Once you have developed a liking for media incest (newspapers writing about media, films set in film-makers’ circles, reality TV shows complaining about the poor quality of reality TV), it is very easy to be pleased. The characters are usually by definition (because they are artists or "suits") so hilarious that you just need to find somebody decent to play the role, and you are on the safe side. In the better cases, you also have a thrilling topic that sets things in motion ("good night, and good luck", "All the president’s men", "Wag the Dog"), sometimes it is just a McGuffin propelling the film through its middle sequence up until the end when artistic believes are being sold out, and the little arty film with "No Stars!" has turned into a Bruce Willis / Julia Roberts blockbuster.
"The TV Set" is circling around a very narrow centre: TV producers, authors, agents, actors. With Agent Mulder, a face that I have not seen in a while is playing a lead part, and I kept wondering when the alien invasion was due – or whether it had already happened and all our brains have been sucked out. Judging from the TV programmes, the latter must be true. But thank God the BBC is here to save us, and in the form of some (fictitious?) broadcasting station by the name of BBC international (or so I seem to remember), quality TV comes back with a vengeance, namely with the casting show "Slut Wars" and the "Waxman Chronicles" around which the film is made. There are no surprises, of course, and no sensational things to be expected. Selling out, hypocrisy, mid-life crisis, the usual ingredients are there. And it is all rather pleasant to watch.
In terms of cast, Sigourney Weaver and Ioan Gruffudd deserve honourable mention. The former is a bit over the top, the latter sympathetically desperate.
thomas4cinema 