I saw on twitter that Details magazine has what they are calling the Complete Oral History of the show, and it’s funny, informative and bittersweet (considering how much everybody who was on the show wanted to keep it going, if the Starz brass had pulled the trigger).
Watching this on Netflix, and the Lyre of Orpheus community theater episode is simply amazing. There’s something about a comedy of errors that really get writers into a self aware mode, and this is one of the best executions I’ve seen.
It’s downright magnicifent.
Ryan Hansen really is Kyle.
I’m finally catching up and watching season 2. The Jackal Onassis episode is amazing. I was afraid the loss of Lynch would be felt but Mrs. Ron Swanson totally pulls her own weight.
“His first day. Poor Dennis.”
We once had fun, and in the future, we may do so again. What about right now, though? Are we having fun yet?
More details?
Reviving series is a good way to make people go watch the originals again. I think I watched the first two seasons of this. But I can’t remember for sure.
Very sad about Caplan now being able to return though.
Will watch, of course. I will accept arguments that Party Down is the greatest comedy series of all time.
LTTP - How did I not know a new season was a thing? And it’s coming Feb. 24, 2023.
(Gift link.)
Thanks for that! And as much as I’ve been following the revival, I had thought it was a movie this whole time. It’s six episodes instead? That’s like a really long movie!
I’m in, if only based on the tremendous good will the 1st three seasons engendered within me.
Variety doesn’t seem to keen on the revival however…
Ugh, that review is enough to turn me off the project (it still being on Starz doesn’t help either). When I heard about the revival, I was initially interested—Party Down was great, after all—but with the caveat that, a decade on, it would be a bit disappointing, depressing even, if the characters (save the absent one) were in the same place as before, which is what happened here. I guess their options were to either have them be acting/writing failures stuck doing what they were (or find a way for them to become failures again necessitating going back into catering) or have them move on, either into the careers they’d dreamed of or something different, meaning the catering conceit would be abandoned, meaning it wouldn’t be Party Down anymore.
I think a movie would have worked better in either case. If it focuses on them all being Hollywood failures, the length becomes more tenable because it at least requires you to spend less time stewing with them in their miseries and indignities. Similarly, if perhaps some of the group had found some modicum of success or moved on to other fields, a movie could be framed as a reunion where we check in with all of them, and then there’s no need to worry about keeping Party Down focused on catering because it’s only a one off: the spirit of the show isn’t being betrayed because there is no show, only 80 minutes or so of hanging with old pals.
Honestly, for me, I doubt there is really a way to make Party Down great in 2023. It would either be a slight distraction relying on my nostalgia for a show from a decade ago or one that verges on misery porn, which I’m not sure I have the tolerance for anymore unless it’s doing something really compelling. Maybe had it rebooted with a new cast (the catering concept is a good one) or acted as if the decade gap didn’t happen and carried on as a potential season three would have there would be some potential, but even so seemingly every revival show has difficulty recapturing its former magic after this length of layoff. I think Twin Peaks is the only one of them I thought was good.
I’m not saying it shouldn’t exist: the people still interested could have a good time with it, and I’m sure some will. But for me, Party Down likely still ends with the last episode of season 2.
I’ll watch this so we’ll see, but the proper way to do Season 3 would have been a mix of parties where some are hosted by the original cast (Henry/Casey, Kyle, Roman, Constance, maybe Lydia for Escalade so we can get some Kaitlyn Dever action). And so we get to see everyone having moved forward in life, but not nearly as far as they hoped (Dick is doing third rate Netflix Heimsworth netflix knock offs and the worst show ever on the CW; Henry has been type cast as some sort of secondary skeezy “not the main villain” type; The Serpent in the Mirror has garnered some critical acclaim and some sales but followups have not and Roman is still fumbling through; etc). Ron is still running Party Down because of course he is (Ron still being there is one of the things that actually makes sense).
The new season is fantastic so far. I don’t feel like this show has lost a step. The cake bites plot device in episode 2 was my favorite bit so far.
After reading a few reviews I wonder if the reviewers aren’t familiar with the show, or haven’t watched in a while. This is Party Down. My wife and I just finished rewatching the first two series. Season 3 is so funny. I don’t feel like they missed a beat. The second espisode had many genuine LOL moments as well as cringe moments (using Jack Botty’s shower - twice!) for all.
Wow, I didn’t realize reviews were negative on it. I only saw one of the AV Club reviews, and it seemed pretty positive. But yeah, this show feels exactly the same, maybe minus Roman’s weird beard, haha.
Oh, yay. I saw the reviews and was sad and was going to keep my PD memory unsullied, with the caveat that I’d wait for Qt3 opinions before making a final call. Looks like a brief Stars subscription is in order once they’ve all dropped.
Thanks for the impressions!