returns to FOX’s schedule March 6.

That’s where the Breaking In newsfeed ends, but there’s one more matter to be discussed. At the panel, Mullally let slip that the Party Down movie is in the works! Her words: “I will be doing the Party Down movie. [Co-creator] John [Enbom] is writing it right now.” Boom. Like Breaking In, the Starz cult-hit is going to be revived, but on the big screen. Mullally kept her lips flapping about a possible storyline for her character. “I think we’re going to see Lydia’s ex-husband — Ed I think is name — who was really racist and a misogynist.” Arrested Development and Party Down resurrected and coming to theatres soon? Praise almighty.

[Via Deadline 1, 2; THR]

TV Reminder: ‘Party Down’ cast reunites tonight on ‘Childrens Hospital’ [Update: clip inside]

So get this. Tonight on Adult Swim’s Childrens Hospital the Party Down catering service will reunite! Just because the insanely underrated, ill-fated Starz comedy Party Down was cancelled after a two-season run in 2010, that doesn’t mean the gang can’t get back together again. If you watch the irreverent comedy from Rob Corddry then you should know that the show stars two Party Down members–Ken Marino and Megan Mullally. In tonight’s episode Ron Donald and Lydia Dunfree will be joined by fellow caterers Lizzy Caplan, Martin Starr, and Ryan Hansen. Unfortunately, pending any surprises, Adam Scott and Jane Lynch will not be on hand for the scene. Dr. Glenn Richie (Marino) is celebrating his Bar Mizvah and the Party Down crew show up to cater it.

In an interview with EW, Marino shared his initial excitement on shooting day. “I couldn’t believe all the Party Down actors showed up!” he said. “I love the guy who plays Ron. He came in. He was kind of a d—, actually, in real life.” Funny man! He continued, “We had so much fun doing that little scene. And then we were like, goddammit, why is this show not happening anymore?” He went on to describe his hair dilemma. “We had to try to fake my Ron Donald haircut because I had my Glenn Richie haircut,” he said. “It was too long and looked a little ridiculous.”

Childrens Hospital airs Thursday nights at midnight on Adult Swim.

Update: In case you missed it or want to watch it again, jump after the break for the 35-second Party Down cameo. They ended up sticking it all the way at the end between the credits. But boy was it sweet. Continue reading TV Reminder: ‘Party Down’ cast reunites tonight on ‘Childrens Hospital’ [Update: clip inside]

Starz cancels ‘Party Down’

Let me start with the official statement from executive vice president of programming Stephan Shelanski because I’m speechless right now.  “After careful consideration, we’ve decided not to continue on with subsequent seasons of Party Down and Gravity.  We’re grateful to everyone involved in the shows, and are proud to have had them on the channel.  Starz remains committed to aggressively expanding our original programming lineup.”

Damn you Starz!  I mean, give me a break!  Party Down is (grr) was one of the most original shows on television.  Sure it’s ratings were abysmal and its two biggest starts moved on to other network projects (Jane Lynch to Glee, Adam Scott to Parks & Rec) but you still could’ve made things work!  After only two season on the air Party Down garnered a decent following (who apparently watched episodes soley on the Internet via Netflix) and received rave reviews from critics.  Even a slight marketing push for season 2 (I saw posters everywhere for it) wasn’t enough to attract more eyeballs to the show’s Friday night 10PM timeslot.  I’m going to place this premature death alongside the ranks of Arrested Development; both shows were ahead of their time, too smart for television, and…damnit I’m angry.

[Via EW-AusielloFiles]