Harry here... IFC, here I come...
Ahoy there, squirts. 'Tis I, everybody's favorite friendly neighborhood seaman, Quint, here with a bit of a change of pace for me... I don't spend much time in Coax, but I got a sneak look at Jon Favreau's cool IFC show, Dinner For 5 and thought I'd give you guys an idea of what's coming from tonight's show. Pardon the pun, but I feel a bit like a fish outta water here, so 'scuse me if this TV shit throws me for a loop.
To start off... The Guests are: Ileana Douglas, Christian Slater, Jeff Goldblum and Fred Willard and the place of dining is Pinot (Hollywood).
The conversation goes from Favs talking about getting chewed out by Ileana Douglas on a panel on their first meeting to Fred Willard talking about his Christopher Guest films to Douglas accusing Favs of being a sexist in Swingers (at which point all the rest of the men around the table start saying 'Whoa, whoa, whoa...' and gang up on her) to Slater talking about an early film he did with Sean Connery (The Name of the Rose) where he caused an accident that ended up dousing Mr. Connery with wine. That, of course, led the conversation to the Bond films and people started debating their favorite Bonds
Then talk turns to Indie Vs. Big Budget and the real life experiences they've all had on different sized budget sets, then Goldblum shouts something about Favreau's large scrotum and the whole thing ends with an outburst from Willard where he says he's tired of women using him for sex.
Shit... I don't know about all that above stuff, folks. Have you ever tried to cover a conversation without giving away all the good jokes and ruining the best stories? Again, my apologies, but in the words of Dr. Jones, I'm makin' this up as I go.
What'd I think of the show overall? Well, Goldblum didn't talk too much, which is a bit of a disapointment because he has been around for so long and knows how to tell a funny story, but the rest of the guests share pretty much equal time. It's an odd mix of characters that is fun to watch and have entertaining stories, but don't necessarily click perfectly.
But that's the risk you run with this kind of show. You can try all you want to orchestrate a conversation, but in the end they're unpredictable. Take it from me, squirts... I do a lot of interviews and I make my interviews very conversational and I never, never know how they're going to turn out. I just have to try and guide them as best I can. Favreau is in this same position and I think that as the show goes on doing the above-mentioned guiding will become second nature to him and he'll be able to manuever a bit more with the personalities on the show.
What do I think of Dinner For 5 when all is said and done? I've always been a fan of the roundtable discussion shows, like Politically Incorrect. I just love the unscripted clashings and meldings of personalities caught live on camera. What I love with Favreau's show is while it's the same structure as something like PI, there's no fucking politics talk. It's all about my central interest: film. Plus it's a dining atmosphere, not an interview atmosphere, which makes for more interesting behind the scenes stories. His guests are always interesting people whos opinions and stories I can actually get into listening to.
Tonight's show is most definitely worth a watch, but next week's show, which I also got a look at, is fan-fucking-tastic. It's the best example of how amazingly right and interesting these discussions can be. Next week's show has Kevin Pollack (Usual Suspects), Sarah Silverman (you'll recognize her from a billion bit parts), Ron Livingston (who was brilliant in Office Space) and Rod Steiger. You have 3 comedians (4 if you count Favreau) and then a legend in the business... They click and the show is near magic. I'll give you folks a more indepth look at the show next weekend, but let me just leave by saying if you like tonight's Dinner For 5, don't miss next week's episode.
-Quint
email: Yo Jon, Make it Six, order for Twelve and I'll join ya!!!
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