Besides Eastbound and Down, I lost interest in every new comedy series that premiered in 2009. Glee, Community, Modern Family…none of them managed to hold my interest for long. A big reason for this is that I don’t enjoy episodic television comedies. There has to be a larger narrative to keep me watching. Seinfeld, The Brady Bunch, and Arrested Development are exceptions – but those self-referenced so much that they could be considered massive narratives. The UK Office did it the best in my opinion and recently The Thick of It has delivered hard. Tonight I’d like to add another show to this list.

Today I finished the first season of Party Down on Netflix Watch Instantly. Created by ex-Veronica Mars writers Rob Thomas, John Enbom, and Dan Etheridge, as well as some actor named Paul Rudd, Party Down follows the employees of an LA-based catering company called, well, Party Down. The employees are struggling actors, former actors, and one “hard sci-fi” writer. Each episode finds the Party Down employees at a different gig; clashing egos, libidos, and aspirations while trying to function in the food service industry. They dress like the “gay secret service.”

The ensemble cast of Party Down is ridiculous: Ken Marino (The State, Wet Hot American Summer) is their team leader/aspiring food franchise owner. Adam Scott (Step Brothers, Knocked Up) is the former commercial actor who is now accepting his failure. Martin Starr (Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up) is the hard sci-fi writer who thinks he’s too cool for school. Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls, True Blood) is the aspiring stand-up comic with the dick husband. Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars) is the attractive up and comer. The other regular is Jane Lynch (Glee, The L Word), who is WAY funnier here than she is on Glee. They all shine and by the end I genuinely cared about all of them. Except Lynch, who I think bailed on the show to shoot Glee. Dummy.

Besides the incredible ensemble, each episode features some guest appearances by a truly impressive gang of character actors. This roster includes J.K. Simmons, Kristen Bell, Jennifer Coolidge, Ken Jeong, and, my favorite, Steven Weber (picture below). The episode with Weber, “Celebrate Ricky Sargulesh,” is my favorite Party Down episode and he delivers honestly what is one of the funniest guest roles I’ve seen in a long fucking time as ex-con Rcky Sargulesh. That episode is seriously a perfect storm of everything from the previous episodes.

It’s such a satisfying and realistic pay-off in the finale.

If you dig the UK Office or laughing in general, then definitely check out Party Down. Season 2 has wrapped and is airing later this year on Starz.

- Oh Mars