User Reviews

Many actors say they got into acting because it's "like therapy." Just as many would-be's quit because the process hits too many nerves.

I had never seen, or even heard of this show until after a three day search for something worthy on any of my 500 channels to watch, I stumbled onto it in my HBO "On Demand" fare. I figured I'd give it a shot and watch an episode. Well, I was delighted with the season opener, and went back for seconds. Completely addicted by the third, I viewed the entire season over a period of a week.

I recognize nearly every character in the program as a stock personality that inhabits the cruel and unapologetic world of acting. I studied acting for five years in Washington, DC, worked a couple of paying theatrical gigs, and moved to New York. I continued with classes here and worked in four films and a play my first year out. Frank Langella's character is the male embodiment of one of my "most respected" acting teachers, (an abusive tyrant, but if you could get past that, you could learn a thing or two.) I agree with absolutely everything he tells his students. Goddard's anecdotes are real, his caveats to be heeded, and his teaching points valid.

I have known more than a few "Krista Allens," pretty, sexy women who got boxed into a stereo-type early on and spent years trying to bust out of it. (Forgive the pun.) New York and L.A. are overrun with the likes of Jennifer--sweet, honest, naive young girls who want more than anything to act, make their mark, and be loved.

Every actor in training will meet their share of "Brians." He IS talented. He IS basically a good guy. He IS self-absorbed. He WILL get a plum role. He WILL try to "keep it real," and he WILL tick off his buddies, use women, and charm who he needs to help him keep on course. Such is life.

Anyone who has a remote interest in acting for film and/or television should watch this show. It might save them from being surprised or caught off guard at some point. Beyond being a quick course in thespian politics, it accomplished what most good movies, plays, or shows do-- Made me laugh. Made me cry. I don't really care if it's scripted, improvised, or fed to the players on cue cards. The resulting product is fresh, engaging drama. I am stunned by some of the hostile and negative comments on this thread. If this show "offends" you, look inside yourself. Or better yet, take an acting class. It really can be like therapy.

I couldn't help but be drawn into the drama of the lives of three struggling mid-range actors as they experience the ups and downs of life in Hollywood. While I've read critiques that say their modicum of success makes the show unrealistic, I find it all the more fascinating to see how the lives of these actors change as they fluctuate in and out of Movieland's Pergatory.

The story of the down and out actor who crawls home with his tail between his legs has already been told, as has the story of the actor who goes from rags to riches, but the in-between state in which these men women function is something altogether new to me, and I find it far more fascinating than the hyperbolic drivel that the other extremes present.

The dialogue in this show is real, and frankly perfect. The story lines are beautifully subtle, the imagery is exactly what it needs to be, and the cameos provide the final ingredient that make this quite possibly the finest television drama I've ever seen.

On the border of mockumentary and drama, Unscripted focuses on the lives of three struggling actors without the glamor and fake tension found in Hollywood or reality shows. The only connection between the three actors is an acting class they all attend, though they each go on their own acting endeavors.

The struggling and determination of what the characters go through truly touched me. Unscripted records the odyssey these people go through to make it big, from numerous dead end auditions to making ends meet. Instead of the actors discussing the latest Hollywood flick they starred in, they converse about the latest walk on role they had or which show hired them as a stand in. It isn't as cut throat as Greenlight, and truly allows the viewer to get in depth with the character and feel the struggle they're going through.

Network: HBO; Genre: Comedy, Docudrama; Content Rating: TV-MA (profanity, mild simulated sex); Available: DVD; Perspective: Cult Classic (star range: 1 - 5);

Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season)

George Clooney and Stephen Soderburg's Section Eight production company hits a home run on just their second try. "Unscripted" follows in the reality-bending mold of their faux political docudrama "K Street": real people play themselves improvising in fictional situations shot around real events and injected with other actors playing characters. Got all that? "Unscripted" takes this neo-classic format and gives us three people at the center of it that are so endearing, they take it to the next level. What was before just a technical feat to be admired in "K Street", is now an emotionally wadded experience to be loved in "Unscripted".

"Unscripted", in every frame, is about stars Krista Allen, Bryan Greenburg, and Jennifer Hall. It captures the plight of a young, idealistic actor struggling to make it in this bizarre world of Hollywood with more insight and empathy than any other show. The Hollywood of "Unscripted" isn't glamorous, where the burning desire to act goes hand-in-hand with a daily gauntlet of humiliation.

To make sense of it all is Goodard Fulton (Frank Langella), the hard-nosed acting school teacher, defining pretension, whose many priceless monologues about every high and low of the soul-consuming "craft" of acting serves as a sort of narrated tour guide to keep his students surviving the Hollywood machine. He tells his students the only way they will be able to do this will be if they "can't not do it".

Bryan Greenburg looks like he is on the fast track to stardom. Having a brush with fame on "One Tree Hill" and "Life with Bonnie", he later lands a starring role and a trip to New York in the Meryl Streep/ Uma Thurman movie "Prime". At the coaxing of his roommates he pads his resume and uses his daily life as a training ground to immerse himself in a limping, stuttering character for a role. But what happens to those friends if Greenburg hits it big?

"She's just so green" says a casting agent about Jennifer Hall. The adorable singer/songwriter of her 2-chick band Black Liquorish, Jennifer's credits include a line on "Yes, Dear", a brush with Keanu Reeves as a "featured extra" and playing the statue of liberty on the corner of Liberty Car Wash with more gusto then you can imagine anyone else in the world doing.

The biggest revelation here is Krista Allen, whose storyline involves a quest to become a real actress despite the reputation of being in "Emmanuelle" ("the James Bond of soft core movies") hanging over her head. There is a sitcom element to the stories of Greenburg and Hall, but watching Krista Allen I became completely convinced I was seeing a documentary - to the point where you have to step back and remember that Allen is playing herself, not being herself. Allen is subject to some particularly stinging humiliation, which results in her taking a role in a 16-year-old's backyard film. While much of this is motivated by the chance to strike back at a Hollywood that won't take her as anything other than a sex object in a 2-piece (the men around her are shown to be pretty creepy), Allen's "character" is a dichotomy that doesn't see using her sex appeal (which includes an affair with Goddard) to get what she wants as undermining her mission. A series highlight is when an enraged Allen tells off a casting director who told her 6-year-old son that he was "not funny". Krista should be proud of this show. This is great work by any standard.

Other actors and would-be actors in Frank's acting class include "Tru Calling's" Jessica Collins, Jennifer's increasingly close friend "Dragon" who fights actor outsourcing ("Why did 'Lost in Translation' have to take place in Japan", he asks), and Nick Paonessa who steals Bryan's contacts and accidentally finds himself in a genital warts commercial - a bit that on any other show would be purely sitcom stuff, but here is so well played it gets the biggest laughs of the series. If anything "Unscripted" recalls the UK masterpiece "The Office", a show that finds laughs in total humiliation and refuses to allow its characters a victory until the last possible second.

George Clooney (who has proved his classic directorial skills on the big screen) directs the first 5 episodes and Clooney regular Grant Helslov, picks up the last 5. They do one hell of a dynamite job. Each episode is constructed masterfully with an assemblage of audio and video that looks like a documentary and doesn't feel linear. It is a sitcom for people who hate sitcoms. You might call it organized chaos, which at first might not look like it knows where it is going and then brings itself into focus. Where "Street" was foggy, aimless, distant and pretentious, "Unscripted" is sharp, clear, thoughtful, fluid and heart-felt.

"Inside Hollywood" shows are a dime a dozen, particularly on HBO. From the scripted wish-fulfillment series "Entourage" to the day-to-day documentary "Project Greenlight" to the celebrity behind-the-scenes cameos of "Curb Your Enthusiasm". "Unscripted" is the best. The best. The only flaw here is that it didn't last long enough to really flesh itself out. I watched the 10 episodes slowly, trying to savor everything, not wanting it to end as soon as it does. The mind wonders what a few more years of Goddard speeches would be like.

It is the rarest show that you don't just enjoy watching every episode, but instantly want to watch them again. That, and a desire to know what is happening with the "characters" after the show was cut to an end, is about as high a compliment as you can give a series.

* * * * ½ / 5

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.

Unlike other viewers (posting on this site), I thoroughly enjoyed the debut episodes of "unscripted." Certainly I agree that the show might not be on the same plane as "Larry Sanders," "Curb," or "Arrested Development," but those shows are neo-classics. Furthermore, Clooney et al are attempting to do something very different here than we see with those programs.

Krista Allen and Bryan Greenburg's characters are endearing, even if the other students portrayed are a bit formulaic and silly. Frank Langella's depiction of the brutally honest acting coach is riveting and entirely realistic as a portrayal of an advanced drama coach.

This is an insightful and creative look at a few of the thousands of actors on the edge of making it, and infinitely more entertaining than HBO's recent attempt ("Entorage"...and rare dud) at creating a television show about an actor who already has.

I am a working actor currently in a smaller market, and I do not live in Los Angeles. I have done some theater and stage work this year and I have also been very fortunate to have gotten several speaking roles in short films and independent and low-budget films. I must say that every time I watch this series I am amazed at the level of accuracy and realism that this show continues to maintain each and every week.

Granted I am not yet in Los Angeles(but will be in the next year), but I have experienced a lot of the issues that this show deals with. I find that when I watch unscripted I can relate to these characters more so than any other fictional characters in a scripted drama or comedy series. Though not a reality series, the stories are based in fact on several real experiences that these actors and Mr. Clooney and Mr. Heslov have faced at some point in their lives.

I take comfort in the fact that I am not the only one to have gone through some of these things, and I find myself personally involved with what happens to these characters because their journey mirrors that of my own. I feel like I am watching a documentary of my life over the past 3 years. I also really value Mr. Langella's contribution as acting instuctor Goddard Fulton. His insightful and constructive criticism and also his belief in his students and his profession is a remarkably true portrayal of everyone one I have ever met that truly believes in the power of acting and themselves. I love this show!

For people like me and any other working actors in the United States who have access to HBO cable network, or if you're just simply interested in finding out about the process of living and working in the acting arena, do yourselves a favor and watch this show! I feel shows like this and also Inside The Actor's Studio have just as much value as a learning tool for actors studying and working on their craft and also for actors who want in on this business. If you listen to these actors and their personal experiences, you can learn a lot about the process of acting, what it takes to succeed, and maybe even get a little more insight into who you are and what it is that you want to accomplish as an actor.

Thank you Mr. Greenberg, Miss Allen, Miss Hall, Mr. Langella, Mr.Clooney, Mr.Heslov, and Mr. Adler for presenting such a wonderful opportunity to observe the behaviors, attitudes, and lessons that actors come across, deal with, and learn from on a daily basis. Thank you for telling it like it is. You all continue to motivate and inspire me week after week. I wish you all the best of luck with this series. If you have HBO, and you want to be an actor, watch it!

This is an unusual show in that, while it is fictional, the actors are actually playing themselves. Which is a little strange, since occasionally they don't portray themselves in a particularly positive light (one actress, for example, sleeps with her acting teacher).

Nevertheless, the show is very well acted and directed. The style is unmistakably Soderbergh--hand-held camera, sound overlapping silent shots, etc. The show incorporates celebrity cameos in a very real, organic way, rather than being jokey about it. Overall, a compelling watch.

Problem is, the subject matter is so old, that I can't imagine this show remaining fresh for more than a season. You mean, the life of an actor is extremely tough and often degrading? I had no idea! Especially because the show takes place in LA, rather than New York. In NY, actors at least do interesting things while their miserable. LA is all about going on auditions for bit parts on second-rate sitcoms, a life which I find so pointless that I have a hard time relating to people trying to "make it" in Hollywood.

Who am I kidding? Like I won't watch it compulsively ...

Well, the word on the street is that 'Unscripted' has been canceled, and it's not hard to imagine why. The pseudo 'reality' show meant to offer the inside scoop on the hard road to stardom never really garnered much of an audience, and, with little to no plot or storyline to speak of, never provided much of a hook to keep viewers interested. This is George Clooney's second stab with the sorta-kinda-reality show genre on HBO--the first, 'K Street,' which Clooney co-produced with his buddy Stephen Soderbergh, tried to meld fictional drama in a DC lobbying firm run by real-life power couple Mary Matalin and James Carville. The show attempted to bend genres by combining actual current news stories with fictional subplots, presumably to expose the behind-the-scenes action leading up to public news events. One problem: could there be anything less interesting to watch than the lives and doings of a bunch of hyper-neurotic DC lobbyists? Answer: the lives and doings of aspiring actors trying to break through in Hollywood.

'Unscripted' again tries to give us an improvised take on 'reality,' with real struggling actors (Krista Allen, Bryan Greenberg, Jennifer Hall) splitting time between humiliating auditions, the occasional, small-time acting gig, and an acting class taught by the ridiculously pretentious and egocentric Goddard Fulton (Frank Langella), who pontificates about the 'craft' of acting for a roomful of desperate sycophants trying to pretend that art has something to do with their desire to be famous and make easy money. Langella is a fantastic actor, but his Goddard is easily the worst thing about 'Unscripted,' boring the audience to death with idiotic speeches about artistic integrity for a bunch of people who would do back flips from one end of the Sunset strip to the other to be cast in a commercial or a soap opera. Though I'm sure Goddard has his real-life counterparts who are just as serious as he seems to be, the performance is unintentionally funny to the point of being embarrassing.

The series had its moments--the best story-line was held by Allen, Clooney's one-time girlfriend, a stunning beauty trying to be taken seriously as an actress after spending the first half of her career modeling for men's magazines and doing soft-core porn. Allen's is a classic dilemma, and while we don't necessarily feel sorry for her, her humiliation at being unable to find a job that doesn't require her to take her clothes off is palpable.

The main problem, though, is that people outside of LA and New York--i.e., the audience--don't care about the inner workings of Hollywood. It's no secret that Hollywood is a viper's nest and that aspiring actors face a lot of rejection and humiliation before they get lucky, if ever. We just want to be entertained. And given the fact that there's a war going on right now, it's hard to take a bunch of actors feeling sorry for themselves too seriously.

Clooney deserves to be complimented for attempting to translate the current public obsession with unscripted reality programming into a new film-making genre. But thus far, the projects seem to be overwhelmed by self-importance and humorlessness. Clooney's pal Mark Wahlberg seems to be having better success with 'Entourage,' a far less intelligent version of the behind-the-green door genre, probably because that program seems to be more comedic in nature. Perhaps one day Clooney will be able to pull this pseudo-reality thing off more successfully, but it's unlikely after the failure of 'K Street' and 'Unscripted' that he'll get another chance any time soon.

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

First, I wholeheartedly agree about K-Street. It was not so great, because the politicians were mostly horrible actors and very self conscious. Also, I had some moral issues with the whole Howard Dean prep stuff. That being said, man its so sad when people can't see the forest for the trees. Unscripted is certainly an acquired taste, but you've gotta at least respect what they're doing for any number of reasons. First, like Curb Your Enthusiasm, the situations that Clooney comes up with are often very funny. Second, its not supposed to be getting you to "suspend your disbelief". The show is asking you to watch it for what it is: an unscripted, improvised show about three struggling actors trying to make it in Hollywood. Not "reality", but "improvised". Third, this show is so different and it takes risks. Aren't you tired of "reality" TV and lame traditional scripted network shows? There are so few truly interesting and worthwhile shows on television (Arrested Development, Rescue Me, Deadwood, Curb and thats it) so lets try to support something cool.

This show is so disappointing on so many levels, I'm not sure where to begin. What has happened to Soderbergh? It's as though he's just taking artistic shot after artistic shot without aiming in the hopes that he'll just hit something one of these days.

Is it supposed to be "realistic"? (It's certainly not an improvisational comedy like the fantastic "Curb Your Enthusiasm" - where it stylistically appears to be real, but everyone is in on the joke.) If so, it is WAY off and as a semi-drama does a deep disservice to the true struggling actor - in LA or any other city. They all look like idiots. Don't Clooney and Soderbergh LIKE actors??? (If an acting teacher ever treated me like Frank Langella's character treats his students, I would slap him.) If the actors playing themselves have any real talent whatsoever, it certainly isn't apparent here. The direction is practically non-existent and the writing/improvised dialogue is awful.

Skip this show and get DVDs of Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Larry Sanders Show -- or any other "quirky" semi-improvised show out there.

And please, Steven, stay away from improv and return to great stories with intelligent direction -- like Sex Lies, the Limey and Out of Sight.

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.

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.

I had the same problem with K Street. This is NOT a reality show. And I don't believe that all I see from the professed genre is real either, but the difference is that the "real" realities seem to edit what they shot into a story. This series already has a story in mind before they ever shot anything. It's way too obvious.

That's not too say that it's not a good story. Unfortunately, the story would have been better served if it were told without masquerading as a reality series. Maybe that's the joke that I'm missing, but everything is so clearly staged that I refuse to suspend my disbelief.

Great story. Bad telling.

Outright awful. A failed attempt at reality with real wannabe actors. Lets make this clear. This isn't reality show as it depicts. Not close. Its not a documentary, nor anything that will catch your interest.

When you watch this show you are going to see a number of staged events. Naturally, since its not a reality show. But the staged events are too obvious, the acting is bad, and overall its just plain boring. Movies are good. Behind the scenes are good. Casting, not good. Wannabe actors not good.

Back to the staged events. Your going to realize instantly that this is not a reality show when you see the wannabe actors start thinking out loud. Reality shows add speech to images, but it does so in a way set around a situation that makes it believable. Unscripted adds it to narrate and give you the thoughts of the wannabe actors because the wannabe actors aren't good enough to demonstrate their emotions in their acting. Want an example? See the futile efforts of one of the actors trying to play off their acting ability by portraying a stuttering character in a restaurant. Unknowingly, the waitress at the restaurant used to date him. Hmm. Coincidence? Sorry, too obvious. And these circumstances are too common with Unscripted.

Hey, Hollywood is popular. Hollywood movies are popular. Even behind the scenes are popular as I mentioned before. Unfortunately, unless your an established actor or a Hollywood star and can see the inside jokes or experiences that Unscripted is talking about, your just not going to find this entertaining.

Hello,

I liked the realism I felt in many aspects of the series such as the characters, dreams, situations, circumstances, interactions, naiveté, backstabbing, humor, melancholy, specific LA & NYC places, attitudes, minor successes, numerous failures, dis ingenuousness, personnel whims & proclivities, and a few more I just can't think of. I'm assuming the actor's class is somewhat typical, and if so, I felt it was done superbly. If it is not representative, then, what can I say? The acting was just great, couldn't be better.

John Rawley