Welcome to the On The Lot Episode 5 recap. Tonight’s episode is the first in the series since Fox television trimmed the shows schedule down to a single 1-hour episode every Tuesday night. So, with that being said, hear’s hoping Fox has found a way to breathe life into what has quickly become a dieing series.
Now let’s get down to business and see what happened in episode 5 of Fox’s On The Lot.
SE01EP05 – June 5, 2007
Episode 5 of On The Lot kicks off with a brief recap of episode four where Phil, Claudia and Carolina got the axe and were cut from the show.
Tonight, only five directors get to show their movies, while the remaining ten kick back in the audience and watch. The judges, Carrie Fisher and Garry Marshall, are joined tonight by Transformers the movie director Michael Bay as guest judge.
Tonight’s five featured directors and films are:
Broken Pipe Dreams by Sam Friedlander
Description: A guy loses his wedding ring down the toilet and has to retreive it, despite having a previous bad experience with toilets. Apparently his fish was flushed down the toilet in the past.
My Thoughts: Dumb idea, poor execution, but a clever and funny ending.
Judges Thoughts: Carrie really liked it, a lot. Guest director Michael Bay of Transformers the movie cared more about the fish than the guy, thought it was too long and repetative. Garry thought he made a toilet a character, excellent film making.
Teri by Trever James
Description: A short film about a guys blind date experience with a girl named Teri.
My Thoughts: Stupid and pointless, only mildly funny.
Judges Thoughts: Carrie thought it was cute, though the acting was over done. Michael Bay thought he’s confident in his directing, but he needs to work on his photography and style. Garry said he liked his comedy short film about golf more than this short.
The First Time I Met The Finkelsteins by Hilary Weisman Graham
Description: A son introduces his new girlfriend to his jewish parents.
My Thoughts: A funny idea, but incredibly poorly executed and terribly filmed.
Judges Thoughts: Carrie likes her writing, doesn’t like her directing. Michael calls it a groaner, says it was uncomfortable and just didn’t work for him. Garry says the filming was way to tight, the writing was good, but she has a lot to learn.
Dough: The Musical by Adam Stein
Description: A romantic comedy about two people who are destin to meet.
My Thoughts: Um, interesting. Some shaky filming, but an interesting idea, definitely original.
Judges Thoughts: Carrie calls it incredibly original and entertaining. Michael says it was a very good job for 5-days work, but he could use a bit more work in the photography department. Garry thought it worked out very well but he needed to work on the chemistry between his actors a bit more.
Laughing Out Loud: A Comic Journey by Shalini Kantayya
Description: The story of a gay south asian comedian finding and accepting himself for who he is.
My Thoughts: A great idea for a short film that was written, directed and filmed fantastically. The message and story was positive and inspiring and, without a doubt, this was my favorite film of the night.
Judges Thoughts: Carrie thought it was very well made, but the advice was crappy. Michael Bay got a chill, said she did a really, really great job and she has the most digital style of anyoneon stage. Garry doesn’t say much of anything, other than not all films need to be linear. Not sure what that has to do with anything.
Judges picks:
Carrie Fisher – Broken Dreams by Sam Friedlander
Michael Bay – Laughing Out Loud: A Comic Journey by Shalini Kantayya
Garry Marshall – Dough: The Musical by Adam Stein
Other Contestants Pick:
Laughing Out Loud: A Comic Journey by Shalini Kantayya
My pick:
Laughing Out Loud: A Comic Journey by Shalini Kantayya
Of all the night’s short films I thought Shalini’s was the only one that was not only filmed very well, but also written and directed very well. The story was both touching and inspiring, the method in which it was conveyed was fantastic and the entire film came together very well.
Overall, the show wasn’t fantastic. It wasn’t as bad as episode 4 was, not by a long stretch, but it wasn’t fantastic either, though I definitely like format a great deal better then the American Idol style they were following before. Who knows, maybe Fox has managed to find a way to prevent this, what could be a fantastic television show, from imminent doom – here’s hoping!
Join me again on Tuesday, June 12th for On The Lot episode 6 when we will find out which of tonight’s five contestants will be sent packing and which five will be next on the chopping block!
I definitely agree Dough and Laughing Out Loud were far and away the class of the evening. Adam taking a risk on a musical was fantastic, and time constraints considered, he really did an amazing job. If I factor out my love for musicals and reconcile the question of whether I feel obliged to like Laughing Out Loud because it was serious, I probably would give the victory to Shalini by a nose.
But of course, this is the race to the bottom. I’d hate to see Hilary go, because last week was so bad for women, but she’d delivered two consensus clunkers in a row.
Great post. I’ll check in next week.
Thank you very much, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I really like On The Lot and the entire idea behind the show, and I’m hoping this new format can keep the show alive and kicking. It also lends itself to some fun opportunities as far as recapping the episodes goes.
I started to watch this one, but it just did’nt keep my interest. Not saying it’s a bad show…maybe it was just the episode. Might check out episode 6.