Thread: I recently bought an unaired pilot (on DVD and VHS) called “and Also Starring”. It's described as “a new comedy created by [former Simpsons writer] Deb Lacusta, and developed by Deb Lacusta and Dan Castellanetta.” (Dan and Deb are married.)

The guy I bought it from on ebay said that he found it in a thrift shop. There is no date on this, but appears to be from somewhere in the 2000-2004 time range.

The concept for “and Also Starring” is that it a single camera show seen from the point of view of a famous actor. In this pilot the celebrity is Marlon Brando, played by Dan Castellanetta, who presumably is operating the camera as well.

It's a stretch to call this a pilot. It's much closer to a “proof of concept” video than a finished production. It's only 15 minutes long. And though it's supposed to be Marlon Brando interacting with people, they're clearly wearing microphones & you can see the camera shadow.

The episode starts out with Brando arriving at Deb's house and flipping through a book of Brando photos and commenting on them. Deb then says she has to take the dog for a walk, Brando comes along. He has a hard time keeping up you see because he's fat.

Brando makes Deb go get her car and drive him back to her home. Then he has trouble getting out of the car, you see because he's fat. Brando gets dizzy and the scene cuts to a doctor's office. Brando says he has trouble fitting in the chair there, you see because he's fat.

Brando is examined by a (real) Doctor. The scene then returns to Deb's home where she accuses Brando of eating her banana. He denies it while eating a banana. I guess the joke is Brando is a compulsive liar? Anyhow, the scene about the missing banana goes on for 3 minutes.

After that the setting shifts to Brando talking to a therapist. The topic is Brando telling the therapist about Deb accusing him of stealing her banana. The person playing the therapist here is a former Second City performer named Paul Sand.

After that there is a scene with Brando talking to two kids who are reading comics. He lists his movies asking the kids if they have heard of his films. They keep telling him no. The kids are Matt Groening's boys, Abe Groening @ohheyitsabe and Will Groening.

There is more of the therapist, and then a scene that takes place after Marlon Brando & Deb have had sex, followed by a discussion that's a callback to the banana scene where Deb says that they had sex and Brando denies it.

The scene goes one more time to the therapist, where Brando confesses that he wishes that he wasn't so good at lying. The final scene in the pilot has Deb introducing Brando to a fan who asks him for an autograph. The fan is played by Rich Reetz.

From what I can tell online, Dan C. played Harvey Pekar in a stage play of “American Splendor” with Reetz. The play, which predated the excellent film, played in Los Angeles from Sept. 1990-Sept. 1991.

And that is “and Also Starring”. I had hoped that it would be great. It was not. And presumably, the best idea was Brando, so they used it first. I'm also unclear what would have happened in a weekly series. Would a different star interact each week with Deb?

Though this one was a big swing and miss, obviously both Dan and Deb have had plenty of successes. This one just didn't quite land.

End thread.