The plot is built around the creation of a pilot with slim chances to begin with, given the ratio of pilots that actually make it to the screen. The most comically attractive aspect of the film is the slick performance by Sigourney Weaver as Lenny, a broadcasting company president fond of seeing what her 14-year-old daughter thinks of shows as a guideline to what will fly in Middle America. Weaver mixes an acidic manner with a smarmy way of discussing ideas, and she is once again a picture-stealer.

Caught in the trap is David Duchovny as writer Mike Klein, who has a script that is personally and passionately tied to the troubling suicide of his brother. The mere idea of suicide sounds too grim for a TV show, and Mike is soon facing recommended script changes. There’s more trouble, as Mike’s choice of a leading actor is overruled, and if he wants a shot, he has to agree to a more typical TV type. Things get worse. Mike desperately needs success, as his wife Natalie (Justine Bateman) is pregnant with a second child and bills don’t pause for the sake of art.

To give you an idea of how awful programming can become, Lenny is flush with the triumph of her reality show called “Slut Wars.”