Unscripted

I couldn't help but be drawn into the drama of the lives of three struggling mid-range actors as they experience the ups and downs of life in Hollywood. While I've read critiques that say their modicum of success makes the show unrealistic, I find it all the more fascinating to see how the lives of these actors change as they fluctuate in and out of Movieland's Pergatory.

The story of the down and out actor who crawls home with his tail between his legs has already been told, as has the story of the actor who goes from rags to riches, but the in-between state in which these men women function is something altogether new to me, and I find it far more fascinating than the hyperbolic drivel that the other extremes present.

The dialogue in this show is real, and frankly perfect. The story lines are beautifully subtle, the imagery is exactly what it needs to be, and the cameos provide the final ingredient that make this quite possibly the finest television drama I've ever seen.

Unlike other viewers (posting on this site), I thoroughly enjoyed the debut episodes of "unscripted." Certainly I agree that the show might not be on the same plane as "Larry Sanders," "Curb," or "Arrested Development," but those shows are neo-classics. Furthermore, Clooney et al are attempting to do something very different here than we see with those programs.

Krista Allen and Bryan Greenburg's characters are endearing, even if the other students portrayed are a bit formulaic and silly. Frank Langella's depiction of the brutally honest acting coach is riveting and entirely realistic as a portrayal of an advanced drama coach.

This is an insightful and creative look at a few of the thousands of actors on the edge of making it, and infinitely more entertaining than HBO's recent attempt ("Entorage"...and rare dud) at creating a television show about an actor who already has.

Network: HBO; Genre: Comedy, Docudrama; Content Rating: TV-MA (profanity, mild simulated sex); Available: DVD; Perspective: Cult Classic (star range: 1 - 5);

Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season)

George Clooney and Stephen Soderburg's Section Eight production company hits a home run on just their second try. "Unscripted" follows in the reality-bending mold of their faux political docudrama "K Street": real people play themselves improvising in fictional situations shot around real events and injected with other actors playing characters. Got all that? "Unscripted" takes this neo-classic format and gives us three people at the center of it that are so endearing, they take it to the next level. What was before just a technical feat to be admired in "K Street", is now an emotionally wadded experience to be loved in "Unscripted".

"Unscripted", in every frame, is about stars Krista Allen, Bryan Greenburg, and Jennifer Hall. It captures the plight of a young, idealistic actor struggling to make it in this bizarre world of Hollywood with more insight and empathy than any other show. The Hollywood of "Unscripted" isn't glamorous, where the burning desire to act goes hand-in-hand with a daily gauntlet of humiliation.

To make sense of it all is Goodard Fulton (Frank Langella), the hard-nosed acting school teacher, defining pretension, whose many priceless monologues about every high and low of the soul-consuming "craft" of acting serves as a sort of narrated tour guide to keep his students surviving the Hollywood machine. He tells his students the only way they will be able to do this will be if they "can't not do it".

Bryan Greenburg looks like he is on the fast track to stardom. Having a brush with fame on "One Tree Hill" and "Life with Bonnie", he later lands a starring role and a trip to New York in the Meryl Streep/ Uma Thurman movie "Prime". At the coaxing of his roommates he pads his resume and uses his daily life as a training ground to immerse himself in a limping, stuttering character for a role. But what happens to those friends if Greenburg hits it big?

"She's just so green" says a casting agent about Jennifer Hall. The adorable singer/songwriter of her 2-chick band Black Liquorish, Jennifer's credits include a line on "Yes, Dear", a brush with Keanu Reeves as a "featured extra" and playing the statue of liberty on the corner of Liberty Car Wash with more gusto then you can imagine anyone else in the world doing.

The biggest revelation here is Krista Allen, whose storyline involves a quest to become a real actress despite the reputation of being in "Emmanuelle" ("the James Bond of soft core movies") hanging over her head. There is a sitcom element to the stories of Greenburg and Hall, but watching Krista Allen I became completely convinced I was seeing a documentary - to the point where you have to step back and remember that Allen is playing herself, not being herself. Allen is subject to some particularly stinging humiliation, which results in her taking a role in a 16-year-old's backyard film. While much of this is motivated by the chance to strike back at a Hollywood that won't take her as anything other than a sex object in a 2-piece (the men around her are shown to be pretty creepy), Allen's "character" is a dichotomy that doesn't see using her sex appeal (which includes an affair with Goddard) to get what she wants as undermining her mission. A series highlight is when an enraged Allen tells off a casting director who told her 6-year-old son that he was "not funny". Krista should be proud of this show. This is great work by any standard.

Other actors and would-be actors in Frank's acting class include "Tru Calling's" Jessica Collins, Jennifer's increasingly close friend "Dragon" who fights actor outsourcing ("Why did 'Lost in Translation' have to take place in Japan", he asks), and Nick Paonessa who steals Bryan's contacts and accidentally finds himself in a genital warts commercial - a bit that on any other show would be purely sitcom stuff, but here is so well played it gets the biggest laughs of the series. If anything "Unscripted" recalls the UK masterpiece "The Office", a show that finds laughs in total humiliation and refuses to allow its characters a victory until the last possible second.

George Clooney (who has proved his classic directorial skills on the big screen) directs the first 5 episodes and Clooney regular Grant Helslov, picks up the last 5. They do one hell of a dynamite job. Each episode is constructed masterfully with an assemblage of audio and video that looks like a documentary and doesn't feel linear. It is a sitcom for people who hate sitcoms. You might call it organized chaos, which at first might not look like it knows where it is going and then brings itself into focus. Where "Street" was foggy, aimless, distant and pretentious, "Unscripted" is sharp, clear, thoughtful, fluid and heart-felt.

"Inside Hollywood" shows are a dime a dozen, particularly on HBO. From the scripted wish-fulfillment series "Entourage" to the day-to-day documentary "Project Greenlight" to the celebrity behind-the-scenes cameos of "Curb Your Enthusiasm". "Unscripted" is the best. The best. The only flaw here is that it didn't last long enough to really flesh itself out. I watched the 10 episodes slowly, trying to savor everything, not wanting it to end as soon as it does. The mind wonders what a few more years of Goddard speeches would be like.

It is the rarest show that you don't just enjoy watching every episode, but instantly want to watch them again. That, and a desire to know what is happening with the "characters" after the show was cut to an end, is about as high a compliment as you can give a series.

* * * * ½ / 5

On the border of mockumentary and drama, Unscripted focuses on the lives of three struggling actors without the glamor and fake tension found in Hollywood or reality shows. The only connection between the three actors is an acting class they all attend, though they each go on their own acting endeavors.

The struggling and determination of what the characters go through truly touched me. Unscripted records the odyssey these people go through to make it big, from numerous dead end auditions to making ends meet. Instead of the actors discussing the latest Hollywood flick they starred in, they converse about the latest walk on role they had or which show hired them as a stand in. It isn't as cut throat as Greenlight, and truly allows the viewer to get in depth with the character and feel the struggle they're going through.

This is an unusual show in that, while it is fictional, the actors are actually playing themselves. Which is a little strange, since occasionally they don't portray themselves in a particularly positive light (one actress, for example, sleeps with her acting teacher).

Nevertheless, the show is very well acted and directed. The style is unmistakably Soderbergh--hand-held camera, sound overlapping silent shots, etc. The show incorporates celebrity cameos in a very real, organic way, rather than being jokey about it. Overall, a compelling watch.

Problem is, the subject matter is so old, that I can't imagine this show remaining fresh for more than a season. You mean, the life of an actor is extremely tough and often degrading? I had no idea! Especially because the show takes place in LA, rather than New York. In NY, actors at least do interesting things while their miserable. LA is all about going on auditions for bit parts on second-rate sitcoms, a life which I find so pointless that I have a hard time relating to people trying to "make it" in Hollywood.

Who am I kidding? Like I won't watch it compulsively ...