Another try at loose-limbed television from Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney lets aspiring actors Krista Allen, Bryan Greenberg, and Jennifer Hall improvise their own lines in a variety of sadomasochistic situations, from classes taught by a take-no-prisoners Frank Langella to auditions for film extras, TV series, little-theater productions, and car-wash or tequila commercials. In and out of their pathetic lives stroll players we have actually seen and heard before. Like Entourage, Unscripted assumes that our interest in what goes on behind the curtain in the wondrous world of make-believe is as insatiable as it is lascivious, and that there is something immoral about writers who improve on the gibberish civilians are otherwise inclined to speak. I am waiting for a similar series about mailmen, poets, plumbers, or nuns.

Unscripted
Sundays. Starting January 9. 10 P.M.
HBO

Related:

• Archive: “Television”
• Articles by John Leonard
• Table of Contents: Jan 10, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!