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Exclusive: The 'House of Lies' cast gets down in a new promo

What's Don Cheadle making Kristen Bell wait for?

By Alan Sepinwall Friday, Sep 23, 2011 6:15 PM

<p>Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell and the rest of the "House of Lies" cast.</p>

Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell and the rest of the "House of Lies" cast.

Credit: Showtime

Premiere week for the 2011-12 TV season isn't officially over yet (it runs Monday-Sunday), but as you know if you've been reading my reviews, it hasn't been the most inspiring batch of new shows so far. Some hope will come in a week with the debut of Showtime's "Homeland" (which you can still watch the pilot of in its entirety here), but beyond that, most of the genuinely exciting shows seem to be coming at mid-season: NBC's "Awake" and "Smash: The Brian Williams Story," ABC's "Apartment 23" and "The River," etc.

Hopefully we can add Showtime's "House of Lies" to that list. I still haven't seen the pilot for the new comedy - in which Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell and Ben Schwartz are part of a team of cutthroat management consultants who will do anything in their pursuit of money - but that cast is great, Showtime president David Nevins promised it would be more overtly funny than most of the Showtime "comedies," and, well, the people involved with the show helped make this promo, which has made me laugh every single time I've seen it this week.

"House of Lies" may or may not pan out, but at least it's given the world Veronica Mars, Jean-Ralphio and Paul Rusesabagina getting down with their bad selves. Enjoy. 

Alan-sepinwall-sm
Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Related Searches: House of Lies, Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell, Ben Schwartz

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  • Default-avatar

    Monkey0111

    Why was Smash renamed to Smash: The Brian Williams Story?

    September 23, 2011 at 6:43PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      John It's Alan's favorite dead horse of a joke (which I laugh at every time anyway). He likes to pretend based on the title that NBC's Smash is actually a Friday Night Lights spin-off about Brian "Smash" Williams.

      Again, SO dumb, but I always giggle.

      September 23, 2011 at 8:03PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    John

    Monkey0111's comment is possibly my favorite ever.

    September 23, 2011 at 6:47PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    chip_christian

    OK. Cheadle is the man.

    September 23, 2011 at 8:09PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    rhys1882

    Please god give Kristen Bell a good, long running show to do so she doesn't have to resort to crappy comedies - romantic or otherwise.

    September 23, 2011 at 8:56PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    jumaha

    Is this going to be case where Ben Schwartz won't have time to appear on Parks & Rec?

    Because as much as I like this cast, if it means no Jean-Ralphio (even after the current Entertainment 720 story-line, which I assume he has to be in), I will be somewhat disappointed.

    September 23, 2011 at 9:21PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Midnight_run_mca255950_talkback_profile

      sepinwall All depends on scheduling, what's in his Showtime contract, etc. But Schwartz is in at least one upcoming P&R episode, and I imagine things can be worked out if need be.

      September 23, 2011 at 9:38PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    J

    Thanks to Bell's typically wonderful appearance on Ferguson, I will forever know this show as "House of Pies."

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_JtQGkMxYg

    September 23, 2011 at 11:08PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Viginti

    It's great to see Josh Lawson involved in a high-quality program for once. I've always thought that he was a great comedic actor and hopefully this will be the program that convinces the rest of the world, because the US Spaced pilot sure wasn't.

    September 24, 2011 at 5:57AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    ACSHILLINGS

    January is too far away! LOVE Kristen Bell & Ben Schwartz. I know this will be a great show.

    October 9, 2011 at 7:10PM EST Reply to Comment

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