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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: September 6, 2014
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: The Chair, “The Experiment” (Season 1, Episode 1). [Stream on Amazon Prime]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: We’ve talked before in this space about what a great idea Project Greenlight was, just on a pure idea level. Of course HBO kept trying to make a go of it; the idea of a reality competition that allows amateur filmmakers the resources to make a for-real film is irresistible. So we got four seasons of Project Greenlight, each one fascinating and imperfect in its own way. And in 2014, producer Chris Moore, the least famous of the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck/Chris Moore triumvirate, decided to give the format another go, this time at Starz.
Called The Chair (like the director’s chair), the show would give two amateur directors the chance to direct film versions of the same script. They could make edits, but they’d have to work with the screenwriter. Otherwise, they’d be free to craft the movie as they saw fit: tone, cast, aesthetic, everything. Moore would be working along with producer Zachary Quinto and his producing partners, and at the end of the whole thing, audiences would vote on which finished film was the best.
For the two filmmakers, the show could not have cast a better pair of opposites: Shane Dawson, immature YouTube star trying to sell a 16-year-old’s aesthetic in his mid-20s; and Anna Martemucci, comparatively more mature and professional but also wildly indecisive and dependent on her husband.
The first episode focused on choosing Shane and Anna as the two directors and letting us get to know them and their cast of various characters. Like Lauren Schnipper, Shane’s endlessly patient, shockingly (due to her association with Shane) competent, and really quite likeable right hand. Because we’re following these two productions through the long-haul process of movie-making, the cast of various producers and studio execs end up making a pretty good impression.
And that’s not even getting into the multi-week psychodrama of Zachary Quinto’s bone-deep hatred for Shane Dawson and all his vulgarity and YouTuberism. Honestly, one of the best subplots on any television show in recent memory.
Too bad nobody watched! It didn’t help that hardly anybody subscribed to Starz, but even compared to later Starz series like Outlander and Power, The Chair was low-rated. Which on one hand is too bad, but on the other hand, that just means that it’s waiting there on Amazon Prime to be discovered as a cult hit. It’s the perfect single-season binge, too. And it’ll have you DYING to talk about it with someone, so start building that secret Chair society.
