The best sitcom you’re not watching returns for a second season tonight on Starz.
Starz? Not where you expect to find a favorite comedy, but yes. In fact, two unusual comedies turn up on Starz tonight — one banking on noir.
“Party Down,” about a bunch of would-be Hollywood actors and writers passing the time as cater-waiters, is an existentially rich premise. These guys are infinitely stuck, sure that they’re meant for bigger things, serving canapes while sharing casting and agent stories, line readings and headshots in the kitchen.
With their pink bow ties and white shirts, they show up in a different location each week. A rock star’s backstage party, a sweet 16 party, a gay wedding, a funeral, a school fundraiser. The booze and the expletives flow.
Jane Lynch, who would have broken out in “Party Down” if she hadn’t hit the jackpot more prominently on “Glee” at the same time, will return for the second season finale (her character’s wedding). Meanwhile, new cast member Megan Mullally provides the voice of (older, crazier) experience. She plays Lydia, the bitter divorced mother of a teenager with Hollywood dreams.
“Party Down” combines its rich premise with low-budget production and one of the best ensembles in TV comedy. Henry (Adam Scott) is the new team leader, an almost slightly famous actor who was in a successful commercial but who is now making peace with slackerdom. Scott is also now a producer; next season he’ll sneak off to join the cast of “Parks and Recreation” on NBC.
Ron (Ken Marino) is the lovesick former team leader, prone to drug and alcohol fugues. Casey (Lizzy Caplan) is a standup comedian on the verge of landing a film role. Roman (Martin Starr) is a geeky sci-fi screenwriter with delusions of grandeur. And Kyle (Ryan Hansen) is the vacuous blond, counting on good looks for his big break.
The wonderfully eccentric characters are well-drawn and the casting benefits from the producers’ extensive ties to the community: co-creators Rob Thomas (“Veronica Mars”), Paul Rudd, Dan Etheridge and John Enbom, as well as director Fred Savage (“The Wonder Years”) have snared guests including Steve Guttenberg, Marilu Henner, Kristin Bell and J.K. Simmons.
Starz is pairing “Party Down” with a new, much darker half-hour, “Gravity,” about members of a support group for people, in this case jaded New Yorkers, who have attempted suicide.
The series is less funny than cringe-inducing. More prickly viewers will no doubt find its noir humor offensive.
Ving Rhames plays the support group leader, a former major leaguer whose bungled suicide attempt landed him in a wheelchair. Ivan Sergei plays a doctor who went into a tailspin after his wife’s death, and who then became an Internet sensation when his suicide attempt when horribly/humorously wrong.
Rachel Hunter plays an aging former supermodel who attempted suicide after her agent suggested she appear on a “Where Are They Now?” special. Krysten Ritter plays Lily, a pathetic young thing who flat-lined after gorging on chocolate cake she spiked with codeine tablets.
And Eric Schaeffer (“Starved”), co-creator of the series with Jill Franklyn (“Seinfeld”), plays a cop who trails Lily, at first as part of an investigation into her suicide attempt, later out of obsession.
Schaeffer previously created, wrote and starred in “Starved,” a short-lived comedy on FX about a support group for men with eating disorders. It didn’t go down well. He’s hoping the world is more accepting of a tragicomedy about suicide.
I’ll stick with cater-waiters.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
