"The Business" needs more and less of ... something

I wanted to like IFC's half-hour skein "The Business" much more than I actually did. I love inside-showbiz stories, going all the way back to "What Price Hollywood" and "Merton of the Movies" and on up through up through Fox's short-lived (but fondly remembered) "Action" and of course, HBO's "Entourage."

But "Business" felt very flat to me. It seemed to leave no industry cliche unused in the 22-minute season opener. (I wasn't even aware the show had a first season.) Kathleen Robertson is pretty good as the determined, corporate speak-spouting producer-executive Julia Sullivan who's determined to flog her five-year Power Point business plan hard enough to turn the erstwhile girlie flick shingle, Vic's Flicks, into a respectable Gotham-based indie. The company has one moderate hit title ("House of Fear") under its belt and plans for a zillion sequels and "ancillary exploitation strategies."

(Pictured from left: Matt Silver, Ron deLeeuw, Trevor Hayes and Kathleen Robertson of IFC's "The Business.)