La La Land (TV series)

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La La Land
Genre Comedy
Created by Marc Wootton
Directed by Misha Manson-Smith
StarringMarc Wootton
ComposerSteve Mason
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producersCharlie Siskel
Misha Manson-Smith
Marc Wootton
ProducerAlexandra Reed
CinematographyMark Schwartzbard
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time2528 minutes [1]
Original release
Network Showtime
(United States)
BBC Three
(United Kingdom)
Release25 January (2010-01-25) 
1 March 2010 (2010-03-01)

La La Land is an American television comedy series broadcast on Showtime in the United States, BBC Three in the United Kingdom, and SBS One in Australia. It is a mockumentary which features character comedian Marc Wootton playing three different characters: Shirley Ghostman, a fake psychic; Gary Garner, a wannabe actor; and Brendan Allen, a documentary film-maker.

Contents

Release

The series was first broadcast on 25 January 2010. It was released on DVD on 7 June 2010. [2]

Episodes

EpisodePlot Summary
Episode #1.1Week one sees Gary Garner, an East-London taxi driver, making himself at home in the lavish Laurel Canyon mansion of Ruta Lee, a film star of Hollywood's golden age he once chauffeured in the UK.
Episode #1.2Week two see Shirley, Brendan and Gary continue their assuault on Los Angeles and strive to get noticed by those in the know.
Episode #1.3Laith comes to LA for work and the Ladies of Slay cant keep their eyes off of him.  
Episode #1.4After four weeks in La La Land, Gary has finally bagged his first ever audition: to front a commercial for a chain of mattress stores.
Episode #1.5After five weeks in Los Angeles, Shirley is offered his first gig: he's bottom of the bill at a psychic showcase at the Theatre West in Studio City.
Episode #1.6Gary begins work on a Tommy Wiseau feature film.

Reception

The series received mixed reviews from critics. Mike Hale of The New York Times gave a positive review, writing "while he doesn’t often inspire the helpless laughter that Borat or Da Ali G Show provoke, his quieter, more slowly building situations can have their own devastating payoffs." [3] Heather Havrilesky of Salon praised the dark comedy and narrative, describing the series as capturing "the jackassery inherent to striving." [4] Brian Lowry of Variety gave a negative review, describing Wootton as "poor man's Sacha Baron Cohen" and writing of the series "while Wootton's irreverent antics are sporadically funny enough to win him a cult following, the memorable moments ultimately prove too few and far between." [5] On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 57% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 2/10. [2]

References

  1. "La La Land Episode Guide". Showtime. 6 March 2010. Archived from the original on 16 March 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  2. 1 2 "La La Land: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  3. Hale, Mike (24 January 2010). "Very British, Somewhat Borat and a Lot of Nerve (Published 2010)". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  4. ""La La Land": Move over, Borat!". Salon. 24 January 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  5. Lowry, Brian (4 August 2012). "Variety Reviews - La La Land". Variety. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2021.