Starz Ready to ‘Party Down' Again
Catering Comedy Ordered for a Second Season
by R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 5/13/2009 2:14:05 PM
Starz will party for a second season with its scripted comedy series Party Down, having announced a renewal of the freshman sitcom Wednesday.
The series, about a Los Angeles catering team of Hollywood wannabes waiting for their big break, launched in March and is produced by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars, Cupid).
"Starz aims to give our audience fresh, original and enormously entertaining originals to accompany our lineup of hit feature films, and Party Down certainly fit that bill its first season," said Starz executive vice president of programming Stephan Shelanski in a statement. "The comedic pedigree of the cast not only complements the incredible writing, but cements the show as one of a handful of truly original comedies on the air today."
Key cast members returning are Ken Marino as Ron Donald, the aggressively pious leader of the Party Down Catering company; Adam Scott as Henry Pollard, the one-time actor who has returned to the life of cater-waiter; Martin Starr as Roman DeBeers, the team's self-proclaimed Sci Fi visionary and all-purpose intellectual; Ryan Hansen as Kyle Bradway, who's an actor, model and front-man for an earnest alt-rock band when not working Hollywood parties; and Lizzy Caplan as Casey Klein, a pretty, smart, funny, and insecure comedienne who happens to make ends meet as a cater-waiter.
TV Squad, which called Party Down "a great dark and funny show that boasts an incredible cast of comedic actors," reported that actress Jane Lynch has signed on to do a Fox series called Glee and said her availability would be limited to a few episodes of Party Down. But someone close to the show said Starz was close to re-signing her, possibly for the full season, if it can be managed around her Glee commitment.
Lynch is recognizable from her roles in Christopher Guest movies, including A Mighty Wind, in which she plays a porn actress turned folk musician, Laurie Bohner. Glee is set to preview on Tuesday, May 19, at 9 p.m., after American Idol.
Starz has not made a decision on whether to bring back its other comedy series, Head Case, which also launched in March as part of the network's Friday-night comedy block with Party Down.
Meanwhile, the network said it begins shooting later this month on the second season of its drama series Crash. A second drama series, Spartacus, will debut in first-quarter 2009.
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