I am – Hercules!! A rumor has been floating around that “Kids in the Hall” vet Mark McKinney was hired by “Studio 60” to work on the sketches. But the sketches, to me, ring more of Sorkin than McKinney. So I’m thinking somebody got his wires crossed and McKinney was actually hired to PLAY a guy who works on the sketches. I believe I will maybe pursue Aaron Sorkin to straighten it all out. Assuming Sorkin doesn’t just take five seconds right now and just email me the answer. Anyway, it’s hard not to love the McKinney character, one of the many great surprises Sorkin has visited upon the great North American viewing public over the last few months. Tonight’s installment is “The Christmas Show,” so one assumes this will be the last new “Studio 60” we get until 2007. Do our very foreign cousins residing in the Great White North believe the episode a vessel worthy of closing out the year? According to TV Guide, Danny has true feelings for pretty little Jordan. So I'm guessing she was really happy - even happier than she appeared - to steal "Nations" away from HBO! “L-prime” says: What’s it called? “The Christmas Show” What does TV Guide say? Matt wants to bring the spirit of Christmas to Los Angeles when he and the “Studio 60” team put on a holiday show. Meanwhile, Danny tries to figure out his true feelings for Jordan. What else is TV Guide not telling us? 
 Again, not a lot. There’s a bit of Steven Weber fun about involving a live newscast from Afghanistan, and RPG and the F-bomb. Christmas show? Yeah, and it works pretty well, even for those of us Scrooges who may not go in to far for your typical Yuletide schmaltz. Our personal cynicism is voiced through a bunch of the cast and writers, and we get our humbugs thrown in our faces with remarkably non-pushy good cheer. Any more writery goodness? McKinney, Darius and Lucy are present, fighting Matt and fighting Christmas. It gets better when the biggest humbugs of them all, Simon and Tom, join up. Do they throw any more of our larger social shortcomings in our faces? Is Christmas spit on as a bastion of the religious right? Not at all. The only ‘issue’ at play here is something no one in their right mind can have an issue with: helping talented, displaced, New Orleans musicians draw attention to … well, not much. Just spreading charity and goodwill. Does Jordan’s pregnancy show up? She and Danny spend a decent chunk of the teaser at a doctor’s office, bantering, and allowing Danny to realize his growing attraction. Which I’ve gotta say is far preferable to an obvious shoe-horning with Martha O’Dell, which looked like it might happen early on. So, no preaching? No self-righteousness? No world-saving? Nope. Sorry Talkback whiners. What’s good? “What are you, Linus?”; the Jew being the only one enjoying Christmas; “We could set the tree on--” “Shut up.”; “So I’m gonna have him shove his wallet up his ass.”; racial vs. political Christmas; coconut meets table; “Go write!”; “Say it!”; “He’s saying Sig Heil!”; “Now that’s all I can see.” “It’s all anyone can see!”; “Let’s get rid of demented Santa Claus!”; Tom and Simon turning the writing room; “Do you need a menu?”; “Virginbirthsdebunked. Dot com.”; “I’ve driven by her house a couple times.” “That’s gotta take you back, moondoggy.”; To Catch a Predator was actually pretty funny; “Hey there Luke.”; Ed Asner shows some onions; the city of New Orleans; the pan up to Amanda Peet with a sandwich; “You wanna run, I know, but you get a good head start, cuz I am coming for you.”; Amanda Peet redeems pretty much every bit of her time so far with a mouthful of sandwich and a forlorn look; “I went to a place called ‘Say it! Say it! Say it!”; the fade-out, and preceding musical number. Not so good? Y’know what, not much. Harriet/Matt got distended a little further, with an obvious roadblock, but the new Jordan/Danny thing threatens to wipe out the former’s lameless in a single fell swoop. Go ahead, call me a plant. I can take it. Rating for 1.11 (out of five) ***** I’m not a big Christmas guy, but this was a genuinely touching and relevant hour that threw a loving and respectful look at North America’s most vaunted holy day, even rolling in social concern perfectly. “El Fuego” says: What’s It Called? “The Christmas Show" Who Did It? Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by Dan Attias What’s It About? Matt wants to do a Christmas-themed show, Harriet gets a movie deal, Jordan deals with her pregnancy, Danny deals with his feelings for Jordan, Jack has to deal with FCC issues, Simon and Tom fight for Lucy's affections, and Cal's got a lovely bunch of Coconuts. Do we find out the identity of Jordan's baby daddy? We do. Is it Jack? That would be telling. A Christmas Show? But doesn't Aaron Sorkin hate Baby Jesus? It comes off as very heartfelt and proper. There's still culture wars-y stuff going on with Jack, and the show does a decent job of highlighting everything that's wrong with the FCC. What’s Good About It? Almost everything. Matt's Christmas Tree. Cal's attempt to crack open a coconut. Danny falling completely head over heels for Jordan, particularly his confession at the end of the episode. The music. The brief glimpse of a sketch we get is actually pretty damn funny. Simon shooting down Tom's attempts to woo Lucy. The writing staff's systemic deconstruction of Christmas, the Nativity, and Santa. Harriet and Matt have two big scenes... one of them, the first one, is funny and strikes just the right tone. The second one... What’s Not Good About It? From a character perspective, what Matt does later on makes perfect sense, but it takes what should be a big romantic payoff and turns it into petty oneupsmanship. Again, it makes sense from a character perspective, but if you're looking for a big mushy aw-shucks resolution this week, you're better looking to Jordan and Danny, because they deliver it in spades. Rating (Out of Five) ***** “Daniel” says: What’s It Called? “The Christmas Show" Who Wrote It? Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin, Story by Christina Kiang Booth and Cinque Henderson Who Directed It? Dan Attias What’s It About? Danny helps Jordan deal with her pregnancy and his feelings; Matt tries to instill Christmas spirit in all; Harriett gets a movie offer; Jack deals with the FCC What’s Good About It? Bradley Whitford gets the Emmy for this episode, Sorkin keeps up the tradition of having great Christmas episodes, Mark McKinney is back as Andy, plenty of Jack, Cal, and Andy, Matt's Christmas tree, Jack's entrance, Jack's reaction to Jordan's pregnancy, Matt trying to get Danny to admit he likes Jordan, Cal and a coconut, Simon and Tom fighting for Lucy, Matt and Harriett arguing over his stomach, The anti-semetic Santa, The “To Catch a Predator” sketch is actually a really clever idea, all of the dissecting of Christmas and why it makes no sense, also bringing in Joshua Malina as Jordan's ex-boyfriend at this point would be a great idea, did I mention Bradley Whitford? The reuse of “fraction of a man”, “That can't be you” “No” “It's an Alaskan king crab that does that”, “If he was, he'd be here.”, “We can put your tree on stage and it'll just be like Dickensian London”, “How is it that I'm the only Jew in a writing room?”, “SCREW Christmas?”, “Bubbles?”, “I'm gonna get a gun, I swear to God I am”, “With the eyes and the face, and everything”, “I'm not even talking to anyone right now”, “Aren't you like 100 years old?” “Aren't you like only marginally callous?”, “GO WRITE” “OKAY”, “Abs of granite”, “Flavius Josephson”, “We do live here now.” What’s Not Good About It? Matt and Hariett's kiss, while nice, did not make me smile ear to ear like Casey and Dana's first kiss on Sports Night, which makes me know this relationship probably could have been evolving in a better fashion (although the “And I'm Matt” line made things a lot better), this is a bad week if you hate banter, the New Orleans plot point could have taken an awful route, but it thankfully didn't, the snow over the credits wasn't necessary, but not as bad as the santa hat on the Sports Night title card, the show is officially at a great level in my opinion, and that constant idea of the show not getting a second season is going to hurt a lot more if and when it happens Rating (Out of Five) ****.5 “Jarod” says: What’s It Called? The Christmas Show What’s It About? Holiday magic works romantic wonders as the FCC cracks down. Does anyone take a big bite out of the speechifying pie? Nope....not really. What’s Good About It? Pretty much everything.....of note - Jack's talk with the Ed Asner character....Actually Steven Weber absolutely rocked da house this episode...he is so good. Matt and Danny's chemistry really clicking. The skit on the show this time was hilarious...I actually laughed out loud for the whole thing. Timothy Busfield's armed with a coconut. Simon and Tom discussing Christmas and then 'spreading the cheer'. Danny 'saying it, saying it, saying it' to Jordan. Harriet coming onto the air after Matt pulls her aside. The final scene was just awesome....very well done. What’s Not Good About It? Really nothing....the show was outstanding from start to finish.....first one to do so all season..I am really glad that they got picked up for the season cause now Sorkin and Schlamme, it seems, are going to go all out. As well, for those of you who have decided that this show sucks cause it talks about Christians a lot are going to have some more to talk about...this time it's Focus on the Family and the FCC...but having worked in this area...the show is right this time...so what's not good about it will be the bs responses from the posters. Rating (Out of Five) ***** 10 p.m. Monday. NBC.





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