March 22, 2009
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Funny shows can be had -- for a price
By -- Sun Media
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Ken Marino (left) doesn't seem to be impressing Adam Scott in the funny new series Party Down.

Suppose you're an actor who had his 15 minutes of fame, but now that 15 minutes definitely is up.

You find yourself back working for the Hollywood-area food-catering company that you worked for eight years ago, when you still were a wide-eyed, aspiring actor intent on conquering the world. It would be pretty humiliating, right?

That's the premise for the funny new series Party Down. And it can be summed up in the following exchange between Henry (the aforementioned humiliation victim, played by Adam Scott) and Casey (played by Lizzy Caplan, who you'll recall as Jason's vampire blood-addicted girlfriend in True Blood).

Casey: "Were you that guy?"

Henry: "Yes, I was."

Casey: "I remember you! What are you doing working here?"

Henry: "Do you remember me from anything else?"

Ah, there's the rub.

Now, for Canadian TV viewers, there's a "rub" with regard to Party Down, which also stars Ken Marino, Jane Lynch, Martin Starr and Ryan Hansen, was created by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars), was produced by Paul Rudd, and originates on the cable network Starz in the United States.

Party Down -- which also features Canadian Enrico Colantoni in a guest-starring role in the first episode -- debuts Monday, March 23, across Canada on Super Channel. And we know many of you are asking right now, "What's Super Channel?"

Okay, the good news is, Super Channel is available through most cable and satellite providers. The bad news is, you have to pay extra for it, just like you have to pay extra for the packages offered by The Movie Network/Movie Central/HBO Canada.

In the spectrum of what's available to Canadian TV viewers, Super Channel, quite frankly, is becoming hard to ignore. Lately, Super Channel has been quite aggressive in purchasing quality programming from some of the up-and-coming cable networks in the United States.

For example, Super Channel also has the Canadian rights to the hilarious Starz series Head Case, which stars Alexandra Wentworth as celebrity therapist Dr. Elizabeth Goode. Head Case, as it turns out, makes its third-season debut Monday, March 23 on Super Channel as well.

Head Case always has boasted an impressive array of celebrity guest stars who appear as themselves. The third-season debut features Janeane Garofalo, Tori Spelling, Dean McDermott and Macy Gray.

There's a hilarious bit when Garofalo insists during her therapy session that she isn't necessarily against people having kids, but she believes having kids is an "overrated goal" in society.

"Who doesn't love a three-year-old?" Garofalo asks Dr. Goode, rhetorically. "A 13-year-old? That's pushin' it. A 23-year-old? I mean, you've seen The Hills. Are you nuts?"

Okay, you probably think we're "nuts" for suggesting, even vaguely or indirectly, that you might want to consider ordering another service from your cable or satellite provider, if you don't have Super Channel already.

Rest assured, we're not in the business of selling subscriptions to anything.

We're just letting you know that Party Down and Head Case are very funny shows that ARE available to Canadians, if you want them.


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