I can see how this film might not be for everybody, but I make my living writing for television and this movie is actually pretty dead on. The satire works because I felt they keep it real. Stuff that might seem absurd I have seen happen (actually real stuff that happens in the development of a pilot would make people shout at the screen and say "come on - that couldn't happen!!). The film is very well cast - everyone from Lindsay Sloane to Ion Gruffudd give strong performances. Many of my fellow writers begged me to see it, so I finally went and I thought Kasdan does an excellent job. But the film could pretty much play like a documentary - without fail, the nets will almost instantly try and change the ONE thing about a project that makes it unique - they want it to be like everything else (Weaver's character has the great line - "it seems original and original scares me!"). It is a real marathon filled with danger to get a pilot sold, then possibly get it filmed, then edited, then tested and then through literally winning a lottery - getting it on the air!! But at the end of the day - it is the viewers who decide what stays on - if something gets numbers, it stays - if it doesn't - it goes. And every now and then a unique and smart show will get on the air and more times than not - no one will watch it. Viewers SAY they want something different, but most of the time when you try to do that - they go "what the hell is this?? This is too different" and then they go back to watching Jim Belushi.
Review of The TV Set
