That time when you felt the need to revisit Orange County and it’s just as brilliant as ever and Lizzy Caplan has a bit part as a member of the “Party Girls.”
The Complete Oral History of Party Down: Details
When Party Down premiered on Starz in March 2009, it barely made a blip. Despite a cast of comedy all-stars like Jane Lynch, Ken Marino, Adam Scott, and Martin Starr, and a production team including film star Paul Rudd and Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, the show—about an incompetent catering service in Los Angeles—ran under the radar for its entire first season. A cult following discovered the series via the Internet and Netflix, and enough buzz began that TV critics and entertainment blogs began to take notice, earning the first season of the series a nod as one of the best television programs of 2009 from the American Film Institute alongside Mad Men, Friday Night Lights, and Modern Family. Combining shades of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries, Judd Apatow’s slacker heroes, and the painful reality-based humor of The Office, Party Down was textbook cutting-edge comedy. (Marino also got hit in the nuts a lot.) But devoted viewers and critical acclaim weren’t enough to keep the show alive—it was canceled after only the second season.
Now, for the first time—and for no reason except that the show was really good and we miss it, so we asked them to do it—the entire core cast and creative team tell the behind-the-scenes story of the creation and cancellation of Party Down.
It is almost disgusting how deeply invested I become in TV shows sometimes, and Party Down was no exception to the rule. This article is a a must read for any fan of the show.
Couldn’t agree more - this show was absolutely brilliant and never received enough attention.
I gotta testify, come up in the spot lookin' extra fly...
