“The TV Set” is Jake Kasdan’s scathing satire of the television industry, starring David Duchovny as a writer/producer trying to get his sitcom pilot made and Sigourney Weaver as the network head whose vision for the show doesn’t quite match his. Justine Bateman (!) co-stars as Duchovny’s wife, and there are impressive cameos by Andrea Martin, Phillip Baker Hall, Jonathan Silverman as himself, and Phil Rosenthal (the man who ran “Everybody Loves Raymond”) as a TV executive. For anyone who knows anything about the trials and tribulations of getting a TV show on the air, “The TV Set” will make you laugh — even while you cringe at the hoops Duchovny has to jump through. This one played in theaters for about a day and a half, but you shouldn’t miss it on DVD.
“Comedian” is Jerry Seinfeld’s 2003 documentary about getting back onstage to do standup after a decade of his hit TV show. He’s developing an entirely new act, which means lots of writing and lots of working the road, from small comedy clubs up to a big theater. At the same time, we see Orny Adams, a comedian who has been working the clubs for years and is desperate for his big break. Between the two of them, you see what it’s like to step up to a solo microphone every night and try to make people laugh. There’s also great backstage discussion among Seinfeld and fellow comedians like Colin Quinn, Dom Irrera, Ray Romano, and Jay Leno — plus a classic scene in which Chris Rock tells Seinfeld about having seen Bill Cosby in concert, and the two of them marvel at the legend’s material and stamina in putting on a show that lasted two and a half hours.