‘The Lot’ reminds viewers of kinder Hollywood

Today’s Hollywood is a world that few in the general public can fathom. Hundreds of millions to make a picture, multimillion-dollar salaries for the big-name stars, star perks beyond belief — all are far beyond the realm of the average person.

“The Lot,” airing in four half-hour episodes at 8 tonight and Friday on American Movie Classics, takes viewers back to a kinder, if not gentler, Hollywood, where the money involved was smaller but the egos were every bit as large.

The series takes place on the lot of struggling Sylver Screen Pictures in 1937. It follows the rise of young starlet June Parker (played by Linda Cardellini), whose mother, Mary (Stephanie Faracy), is the studio’s longtime makeup artist. Over the first four episodes, Parker goes from ingenue to Academy Award-nominated star, while making a ton of compromises along the way. By the end, she’s no longer the sweet young thing she once was.

Other featured characters are bumbling studio head Harry Sylver (Allen Garfield), shady publicist Jack Sweeney (Perry Stephens), playboy business mogul Roland White (Jonathan Frakes of “Star Trek” fame), and Parker’s erstwhile love interest, budding screenwriter Charlie Patterson (Steven Petrarca).

Topping the supporting cast are the understated Francois Giroday as the studio’s head stylist and June’s father figure, Fabian, and Sara Botsford as the aging, scenery-chewing studio diva, Norma St. Claire. Shining in cameo roles are TV staples Holland Taylor (most recently “The Practice”), Jeffrey Tambor (“The Larry Sanders Show”) and Rue McClanahan (“Golden Girls”).

On the surface, “The Lot” appears predictable, but it’s actually lampooning the cliches that are ever a part of “A Star is Born,” rise-and-fall-type films. It does a nifty job of working real-life people and events into its setting, in knowing topical references (a gossip columnist questions whether anyone would remember sports announcer-turned-recent contract player Ronald Reagan in 50 years).

The biggest problem with “The Lot” is that it is an awkward dramedy. It plays mainly as a comedy, but mixes in dramatic moments, which ofttimes seem to come from out of the blue. It’s not nearly as polished as AMC’s series “Remember WENN,” but it does show much promise, should the channel decide to order more episodes.