House of Lies

Last updated
House of Lies
House of Lies title card.png
Genre Comedy-drama
Created by Matthew Carnahan
Based onHouse of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time
by Martin Kihn
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes58 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesCrescendo Productions
Totally Commercial Films
Refugee Productions
Matthew Carnahan Circus Products
Showtime Networks
Release
Original network Showtime
Original releaseJanuary 8, 2012 (2012-01-08) 
June 12, 2016 (2016-06-12)

House of Lies is an American comedy-drama television series created by Matthew Carnahan. [1] The show, which premiered on Showtime on January 8, 2012, is based on the book House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time, written by Martin Kihn, a former consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. It follows a group of management consultants who stop at nothing to get business deals done. On May 17, 2016, Showtime cancelled the series after five seasons, with the series finale airing June 12, 2016. [2]

Contents

Premise

The show focuses on both the personal and business lives of Marty Kaan, a manipulative, charming and opportunistic management consultant.

Originally, Marty was a highly successful partner at consultancy firm Galweather Stearn, where he headed up a pod consisting of engagement manager Jeannie van der Hooven, and associates Clyde Oberholt and Doug Guggenheim. He later leaves this position to head up his own firm, Kaan & Associates.

In addition to the questionable business practices of Marty and his team, the series also focuses on Marty's personal life. He deals with his disagreeable management consultant ex-wife Monica, his retired-psychiatrist father Jeremiah and his confidently flamboyant son Roscoe. The main character, Marty, often breaks the fourth wall; he talks to the viewers in a freeze-frame bit in which he alone moves and the others in the background 'freeze' but continue where they left off. Alternatively, he talks to the audience while everyone moves but the others seem oblivious to the fact that he is on a monologue.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Recurring cast

Season 1

  • John Aylward as K. Warren McDale, CEO/president of Metro-Capital.
  • Griffin Dunne as Marco "The Rainmaker" Pelios, president, CEO, and senior partner at Galweather-Stearn.
  • Megalyn Echikunwoke as April, Marty's law student girlfriend.
  • Mo Gaffney as Principal Gita, principal of the school Roscoe attends.
  • Greg Germann as Greg Norbert, CFO of Metro-Capital.
  • Anna Camp as Rachel Norbert, wife, and then ex-wife of Greg Norbert.
  • Richard Schiff as Harrison "Skip" Galweather, senior partner and co-founder of Galweather-Stearn.

Season 2

  • Bess Armstrong as Julianne Hofschrager, interim CEO of Galweather-Stearn.
  • Adam Brody as Nate, CEO/president of an adult sex toy company.
  • Kevin Dobson as Mr. Pincus, owner of the Emerald casino in Las Vegas.
  • Lisa Edelstein as Brynn, assistant/political advisor for Carl Criswell.
  • Taylor Gerard Hart as Alex Dushkin, co-owner of Las Vegas Nightclub War.
  • Evan Hart as Kyle Dushkin, co-owner of Las Vegas Nightclub War.
  • Ronete Levenson as Tessa, Monica's vegan chef ex-girlfriend.
  • Nia Long as Tamara, Galweather & Stearn's newest employee and Marty's classmate from business school.
  • Eden Malyn as 'Zanna, the pod's personal assistant.
  • Michael McDonald as Carl Criswell, CEO/president of US National Bank.
  • Elimu Nelson as Kevin, Tamara's husband.
  • Jenny Slate as Sarah Guggenheim, Doug's girlfriend and, later, wife.
  • Larenz Tate as Malcolm Kaan, Marty's brother.
  • Mather Zickel as Michael Carlson, owner of the Vibrato casino in Las Vegas.

Season 3

  • Genevieve Angelson as Caitlyn Hobart, part of Marty's new pod.
  • Eugene Cordero as Everett, part of Monica's pod.
  • Brigid Coulter as the wife of Andrew "'Dre" Collins.
  • Eliza Coupe as Marisa McClintock, the youngest of the McClintock family. She was founder of MediaWolfOnline newspaper and later became the chairwoman of entire McClintock Media Group after some help from Clyde.
  • Ryan Gaul as Will, part of Marty's new pod.
  • Rob Gleeson as Jeffrey, part of Marty's new pod.
  • Lauren Lapkus as Benita Spire, part of Jeanie's new pod. She leaked info to the press that led to the demise of Galweather under The Rainmaker.
  • Alice Hunter as Chantelle, a young PhD candidate who is dating Jeremiah.
  • John Carroll Lynch as Gil Selby, one of Galweather-Stearn's senior partners.
  • Mekhi Phifer as Andrew "Dre" Collins, cofounder of DollaHyde, a hip-hop fashion label. He was a former drug dealer.
  • T.I. as Lukas Frye, cofounder of DollaHyde, a hip-hop fashion label. He was also a former drug dealer.
  • Brad Schmidt as JC, part of Jeanie's new pod.
  • Daniel Stern as Robert Tretorn, CEO, president, and founder of Free Range Foods.
  • Bex Taylor-Klaus as Lex, Roscoe's partner who turns out to be a bad influence on him.
  • Milana Vayntrub as Christy, part of Monica's pod. She was arrested and fired for stabbing Monica in "Power"
  • Rhea Seehorn as Samantha, Jeannie's friend at the Department of Justice

Season 4

  • Mary McCormack as Denna Altshuler, a tough, highly successful white knight investor and owner of Global Investments, who is also Marty's "fuck-buddy"
  • Demetri Martin as Ellis Gage Hightower, a shark-in-the-waters businessman and godhead of electrics cars whom Marty befriends in prison, who also owns Gage Motors
  • Valorie Curry as Kelsey, a confident computer programmer who both Clyde and Doug chase romantically
  • Alicia Witt as Maya Lindholm, a brilliant engineer and former partner of Ellis Gage
  • Fred Melamed as Harvey Oberholt, the father of Clyde, who has a difficult relationship with his son and is dying of cancer

Season 5

  • Brianna Baker as Tess Symington, Green Point owner, Dungeons & Dragons player and briefly Doug's girlfriend
  • Steven Weber as Ron Zobel
  • Wanda Sykes as Rita, Jeremiah's partner
  • Glenn Howerton as Seth Buckley, a mayoral candidate, who has gotten romantically involved with Jeannie
  • Donald Faison as Donald, friend and golfing partner of Marty
  • Michael Cudlitz and Stacey Hinnen as Kohl brothers, businessmen who have business plans in Cuba and want to acquire K&A

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 12January 8, 2012 (2012-01-08)April 1, 2012 (2012-04-01)
2 12January 13, 2013 (2013-01-13)April 7, 2013 (2013-04-07)
3 12January 12, 2014 (2014-01-12)April 6, 2014 (2014-04-06)
4 12January 11, 2015 (2015-01-11)March 29, 2015 (2015-03-29)
5 10April 10, 2016 (2016-04-10)June 12, 2016 (2016-06-12)

Production

The series is executive produced by Matthew Carnahan, Jessika Borsiczky, and Stephen Hopkins, with the pilot written by Carnahan and directed by Hopkins.

Development

On December 13, 2010, House of Lies was given a pilot order. [3] On April 7, 2011, the series was given a 12 episode pick-up by Showtime. [4] The series is based on Martin Kihn's book, House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time. [5] David Nevins, president of entertainment at Showtime, announced during the 2011 Television Critics Association press tour that the show was set to premiere on January 8, 2012. [6]

Casting

Casting announcements began in December 2010, with Don Cheadle as the first actor to be cast, as Marty Kaan, "a highly successful, cut-throat consultant who is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his clients the information they want". The next actor to be cast was Dawn Olivieri who plays Monica, "Marty's crazy, pill-popping ex-wife and biggest professional competition as her consulting firm is No. 1 compared to Marty's No. 2." [7] Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson were cast next, Schwartz playing Clyde Oberholt, a member of Marty's team and his closest friend, and Lawson as Doug Guggenheim, Marty's Harvard-educated associate. [8] Last cast were Kristen Bell, who plays Jeannie van der Hooven, "a razor-sharp, Ivy-League graduate who works at Marty’s firm", Donis Leonard Jr. as Roscoe Kaan, Marty's son, and Glynn Turman as Jeremiah Kaan, Marty's psychoanalyst father. [9] Later, Richard Schiff was cast as Marty's boss. [10]

House of Lies Live

On December 29, 2013, Showtime presented "House of Lies Live" which featured members of the main cast and guest actors on the show performing at the People's Improv Theater in the first broadcast of long form improv.

Reception

Promotional poster for the first season of House of Lies. House of lies.jpg
Promotional poster for the first season of House of Lies.

Throughout its run, House of Lies has received mixed reviews from critics.

Entertainment Weekly 's Ken Tucker, reviewing the pilot episode, thought the show's premise "sounds terrific in concept", that "Cheadle and Bell are each in their own way exceedingly charming performers with a devilish aspect to their images", and that it has debuted at a good time: "at this time in history, who doesn't want to see undeservingly wealthy people get fleeced, or at least brought low by their avarice?" But ultimately Tucker found House of Lies wanting, writing that it is actually not "all that interesting", and that its "crucial weakness is its dead language". For Tucker, "there's no novelty or freshness in House of Lies' patter or its penis-placement" (the latter comment being a reference to House of Lies' "butt-load of the sort of sexual activity one can get away with on pay-cable"). [11] He later included it on his Top 5 Worst TV Shows of 2012, taking the fourth spot. [12]

In stark contrast, Matt Rouch, writing for TV Guide , thought that "as a pitiless, biting satire of the debauched state of American big business, it's no lie to call this one of the smartest, funniest shows of the new year", praising its being "[d]eeply cynical, garish in its raunchiness and always rudely, lewdly hilarious". It "swims in a shark tank of such appalling survival-of-the-nastiest bad behavior it could launch its own channel: Human Animal Planet". Where Tucker finds House of Lies' lines and dialogue poor, Rouch praises Don Cheadle's character's lines: Cheadle's character "often steps out of a freeze-frame to deliver scathing stylized asides to the audience, talking straight to the camera to teach us his lingo and soulless trade secrets". [13] (By contrast, Tucker found these freeze-frame asides a "visual gimmick" and complained of derivative lines: "Creator Matthew Carnahan [...] loads his new show with lines that sound borrowed from Glengarry Glen Ross ("Closing is what I do!")." [11]

Sarah Huges of The Independent called House of Lies "A Comedy for the One Per Cent," saying it's a "half-hour comedy about wealthy slicksters screening right in the middle of one of the biggest economic depressions America has experienced." Although calling the cast and production outstanding and funny in an artistic and technical way, the UK reception - by the standards of the Independent - seemed less positive than the rest. "House of Lies is asking us not simply to laugh at this bunch of chancers, but to admire them for the way in which they rip people off," she writes, calling for a check-up on corporate America. [14]

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations for House of Lies
YearAssociationCategoryNominee(s)Result
2012 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Don CheadleNominated
Golden Globe Award Best Actor TV Series – Comedy or Musical Don Cheadle [15] Won
2013 NAACP Image Award Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series Don CheadleWon
Critics' Choice Television Award Best Actor in a Comedy Series Don Cheadle [16] Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Don CheadleNominated
Golden Globe Award Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Don CheadleNominated
2014 Golden Globe Award Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Don CheadleNominated
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Don CheadleNominated
Outstanding Art Direction for a Contemporary Program (Half-Hour or Less) Episodes: "Wreckage", "Middlegame", "Zhang"Won
2015 NAACP Image Award Outstanding Comedy Series Nominated
Golden Globe Award Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Don CheadleNominated
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Don CheadleNominated

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