'Party Down' and 'Head Case' reviews

By Rick Porter

    

March 19, 2009 1:34 PM ET

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The explosion of original series on cable in the past few years has made it ever more difficult to keep track of what's good on television. And so I have some bad news: You might want to figure out where Starz is on your cable system, because it's got a pair of pretty funny shows debuting Friday.

"Head Case," which begins its second season at 10 p.m. ET Friday (March 20), and "Party Down," a new show that follows it at 10:30, both are hit-and-miss in the way that partially improvised shows tend to be, but both offer enough good stuff (along with a healthy dose of celebrity cameos, particularly in "Head Case") to make them worth your time.

"Party Down" comes from the "Veronica Mars" team of Rob Thomas, John Enbom and Dan Etheridge and Thomas' buddy Paul Rudd. It follows a group of cater-waiters in Los Angeles, led by former screwup-turned-ineffective striver Ron (Ken Marino, one of numerous "Veronica Mars" vets among the regular and guest cast).

Most of the Party Down crew -- pretty boy Kyle ("VM's" Ryan Hansen), would-be screenwriter Roman (Martin Starr, "Knocked Up"), unhappily married comic Casey (Lizzy Caplan, "True Blood") and perpetual movie extra Constance (Jane Lynch, "Two and a Half Men" and a million other things) -- have convinced themselves that this gig is just a temporary thing until their big break comes. So it's more than a little disquieting when Henry (Adam Scott, "Tell Me You Love Me"), who got his big break a few years ago, then lost it and has pretty well given up, rejoins the ranks.

There is, in fact, a sizable vein of melancholy running through the show as the characters face up to or ignore the fact that they might be stuck where they are. Thomas has said that the idea for "Party Down" grew out of watching the British "Office" with his friends, and some of that same sense of bleakness cuts through here.

Thankfully, it can also be terrifically (if fitfully) funny. The crew works a different event in each episode -- a homeowners' association party, a young conservatives meeting and a senior singles mixer make up the first three episodes -- which allows for a roster of guest stars that includes Ed Begley Jr., Enrico Colantoni, Marilu Henner, Jason Dohring and Josh Gad. Scott and Caplan play off one another with relative ease, and Hansen, though he's doing a variation on most of the other characters he's played, does it well.

If "Party Down" doesn't quite nail some of its jokes, "Head Case," with a year under its belt, is a little more assured in its comic voice. The series stars Alexandra Wentworth as therapist to the stars Elizabeth Goode, who may be the world's most self-absorbed shrink. While a parade of stars ranging from Janeane Garofalo to James Denton and Marc Cherry to Macy Gray seeks her guidance, Elizabeth can think of nothing but planning her wedding (there's a great visual joke involving her wedding dress in Friday's premiere) to skeevy agent Jeremy (Rob Benedict) -- and usually finds a way to bring the conversation back to herself.

Wentworth encourages her guest stars to take a hand in crafting their stories, and it usually results in a pretty strong give-and-take between whoever's on screen. The supporting cast of Steve Landesberg, Michelle Arthur and Aris Alvarado is also very much at ease with working without a tight script, and the show seems to have a pretty good sense of when to push things and when to let a bit die.

Starz isn't in a ton of homes, and these two shows are among its first shots at original series (the channel also has "Crash"). But if it keeps turning out quality shows like these two, more people will probably start searching out the 300s in their cable guides. That may not be good news for your already overloaded DVR, but more quality comedy on TV is never a bad thing.

If you can't wait until Friday night, we've got the first episodes of both "Head Case" and "Party Down" for your viewing enjoyment.