The premise: A fake show about real actors and actresses playing fake versions of their real selves. Got it? Yeah, I'm going to need to explain a bit. HBO's new series, Unscripted takes us into the lives of struggling actors and actresses trying to make it big in Hollywood. We get to follow the lives of three real-life actors -- Krista Allen, Bryan Greenberg, and Jennifer Hall -- as they attend the same acting classes, go on auditions, get callbacks, get rejected, and basically live their less than glamorous Hollywood lives all in front of the cameras.
The interesting twist? This isn't a documentary. We aren't watching these actors living their lives per se, we are watching George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's rendition of their lives. You see, Unscripted is actually scripted. Yes, you heard me right. I know it's a bit illogical, like saying Home Improvement dominated Seinfeld in the ratings for a couple years, but that's how it goes sometimes.
The show itself is quite uneven. I remember watching Krista Allen on Emmy-caliber shows suchs as Days of Our Lives and Baywatch Hawaii. I remember thinking the following -- wow, this girl is pretty hot. Can't act worth a crap, but still... I'm tuning in for the next show. In Unscripted, I find myself thinking, wow, she's a little older, a little less hot, but some things remain constant. She still can't act. But this time she's playing herself. I'm not sure what that says about her skills, exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's not anything good. Every scene with Krista Allen grinds the show to a halt. She's not particularly endearing, funny, or insightful, so it is increasingly difficult to root for her to succeed.
Allen's co-stars are much more intriguing. Jennifer Hall has her ups and downs, but her ups really highlight the different facets of Hall as a person and as a performer. Hall is a quirky mess -- an actress who actually has the talent to succeed, but lacks confidence in her talent, and is awkward in her approach to success. The show also plays up the fact that Hall is not afforded the opportunities given to someone like Krista Allen, who gets chances to succeed based on her looks alone. Hall is a Hollywood novice, but befriends Allen in acting class, who ends up becoming not only a friend, but a mentor of sorts. Allen teaches her how to dress sexy and play up her flirty side in order to get certain roles. As she becomes more savvy by the episode, the show seems to be setting up the novice to surpass her mentor. It would be an interesting twist, if only it wasn't so overly predictible.
The one character who shines in this show is Bryan Greenberg. Greenberg does a good job of letting you feel his pain in each and every awkward situation he finds himself in. From the time he gets caught doctoring his resume with roles he never played to the moment where he is kicked out of Hank Azaria's house for invoking his ex-wife, Helen Hunt's name during a poker game, one cringes with agony at every mis-step. Because of this, we always feel that we're actually watching Greenberg's life. A good quality for a show that is supposed to be "unscripted."
Overall, not as fun to watch as other HBO originals like Entourage. Interesting if you're an aspiring actor, but likely boring if you're not really into seeing the scene behind the Hollywood scene. On the Salinger Scale (a Party of Five being the highest rating), I am holding a table for only 2.5 Salingers for Unscripted.
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