Kristen Bell to star in new 'management consulting' TV show

Maybe you know her as Sarah Marshall, flighty muse to musicians famous and foolish in her big screen debut. Maybe you've watched her play youth-sleuth Veronica Mars, cracking neighborhood crimes with premium cable grace. Maybe you've even swooned over her glowing visage in recent film classics like When in Rome or Burlesque—though I hope not, for your own sake. Regardless, you've never experienced the beautiful, talented actress Kristen Bell like you're about to. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you House of Lies, soon to be television's first modern foray into the sinister realm of management consulting.

The pilot, currently in pre-production, "revolves around dueling corporate management consulting firms," say entertainment pundits. House of Lies brings Bell, 30, to the screen as Jeannie Van Der Hooven, a sharp-witted recent Brown graduate drafted into a prestigious management consultancy. There she meets Marty, played by co-star Don Cheadle, "a cut-throat consultant" who introduces Van Der Hooven to the industry—a world of high stakes, intrigue and, apparently, a good deal of adults-only intimacy (it airs on Showtime).

The show is based on Martin Kihn's classic tell-all House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time (note: if you haven't read it, I recommend it—if only for the bit on the use of "swag", or "smart wild-assed guesses" by consultants). Before he assumed the role of full-time author, Kihn wrote comedy scripts for television; the success of his previous work (he was nominated for an Emmy) bodes well for the TV adaption's future. If the show proves to be an accurate representation of Kihn's book, we can all expect to kick back and watch the likes of McKinsey, Deloitte, and more (surely they'll go nameless, unlike in the book) make complete fools of themselves.

Better yet, we get to watch Kristin Bell work the screen as we steep ourselves in nasty corporate decadence, thinking: "This isn't even remotely accurate, but I'm entertained!"

Hooray Showtime!

For more information:
Kristin Bell Joins Showtime's House of Lies