I'm not saying ABBA writes better than Shakespeare... : Slings and Arrows

"Slings and Arrows" does kind of grow on you by the 3rd episode (first season), and though it's not great or raucous it continues to have its moments and to be very astute at its portrayal of the lives of theater people at the 2nd rung. One of the best elements is the developing relationship between the insipid Richard Smith-Jones (just like it's spelled), the business manager, and the corporate sponsor's representative, Holly Day, who's a driven, go-getter, middlebrow and who pushes him to take over the festival. In this episode, she carries him off for a weekend in Toronto where they'll, as she puts it, have a great dinner, see a show, and talk about our future. He's totally sick of going to shows, he tells her, but she's got first-row balcony for Mama Mia! That's different! They love the show, which leads to really some of the best dialog in the series, as they confess/agree that the problem is the New Burbage Shakespeare Theatre Festival puts on plays nobody wants to see, not shows like Chorus Line and Mama Mia! "I'm not saying ABBA writers better than Shakespeare or anything..." Richard remarks. Holly tells him she's working on a deal for a John Lennon musical. "I've already talked with Yoko." "Oh, no!" "Um, hm." Very good. Meanwhile, main story starting to gel around Jeffrey's struggle to overcome his fear of returning to the stage and his overall hatred of the festival. Idiotic director they bring in to take over Hamlet is hilarious - his idea is to emphasize the "rotten" in Denmark, and the state is littered with garbage. Though the series lacks the killer instinct, it does have its highlights.