DANCES WITH FILMS 2025 REVIEW! Breezy, trippingly paced, and dry in its humor, Broadway Books is a nascent television pilot from Carianne King. The grad students who operate the down-on-its-luck bookstore are a motley bunch. You have Nick (Nick Naney), who likes to pretend he’s more intellectual than he actually is. One of the running gags of this pilot is that Nick has listed Anna Karenina and Ulysses on his staff picks without having actually read either of these monstrous tomes. Eric (Eric Yates) is there to needle Nick. There’s an interesting frenemy vibe playing out there. On the woman’s side, there’s Laurel (Lauren Servideo), who’s still working on her dissertation. Anya (Ruby Collister) keeps finding the strangest young men to date. Finally, there’s Polly (Rew Starr), who is the demented member of the team. What she does to QR codes and social media is simply deranged.
The chaos comes to a head when Jim (Carlos Dengler), the proprietor, informs the team that no matter what, they have to bump up the attendance numbers for Malcolm Gladwell’s reading of his new book. Apparently, Gladwell once received no audience at the Book Nook many years ago, and he destroyed the store with a terrifying Yelp review. Anya and Laurel, in an effort to increase the audience, find themselves out on the street pressing flesh. Laurel especially must perform well, as she was caught deriding Jack Kerouac’s writings as ‘boring’. Meanwhile, Eric proceeds to needle and interrogate Nick concerning Anna Karenina, which Nick clearly has not read.
“…grad students who operate the down-on-its-luck bookstore…”
Broadway Books is the same gentle humor you find in workplace sitcoms like The Office. I found this episode to be charming. The cast plays well off each other, the digital video work is clean, and the timing is pretty great for the jokes. I rather enjoy the lack of a laugh track. As if King trusts her audience will discover the funny in her dialogue, which is plentiful.
If you’re in the market for a new office place comedy, and you like stories concerning perennial underdogs, Broadway Books is for you. This is a very solid effort, and I hope it gets the green light and finds a spot on a streaming service somewhere.
Broadway Books screened at the 2025 Dances With Films.
"…breezy..."
