You Should Spend Your Weekend with Party Down

Every so often, while pissing my life away via Netflix and its insidious instant streaming capabilities, I stumble upon a gem of a show I wasn’t previously aware of. Then, because I have no self control, instead of savoring an episode here and an episode there, I make like a zombie released upon the set of The Biggest Loser and gorge myself in an uncontrollable frenzy, watching hour after hour until all joy is gone and I might as well be working a second job. I’m currently wrapping up one of these binges, the star of which was Party Down, a brilliant comedy that ran on Starz a few years ago and was, like so many great shows, canceled before its time.


The show’s premise is lifted from Taxi: A bunch of people working a blue collar job together who all have aspirations beyond their current circumstances and see their gig as temporary until they make it as writers or actors. In this case they’re caterers instead of taxi drivers and the show’s based in Los Angeles as opposed to New York, but same difference. Every episode centers around the crew catering a different event as they take pot shots at each other and try to endure in the face of repeated rejections by the Hollywood establishment. So, why should you watch a bunch of guys who hate a job they think they’re above as life kicks them repeatedly in the teeth? Doesn’t that question answer itself?

If you need an actual answer, just think of the show as a darker, dirtier (and thus far more believable) version of The Office. Instead of people being content living in their corporate rut, the characters on Party Down goddamn hate their jobs and can barely disguise it enough to avoid getting fired. They’re also far meaner toward one another, on multiple occasions sabotaging a co-worker’s “big break” just to feel better about their own awful lives. And, to top it all off, there’s a great romance between two of the crew (Jew and Eastbound), which, unlike that storybook Jim and Pam crap, follows a far more realistic trajectory.


So if you’re not doing anything better with your weekend (anyone reading this site probably isn’t) look up Party Down on Netflix. Shows aren’t as fun if I can’t reference them with others, so be a team player and watch a few episodes, dammit. If everyone else has seen it, then I was just viewing it to fit in, not because I’m a sloth who can’t resist watching anything the least bit entertaining rather than do something productive with my life.