PARTY DOWN
Season 1
Starz
DVD, $30 ($22 Amazon)

by Diane Werts

It's always great to see a show that manages to reboot itself each week while remaining true to its worthy self. Barney Miller and Night Court are two of my favorite sitcoms, thanks to a diverse and deep cast of regulars and a revealing environment that weekly hands them a new parade of guest stars to bounce off of.

Party Down from Starz now rounds out my holy trinity of smart comedies that just keep refreshing themselves. This low-budget gem from Starz -- not exactly the channel you expect to hit a sitcom out of the park -- updates the demeanor of those '80s hits for a new generation that's seen it all and arrives with a healthy dose of cynicism.

And hope. That's the neat balance of Party Down (Starz' second season starts April 23), with its sextet of cater-waiters idling on the edge of a Hollywood break that may or may not ever come. Or maybe arrived and departed already.

The show's single-camera awkward moments start with the overeager catering team lead (Ken Marino, Reaper), who's given up his own hard partying ways, only to replace them with zealous taskmastering and giddy food franchise goals. Back with him is his former bartender (Adam Scott, Tell Me You Love Me), who actually achieved a measure of fame (well, TV commercial familiarity), then bounced back to purposeless slackerville.

The bartender is hot for a confused comedian (Lizzy Caplan, Freaks and Geeks), who may or may not stay married to somebody else. Also confused, though he thinks he's not, is a dim blond actor-model-rocker (Ryan Hansen, Veronica Mars) who's mostly "in the overall handsome business." Not dim, but mopily derisive, is the socially clueless sci-fi screenwriter (Martin Starr, Freaks and Geeks). And since there's always a wily veteran, Jane Lynch is a been-there actress given to counseling the wannabes with movie set war stories, when she's not acting gleefully (teehee) inappropriately. (Or being subbed in the season's last two of 10 episodes by an equally out-there Jennifer Coolidge.)

Throw them together, then throw them into screwy situations -- homeowners association parties, young Republican meetings, gay weddings, a porn awards show, even a sweet sixteen party aboard the Queen Mary.

As the producers say in short promotional making-of interviews, "They're people in a place that they don't want to be in, and they're forced to be together while they wait to get someplace better."

Unlike the steady title cop in Barney Miller or wacky Judge Harry in Night Court, the Party Down regulars don't solve other people's problems, and often exacerbate their own. But they're got a sort of relaxed rhythm and funky warmth that sneaks up on you.

Party Down ambles along with them and the people whose paths they cross, without much aiming at a climax. It's a sharply edited slice of life enlivened by the guests who wander through -- Enrico Colantoni as a naked party host, Kristen Bell as a driven competing caterer, Marilu Henner as a motivational guru, J.K. Simmons as a bombastic movie producer and sweet sixteen dad, George Takei as himself (who else?).

Season 2 starts on Starz April 23 at 10 p.m. ET with a cast change, now that Lynch has broken out on Glee. Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) joins the cater crew as a naively nutty divorced mom moved west to get her daughter Escapade into showbiz. Be sure to watch the second season's third episode, when she stumbles through an orgy party trying to snare the problematic wealthy host (Thomas Lennon of Reno 911).

It's hysterical, and adult (duh), and slyly observant of human behavior in many, many forms -- mostly by intelligent misfits, frustrated by life, who know better but act badly anyway, sabotaging themselves at every turn.

Sound familiar? (Ouch.)

Party Down comes from a quartet of creators led by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, who brings along that show's story editor (John Enbom) and supervising producer (Dan Etheridge), plus writer-actor Paul Rudd (currently starring in the big screen's I Love You, Man). They offer a couple of fun and explanatory episode commentaries alongside star-producer Adam Scott.

You sure get the feeling they know of what they write. So maybe there's hope yet for the sad sacks of Party Down.

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