dqc_76 Unscripted is to aspiring actors ...instead of a show about the glitter, fame & fortune (e.g Entourage or anything on the E-Channel) or a bunch of pathetic, fame-starved everyday people trying to get 15 seconds (e.g. anything reality TV show in the major networks) ...HBO has brought us a hybrid reality show of what its really like to go into acting. the characters are never been heard of actors young and old, with a mix of some you've seen before and some you will never see again (all using their real names). the show follows the lives of the actors, and shows what its really like. its something every 16-yeard old kid that wants to be an actor should see (rather than watching the e-channel and hearing about how JLo made it). its gritty & shows how pathetic these people are (especially the people in the business). and its warning to people going into the business that probably wont be heard/observed ... kinda like Hoop Dreams

mail4gus I've seen the first four episodes of unscripted and i think this is a great new format for TV series. I'm really into the series, very Soderbergh's style, the colors in the background with a lot of yellows and blues, great story with so many very funny but credible moments like the one with Krista yelling in the wrong office with Sam Mendez or Jen sitting in Brad Pitts chair and asking Limon if he was involved in the movie (He is the director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith). Frank Langella is a fine actor and his performance so far i've seen is flawless. Krista Allen, Jennifer Hall and Bryan Greenberg show the tough life of young actors trying to make his own way in Hollywood.It's a GREAT SERIES! another hit series from HBO.

Ironboundfw Unscripted is a funny hybrid. I don't mean funny in that it makes you laugh. It's funny in that it thinks its audience is a bunch of morons. Part reality, part scripted, mostly improvised. The show takes a bunch of new actors, and a bunch of has been actors (someone please answer why is Frank Langella doing this?) The New actors --- mostly look like they should be in soft-porn movies in late night cine-max. And they should hope this show is canceled quickly because really, do they just want to be known as the actor who did that show where he got to play himself/herself... BADLY.The "has been" actors were never really that big to begin with, so I never really asked... oh, where have they been? more like... oh, why are they back?(EXCEPT for FRANK LANGELLA, again, begging the QUESTION... WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?") The show is bad because well, It's a show about the ups and downs on ACTING... and I'm sorry, I've seen "Fame" once, and that was good enough for me --- YES, there is struggling, yes there is suffering, yes there is heartbreak, but guess what... YES, I DON'T CARE. I DON'T CARE because ACTORS are not the REAL HEROES OF THIS WORLD. I love to WATCH ACTORS play real HEROES or even IMAGINARY ONES... but who wants to see an ACTOR play himself... it's just not interesting. Because at the end of the day, ACTORS are self involved little sh*ts, whose suffering is self-inflected. They chose this life, live with it, please, please don't show me how hard it is. There will be no sympathy gained by it. If anything, I just wish the actors and people who "MADE" it and then decided to put this type of crappola on TV, will just "un-make" it so that I wouldn't have to be exposed to this. YES, George Clooney taking my order at the Broadway Diner in Manhattan would be a treat indeed. (sorry, GEORGE, but what WERE YOU THINKING! Ocean's Twelve and Unscripted in one year --- ouch.) and can the executive at HBO who green lit this be FIRED. Thanks! The show is also so similar to the other HBO show Entourage... which raises the question, IS THERE some RE-PRESSED ACTOR doing the HBO programming as of late. Entourage is not a good show either, but that one at least has Jeremy Piven's slimy agent to keep you entertained. HBO has created some of the best television in recent memory. But thanks to UNSCRIPTED it has proved that it can bull a FOX and create some of the WORST also.

cyclonebill85 It's a lot like a documentary with some voice-overs by Frank Lagellea playing a 'wise acting coach' character who doesn't shut up about the noble art of acting throughout the whole episode. This gets annoying very quickly.From the promotion (perhaps the constant comparisons to Curb Your Enthusiasm from the cast and creators), I was under the impression this would be more of a comedy (albeit not a conventional one). However, it's really not a comedy at all (maybe 2 or 3 amusing moments through the 28 minute first episode) so while it is interesting I suppose, it also gets boring quickly. This is ground that has been covered many times before and done better, quite frankly.The show is billed as a look into the life of 'struggling' actors yet they don't deal with issues like getting an agent, making rent, working crap jobs in the service industry. These are things that make up the lives of struggling actors. Instead the 3 main characters are fairly known actors who all have steady paychecks (in the show and in real-life) and spend their time going to acting class and screwing around. The problem is it instantly fails to make them relatable to 95% of the viewers. The show seems to focus on actors struggling to get a grasp on the 'art' of acting, trying to be major celebrities. It has very little emphasis on their lives and how they're affected by their profession, which would have been a far better route to take.A good amount of the events in the show are non-fictional (spots the actors land on TV shows etc.) while some of them are made up (Krista Allen going to an audition with her son tagging along, and the kid somehow getting the part and she doesn't). Anyway, it tries so hard to be real (with no big payoff at the end like Curb Your Enthusiasm), I don't know why they didn't just make a real documentary rather than relying on these made up situations (which are actually less interesting than the parts that aren't made up).I understand that this show is trying to be 'real' and show what it's like to be an actor living in LA and isn't about the punchlines, but if that's the case, they need to come up with situations that are less dependent on the actor's actual experiences and are actually entertaining. The show is stuck in the middle between comedy (like Curb Your Enthusiasm or The Office) and full-on documentary. The problem is it's only average in both regards (there are scenes that are a downright bore).When you decide to make a faux documentary, you have the power to write some interesting stories and scenarios that are still plausible. In this case, you have actors who are playing themselves with many real-life situations and they're not exercising that power to write good stories and characters. If you have the real actors playing themselves, no script, and have no intention of writing anything that strays too far away from the truth, then why make it an acted show at all? There's just no logic there.Ultimately, unless you're a big fan of one of the 3 principles or are very interested in the acting life, it's really not worth watching. The acting is decent and will probably get them a little more exposure within the industry, but the execution just isn't up to par (blame it on Clooney).Rating: 6.2/10 On the upside, Krista Allen is very hot and almost makes it worth watching.