The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman

Too bad it didn't get more time to develop. One of those shows I so wish more people, esp women, knew about. Original and savvy and dark and hilarious. What more do you want?

From the great mind of Laura K. and D. Punch, comes a show about losers who win at living life. Jackie tries so hard in a town of idiots to push her screenplays of intelligencia. While Tara, her best friend, is succeeding without really trying and sleeping on the next opportunity.

Dark-sarcastic, and very smart, but at the same time it's sprinkled with stupidity, and happiness. Like life it has it's ups and downs. But has you laughing all the way through. It has you thinking on the obscure references and bitch slaps you with present pop culture.

While IFC (which runs the series exclusively) has only shown Season One, and only three episodes of Season 2; what has come out, is well worth watching again and again.

She has a problem with her plumbing and then has a conversation with her mother about nothing. That's 2 minutes of content. It's like gritty realism about stuff that isn't gritty or in any way remotely interesting. It's like the possibility that some things that aren't generally depicted in fiction are left alone because there is nothing interesting about them just wasn't considered. Cues are taken from all the cable dramadies, and when you combine that with a distinct lack of a creative imagination or any unique personal experiences in life to draw inspiration from, this is what you get. I guess the idea is that you're supposed to still be so fascinated with the mechanics behind the media entertainment industry, in spite of how saturated TV has been with that topic in the last few years, that it can be taken to an even more tediously personal-detail-filled level and remain interesting. Laura's voice sets her demeanor at a permanent state of exasperation which becomes grating fast. This lack of emotional range is the nail in the coffin.

Very creative script!!! I was hesitant to watch this show for the longest time, but am so glad I did. Jackie Woodman was the women I knew from the 70's back in Chicago when Chicago was in its inception of theatre brilliance but these creative albeit caustic women never emerged from its nadir. It is so very heartening that their spirit has survived in Jackie Woodman. Why the entire world has not embraced Laura Kightlinger, I haven't a clue. What a brilliant woman. And how very delightful is Nicholle Tom in this show!!! She has accomplished what few child television stars have been able to accomplish and that of becoming an accomplished mature actor. This show is very very refreshing. Watch a few episodes and you'll be enchanted as well.

This is a very smart comedy made by - and for - Hollywood insiders. It has a bit of Entourage mixed with The Player about it. It's funny, but I don't know if it translates to a very wide audience. The main character, Jackie, is a screenwriter whose life is basically a huge disappointment to her, both in her career and her love life. The scripts, many written by Laura Kightlinger who also plays Jackie, have that edgy bitterness which is very true to the "biz", that some people may find funny (I do) and others just depressing. Jackie may also come across as an awful narcissist, but then Hollywood only works because of all the narcissists operating in concert to try and make movies and occasionally succeeding. Certain aspects of the show are just dead on. Jackie is in a constant struggle to define herself both professionally and spiritually (though she would never cop to that in a million years). Kightlinger is terrific. She has a Geena Davis thing going on which she spins her own way. I recommend this to all angry, desperate, bitter, lonely people. For us it's great. If you feel suicidal once or twice a week, try it and see if you like it.