Cool News
'I Don't See How!!' Post-Season Day One!! Thursday Brings The First STUDIO 60 Since February!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
The last six new episodes of Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip” take over the Thursday 10 p.m. “ER” slot effective tonight.
When NBC announced its fall schedule last week, “Studio 60” was not on it. If you're hoping these last six installments might garner big numbers and precipitate a last-minute reprieve, I wouldn't hold your breath. According to this interesting piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the series' massive multimillion dollar set on the Warner Bros. lot has already been demolished.
An amusing excerpt from Rob Owen’s article:
"This show does not have a comic premise, and I think that has juked perception a little bit," said [series star Bradley] Whitford, noting that "Studio 60" is different from many other TV dramas. "It's a stakes adjustment. Almost every other show at 10 o'clock is not only about crime, it's about semen-splattered corpses and children burned. ... We're gonna show the struggle of something not lurid or agonizing but of putting on something creative."
And an enlightening excerpt from the same:
NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said that all the company's executives were on board with the renewal of low-rated critical favorites "30 Rock" and "Friday Night Lights," but "Studio 60" received "frankly, a mixed response from many of us. Some of us loved it, some got frustrated with it. It just felt like the show had kind of run its course and there was no more upside to be had."
I hope I’m wrong, but something tells me this could be the last TV series for Sorkin, who made his name writing big-screen projects like “A Few Good Men” and “The American President” before moving on to create network fare like “Sports Night” and “The West Wing.” He’ll probably go back to writing movies, or maybe for the stage, the original spawning ground for “A Few Good Men.”
Here’s how NBC describes tonight’s episode, titled “The Disaster Show”:
Allison Janney ("The West Wing") guest hosts the show that goes haywire when the propmasters and cue card workers stage a last minute wildcat strike. Bradley Whitford, Steven Weber, D.L. Hughley, Sarah Paulson, Timothy Busfield and Nathan Corddry also star.
What NBC is not telling us is whether or not the ubiquitous Kari Matchette (“Invasion,” “24,” “Civic Duty”) returns also. In the last “Studio 60,” she seemed to emerge as a potential new love interest for head writer Matt Albie (Matthew Perry).
We don’t seem to be getting early “Studio 60” reviews from Canada any longer, but we might put up posts for the final five episodes – if the size of the talkbacks warrant.
10 p.m. Thursday. NBC.
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50 Extended and Deleted Scenes!!
Loads Of Featurettes!!
Heroes: The Complete First Season!!
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Sad...
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It coulda' been great.
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...about Studio 60. How weird will it be picking up this show after 5 months being without it? I don't think it will really grab people, especially since I'm still distracted at work every 5 minutes thinking about Lost last night.
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But this series did seem to never really hit it's stride.
I like the quick dialog, but the premise for this show was like Sports Night -- boring edition. The comedy we flat, where in Sports Night, it actually popped when they did the actual show.
I will miss Sorkin and I hope to see new work from him in the future. -
what with the fans lamenting its departure and the haters gloating...
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Does this mean that, in the S60 universe, The West Wing exists as a TV show? Could get awkward when she meets Danny. "Hey Bradley." "Yeah, I look a lot like him but I'm not him. Even close friends mistake me for Whitford."Sorkin should be smart enough to make a reference to this seeming paradox, but not smart enough to make it make sense in a satisfying way. Still be intriguing to see how he handles it.My suggestion would be that Janney is the star of a network drama about politics. But not TWW. No - she headlines the hot new show 'Nations'!
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I'll enjoy you for the next month or so.
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thanks for the reminding me that this was on. After Monday night's closing episodes of 24 and Heroes I stopped looking at the listings for things to tape at night. BTW, glad to hear that the Lost finale was pretty strong, I was waiting for them to get 2 to 3 seasons on dvd before I started watching it, knowing the mystery/cliffhanger aspect of the show. So as soon as season 3 hits dvd I'll start watching from the beginning.
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I know Kari personally and after the show went on hiatus she was still filming episodes, so I'm going to have to say she's still going to be on the show. I'm not sure specifically about this episode though.
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(and maybe somebody can help me reason this out)
Why the fuck do we have to suffer shit tee vee? Why do intelligent programs get shit canned, leaving only the cheap superfluous CRAP that appeals primarily to the low brow unwashed?
Don't we make TONS more money than the retards? Doesn't anyone want our huge piles of money? Why do executives consciously choose not to market to us? By killing the shows we like, and then supporting idiotic bullshit shows, do they not realize that WE WILL NEVER BUY ANY OF THEIR SPONSORS' PRODUCTS? -
Canadian here - we're not getting the early views on CTV (which has no scheduled return date as of yet) for the final 6 - so long Matt,Danny, Jordan, Simon, Tom, Harriet, Cal and Jack, we hardly knew ya!!
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Amid all the speechifiying. I'm kidding, I love big words, just like Sorkin does. I don't love crank and getting a body cavity search at Burbank Airport, however. How come he makes so many jokes about patrons of WalMart in middle America and their evil role in censorship, but has no jokes about himself being whacked out at the airport? Because Sorkin is a self - important boob, you say? Well, I agree. Self Important Celebrity Syndrome. Although, who knows - if he stays sober for even a little while longer, he may be able to save the world with his brilliant ideology. And a huge army with big guns, unlimited financing and strippers.
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It's bittersweet to finally get to see Studio 60 all these months later. And in the timeslot it should have been in to begin with. Nothing was going to save this show. My film exec friend kept telling me...it's just too damned expensive. That's too bad. This was my favorite show on TV. It stumbled in the middle of the season but it came back strong by Christmas. I guess Im just going to buy the DVDs and thats that. Everyone that hated Studio 60, it's gone now. So let it go. The rest of us will enjoy these six episodes. Take what you can get.
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May 24, 2007 1:06:57 PM CDT
It was great because it WASN"T like every other show on
by s-mart shopper
I think the time slot was wrong from the beginning and going on "hiatus" for the Black Donnellys was a huge mistake. The show stumbled a few times but still had wit and heart. I think Sorkin was trying to come full circle, making a show more like Sports Night, a show people liked that ended up getting the shaft...and so history repeats itself.
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Every show that gets canned says the same shit- We were diffrent..blah blah. This show really had no place in NBC's lineup. And it was baited as a comedy! Now that's funny!!!!
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let's make this a TB to remember. Fuck fuck FUCK people who don't get it. May your vagina-necklaces forever rattle, may no crime scene go uncontaminated, and whatever else the fuck you people were watching on monday nights after HEROES.
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but most of the haters didn't like Sports Night, either. Now there was a show that got cancelled too quickly.
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They, and we, ARE better than you. Good riddance to you sir.
I said Good Riddance! -
is a direct parallel to the love for Deal or no Deal...a medium divided against itself, will go for the money...
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Do you know a rough per episode cost? Just curious.
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Everybody fails eventually, but he should just keep trying. Sports Night is maybe the best show I've ever seen, and to not have that man writing weekly television is devastating to me. Say what you will.
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I'm really pissed that a smartly written and acted show like Studio 60 is getting tanked before it had a chance to really find its audience. I know it's an expensive show, but that's because of the great talent involved. I've downloaded all the episodes via itunes and play them while I work, and the episodes get better and better. I'm so damned tired of all of the CSIlike cop shows and between Heroes and Studio 60 I had one night that I could relax and be entertained by smart storytelling, not just the same recycled bullshit that CBS had on the week before. It's no wonder I don't watch much network television anymore. I'm tired of retread cop shows, comedies that aren't funny and those blasted reality shows designed for the moronic masses.
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May 24, 2007 2:50:21 PM CDT
Tonight's episode is also only 55 minutes apparently...
by danielkurland
One would hopefully assume the actual content is the same length, and commercials are trimmed, because it obviously wasn't written as a 55 minute episode.
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How can you possibly get "we (the people behind the show) are better than you (the audience)" from that Whitford quote?
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that's what they want to hear. You know what? Fuck it. Some people are smarter than other people. Some people like wittier banter than other people. Stop cowering behind the barn, hoping the masses won't spot you! Those that can spell, those with good grammar, those that like clever wordplay, UNITE! And for those with dyslexia, UNTIE!
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I am happy. Though I heard that Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry, and Amanda Peet won't be appearing in tonight's episode...
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i'd take "30 Rock" over this any day.
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Cavaliers 88 Pistons 71
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A line from '30 Rock'. Alec Baldwin says "Sorry, I'm late. I was out last night at Ann Coulter's 60th birthday party."
A very clever, very witty, very ELITE line. And yet no one complains about '30 Rock' in the way that they complain about 'Studio 60'.
I don't have an answer. Just wondering. -
it then! (just kidding)
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I had a moment of joy as they were unveiling the fall schedules for networks. There in the release for NBC was the fact that Studio 60 would in fact continue on USA and be rerun during their Drama Rerun two hour block with one of the Law and Orders that was also to be first run on USA. With the downer of a topic to start off this TB, I went hurriedly to the archives to find this saving grace to share with my fellow devotees of Sorkin comedy only to not be able to find the original story I saw here. Instead of the one with the line boxes below the release from the studio, my search only turned up one without that whose release made no mention of the previous good news that surely cured the ill and allowed even the blind to see the brilliance of actual quality TV. Am I the only one? I am not past my twenties so I doubt it is alsheimers, but maybe it would be better than being forced to watch some of the awful things they choose to replace something quality like Studio 60. Can someone please help reassure my sanity on this?
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You seem to be confusing intellect and income. There are some people with a lot of money that watch shitty TV, and low-income folks that watch quality, smart TV....
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Why do otherwise respectable critics ask about the lack of comedy in S60? It's a drama. 30 Rock is funnier because it's a sitcom. Funny skits for the "show within a show" are not a requirement for good drama. * NBC netheads are idiots. NBC has fallen so far. Sad, really.
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...if they had used the same style of filming they used on Sportsnight. The filtered look of West Wing just seemed to slow it down too much. Given a choice between watching new episodes of Studio 60 and breaking out my Sportsnight DVD set, I'll take Sportsnight.
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It's no longer airing on Global. Global had to air - Prison Break(or another show), 24, Heroes, and Studio 60 on the same night. They chose to air Studio 60 a day early, so... yeah.
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I set my DVR to record it. Not something I get fanatical about (like BSG or VM), just a really fun hour of television. With this and VM gone and Lost and BSG not returning until the spring, next fall is looking pretty empty.
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It was a pretty intelligent well written show. I enjoyed it after Heroes, too bad the basement dwelling comic book fans and the type-A ivy-league corporate types didn't have such of an intersecting demographic... who knew... It'll be interesting to see how it does in the ER slot
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I wonder how much they paid for the actors, and if they could have saved a fortune on getting a few talented no-namers instead of several with feature films to their credits. The ensemble was fantastic, but damn it must have cost a fortune.
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..I'm not here to gloat, just to defend myself as one of the plebians that didn't like the show. You know, the guy that just doesn't get it, the one it's too witty for. The guy that prefers poorly written schlock... yeah, me. I don't think just because this show wasn't for me that means I'm stupid or something. I know a lot of fans think the show was smart, but the whole thing seemed very dumb to me. People behind the scenes at a comedy sketch show aren't serious people that discuss politics and religion. The concept is flawed at the core. As BadMrWonka knows I really disliked this show for many reasons, but that's the main one. Do that make me stoopid? Probly.
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I still don't see any rational justification for this show's cancellation. The ratings weren't spectacular, but they were- A) much better than Friday Night Lights or 30 Rock (both renewed), B) About the same as Medium and Las Vegas (both renewed), and C) much better than anything else they put in that time slot. I've heard the production cost argument, but I find it hard to believe that Studio 60 cost more to produce than Las Vegas
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.....most people who write or do stand up type comedy are pretty intense. i've seem some interviews with comics that say most of their material comes from anger or frustration with things that bother them in everyday life. it's just the way they deal with it is by writting "funny" material. thats the reason why most good comedians don't laugh at their own jokes, because to them it just ain't funny, more often that not the material came from someting that pissed them off.
just saying is all.
anywho, watching these episodes will be kinda bittersweet. it's nice to get to watch them, but so sad that it will be the last we see of this great show. -
I've really enjoyed and tried to support this show, but this...yeesh. Tonight's show may be the definitive example of 'Phoning it in'. This is flat, lifeless, and completely absurd, only half-assed plot-driven...and where the hell are Matt and Danny and Jordan? I'd rather watch a loop of the clips at the beginning for an hour. Way to make nobody miss it. The only thing the bomb scare thing is accomplishing is making want to pop in my DVDs and watch Dan and Casey complain hilariously for...what was it, three episodes?...how somebody tried to blow them up. This sucks so far. I've not even smiled.
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I can't believe it actually got markedly worse as it went along. Just awful.
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Because that's the model it's based on. Nothing I've ever seen or read dealing with the behind the scenes of SNL suggests they behave in any way remotely like that. As in way off the mark. And because a few of the thousands of stand-ups out there may be intense like that, that's not a good argument as to why Studio 60 people behave the way they do. I think it would have been better set behind the scenes of a TV drama or news broadcast.
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I don't believe any reasonable person would say that the only reason anyone dislikes S60 is because they're "not smart enough" for it, or prefer lowest common denominator fare.
However, there do seem to be a certain amount of folks whose chief complaint about the show is that it's "too smart" or "elitist." In fact, complaints of that nature were surfacing before the show even hit the air. Hence, the frustration of some fans.
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I agree, SportsNight had a lot more snap to it. More kinetic energy. Maybe it was the 1/2 hour format.
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Let the main characters take the night off. Then you don't have to pay them. While I thought tonights episode was very entertaing, the lack of Matt and Danny was strange. I have a hard believing that if things got as bad as they did tonight Matt would be flipping out, mumbling about Harriet, and Danny would be standing ON THE STAGE trying to do everyone's job for them. I know they were trying to focus on the other actors and maybe save some money, but the way they did it was actually out of character.
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No, the atmosphere of the show-within-a-show doesn't seem to resemble what I know of SNL (with the possible exception of the flashback episode) and at least a few SNL alumni feel that way too. That's not a dealbreaker for me, though. All of Sorkin's workplaces are idealized to a large degree.
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...of the show-within-a-show.
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May 24, 2007 10:30:50 PM CDT
No Perry, Whitford or Peet? Wow, that was... so... LAME
by robogeek.com
Eek. Painful.
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Shoulda just watched Studio 60. Your prediction was a bit off...........
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Just finished watching this off the DVR. So.. wasn't Allison Janney just on as a journalist character a few episodes ago? With the starting-at-10:05 after a repeat of the musical episode of Scrubs, plus the lack of even a brief appearance by the 3 of the most central characters... Heck I'm almost wondering if the network is trying to make us grow a dislike of the show so that by the time it ends, nobody will be sending them boxes of nuts. Or maybe it was just a poorly timed standalone episode that sucked.
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They could have made this show work. Dammit, Aaron, was this thing reworked after the hiatus or did you just fuck up for all the episodes (bar the Christmas episode) before tonights?
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...you're wrong. The problem with this show WAS THE LEADS. Not the actors, as such, but the plots GIVEN to those actors and their characters. Remove the actors, remove the characters and the show was solid. All of a sudden, the actors playing what had been the supporting roles were quite evidently and (stunningly) obviously the bedrock upon which the show was based. I'm gutted by tonight's episode and find myself sad that I HOPE next week's episode is back to the lame romantic tripe that got this show canned so I don't feel as bad.
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...you on this post, dude? Any of the Studio 60 defenders? Christ, you aren't going to jump to the defense of this show when it, a) shows what it can be and, b) shows how it went wrong?What a terrible waste...
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...and this show just showed what it could have been. This has been a truly crappy week. At least I got in a fight with my wife tonight to top it off... :-)
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And still am, actually. However, tonight's SUCKED. There's no two ways about it. But it reeks of knowing they were done, not so much of building an audience, and there's no saving it, so what's the point?
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They made the right decision. It just wasn't doing anything for me. Admittedly, I said the show had the best pilot of last season. Search the archives and you'll see I gave it a big fat A. But over the course of the next few weeks, the show just wore me down. It became a chore, rather than a joy to watch. It's really a shame, because Sorkin is a great writer and the cast they assembled is so talented, but in the end, I just didn't care enough about the characters or their plight. It's tough doing a one-hour drama about the behind-the-scenes goings on of a TV show. People want their Hollywood like Entourage. Light, glamorous fluff. They don't want to watch how miserable everyone is because of how hard everyone works out here. I think the marketing team just kind of sold it wrong and once people locked into their own ideas of what the show would be, they were disappointed when the show turned out to be something a little different. Plus, I mean, the success of 30 Rock has made it expendable, and I know the two shouldn't really be compared, and their success or lack thereof isn't inherently tied to the other's performance, but for me at least, it was just too daunting a show too get excited about on Monday nights. I wish things could've worked out better but I think NBC made the right decision. There are so many great stories out there begging to be told, why fight for something when your heart's only half in it, right? I don't think there'll be any 'Nuts' campaigns for this one, but I won't lose sleep over it. Guess it just wasn't meant to be.
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Heh. That was Christine Lahti. In fact, they made a joke about that in this very episode.
I laughed a fair bit at tonight's goings-on, actually. Cal rocks, as always. -
But the show is still better than 95% of what's on TV (obviously, excluding Lost and Entourage). I mean, seriously, if the world cares that Dancing with the Stars actually beat American Icol in numbers, does anything really matter? Sorkin would be smart to roll to HBO.
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Knowing that was in the hole come scheduling next season I can't blame NBC for axing the show. I never thought I'd say this but Matthew Perry's absence was missed and without him and Whitfield the show just isnt even worth watching.
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was really nice.
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...I agree with you on one thing: "the marketing team just kind of sold it wrong..." If this had been sold as a show that showed the pressure behind a network show and the misery it can create it may have been an easier sell. However, they sold as it as a glamour show and wanted to make people feel sorry for people that earned a lot of money for producing television. That doesn't fly. Marketing had a hand in scuttling this show, but Sorkin did himself not favours. However, and I have to give this a separate headline...
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...that this episode in any way SUFFERED from the loss of Perry, Whitford and Peet are DEAD FUCKING WRONG. And, more importantly, I call hypocrisy. Throughout this arc people have HATED Matt and Harriet -- look, they're gone! One complaint removed. People thought Danny and Jordan was creepy and weird -- look, they're gone! Two complaints removed. Add to that the flat out admittance of sketches gone wrong and many of the knee-jerk reactions are gone. Hate the show, that's fine. But if they remove the aspects everyone hated and you still hate the show at least acknowledge the effort on the part of the creative team to fix what wasn't working. Don't start whining that the fucking STARS are gone, that's fucking infantile. No, wait, that's disingenuous. Pick a stance.
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Yeah, I said it.
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I agree that the juxtaposition of content and delivery on the show is odd and clunky, and it was gonna be a tough sell no matter how they chose to market it. Even as someone who likes the show, I'll admit that it's less than what I hoped it would be, and with the underperforming and high expense, I can totally understand how the decision to axe it could have been made.
That said, I still dig Sorkin's rhythm and I'll miss it, so the cancellation is in the negative column for me. -
...100% agreement from me. Tough sell, less than I hoped and I can't argue with the decision to cancel it.I'm still gutted to lose Sorkin's voice from television.I hope that Aaron Sorkin comes back soon, TV is better with him as a part of it.
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I mean, I knwo Alec Baldwin is probably gold. But is it worth checking out?
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Should be a major movie in the winter.
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what about Al Franken, who has his own political satire show and who's running for senate?or the fact 1/3 of the skits on SNL are politically oriented, especially in election years?what about the fact that comedy shows like SNL, daily show, conan, etc. hire Harvard and Yale grads? are we to believe a behind the scenes staff like that just sit around sticking pencils up their nose all day?I'm just saying...I never quite got the argument about the unbelievability of this show based on those details...
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Just watched this on the PVR.
36 mins without commercials? what is up with that?!?! no Matt or Danny at all? weird.
Maybe it was an effort to demonstrate that the show *could* work without the leads?? -
anyone else's main audio cut out half way through the show? All I heard was the ADR stuff...at first I thought it was part of the show...but then I realized NBC really wants to fuck over this show.
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and the three 'names' weren't missed at all. Though I wondered if Perry's character, who was the cause of the trouble with the union and who went out to the parking lot to negotiate with them, was lying out there beaten for the entire episode. Favorite line (to the phone prankster): "No, you're not going home, you're not going to college, and you're never going to get a job." Don't know why that struck me as so brutally amusing, it just did. Intelligent television will be missed (In spite of the violent imagery of my "lying beaten in the parking lot" scenario above). Now the only show not filled with sex crimes, murders or medical traumas left is Ugly Betty. Which is clearly not targeted at the same demographic as this series was. Five hours of good TV left until Fall - let's hope National fulfills their promise to burn off the final six without any more hiatuses or time-slot changes, or canceling it outright to make fans buy the DVD set. [Unrelated to this talk back, but WHEN is Fox going to burn off the remainder of The Loop?]
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At the start of the season I thought it was quirky and funny but that timing was slow, that there just weren't enough jokes. Within a few episode I was eating my words. I think they just took a couple episodes to find their footing because now its just really sharp. In the past it would always bum me out when someone left SNL to do some sitcom because, even though they might be funny, I knew that they have a skill for the type of comedy sensibilty SNL uses and that's a sensibilty not used in sitcoms. So Phil Hartman was great in NewsRadio but you still would never get that silly weirdness of Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer or him playing Ed McMahon. Somehow 30 Rock funnels that humor style into a surreal sitcom style I've never seen before. On what other show would the lead character get back with her boyfriend only to then see him on, "To Catch A Predator," or realize that Cleveland is paradise because in Cleveland the scale on pretty girls is lower and so she is considered muuuch hotter. Or see Isabella Rossellini beat the crap out of Tina Fey.
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I'm fed up with American exec's pandering to the needs of the moronic who they shouldn't care what they watch seeing as they always have FOX(a real network for idiots)
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I dont know where all the hate is coming from but I enjoyed this episode. Gave a deeper look at the "supporting cast" and the talents they have. Having Matt, Danny, and Jordan sit one out didnt hurt at all. Plus, there were some really good long takes in this episode, some nice twisting and turning while continuing dialogue. Sorkin and his team are good with their long takes.
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Beautiful show, it just didn't PROGRESS, it didn't GO anywhere... You know, these are affluent people with big lives and big money and big flaws... Show Perry's character dealing with rehab, for instance... That's real stuff, real conflict... Most of the episodes were STALLING, there were no stakes...
All that being said, Ed Asner's WILSON WHITE IS A BRILLIANT CHARACTER... Everybody in the media talks about Rupert Murdoch (and Kirk Kerkorian and Sumner Redstone and Barry Diller) but Sorkin was a genius to render him as a character... And a somewhat sympathetic character, at that. -
It won't turn out that way -- the show is cancelled, the sets are struck -- but I think last night's episode was designed by Aaron and Tommy to show the networks what S60 could be in a cheaper second season. That's why the "top three" were not there. If S60 was to survive it was going to take a budget cut, and the way to do that was to strip the big names and salaries from the mix. In addition, this episode had a lighter tone, a teaser that reintroduced the show, and concentrated on "show day", not all the outside machinations and relationships. It even looked like they were trying to start to clean up the Matt-Harriet mess.
This was S60's second pilot. I bet Aaron showed it to NBC on that basis, to show he could reengineer the show if they'd give him a second season. I think the show worked, but unfortunately, NBC wasn't buying. -
Good riddance to this pretentious nonsense. 'Tell me you didn't have the time of you life, though.'Oh please. Fuck off.
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Yeah, that last line was particularly unfortunate, wasn't it? I had the same reaction after suffering through that cliche-packed mess. And if that really was a 'second pilot' (which honestly, I can't imagine), then there was never any hope at all for the show anyway.
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The sad thing is that it was far superior to the current seasons of both 24 and Lost. Oh well...
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Why was it such a short episode? And will it be expanded to regular length when the DVD comes out?Good episode, but I really wanted to see Alison Janney interact with Bradley Whitford's character. As it was I got a buzz from seeing Janney and Timothy Busfield working together again.
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very diappointed nbc did not renew studio 60. it was the only new show i watched this past season. 30 rock was funny sometimes. studio 60 was fun, creative & refreshing. i missed last night and forgot to tape it, but i will enjoy the other final episodes. will the season ever make it to dvd?
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Which is why CTV was airing it on Sunday, because they air CSI Miami at 10 on Monday. Not sure why CTV didn't air it last night - they had a CSI repeat instead. But then again, this is the same network that bought the rights to Lost and Veronica Mars without an opening in their schedule. Only after the premiere of Lost on ABC drew such huge numbers did they make room (by first testing it out on a Saturday night). As for VM, they only had the first season and ran it during the summer. So nothing they do, or don't do, surprises me. Pdorwick, rough cost per episode, I have heard between 1.5 - 2.5 million. Doesn't seem that expensive given the number of actors and the number of shots / episode, and the size of the set. Hell, 20 years ago, STTNG cost about a million an episode. But that would have been for (mid '80s) special effects.I enjoyed the episode, much more than most it seems. Best thing was every scene with Steven Weber.If history is any indication (Kidnapped), NBC will move Studio 60 to Saturday either next week or the week after, run it there for 2 episodes, then replace it with L&O repeats. So, by my math, the best we can hope for is 5 of the 6 episodes.
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it was bradley whitford's character, Danny, that fouled things up with the prop guys, not Matt (perry).
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Whether it is verified or not, I am treating that as fact.
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Bradley Whitford needs TO BE ON TV.
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"you seem to be taking this all in stride"
"well i'm.......pretty drunk"
"how do you guys know all of this?"
"the FBI *is* open on fridays." -
interesting theory. makes sense. although were I sorkin (and clearly I'm not) I'd have just given up on renewal and just gotten to where I was going in six episodes over what I'd hoped was going to be six seasons. I thought this ep was a huge, floating, brown stinker and it really breaks my heart to say that. Last line especially- like... REALLY? This was the time of your life Allison Janney? Come on... it WAS nice seeing Tim Busfield and Allison Janney play off each other again- although something seemed inherently dishonest about it insofar as they seemed to be playing a lot of Danny Kincannon and CJ Cregg subtext. Not sure if that's fair to say but I felt somewhat maniuplated by that... anyway i'm not sure that it is the 60 minute over the 30 minute format which makes me like SN over S60 as Sorkin shows about shows goes. I think I just preferred the youthful chemistry between Peter Krause and Josh Charles over the 30 something chemitry between Matt Perry and Bradley Whitford. Youthful energy READS more to me as excitment for their jobs and lives and that itself makes me care a lot quicker about characters than other things.
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It seemed a helluva lot less like a 'second pilot', and more like a 'fuck you'. Because no-one would be able to claim that these characters took their jobs overyly seriously AT ALL. The broadcast was a disaster, and nobody gave a fuck. There was a bomb scare (which, it just dawned on me, was really only there to give Jack an excuse to be wandering around during the episode, because it was otherwise entirely pointless and didn't pay off at all) and the broadcast of the show was more an obligation because they fucked up the run-through. Harriet's whining. Simon's trying to get laid, in the single most cliched subplot I've seen on any show all season. But as bad as the writing of character interaction was, the real sin was that it painted these people as so completely self-absorbed about everything BUT their work...something that I never thought I'd see the show do.
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Thanx for the correction. you can understand, with all the shows I watch, why I don't remember all the character names on everything I see - especially on a show that's been on a several month long hiatus - with characters who aren;t even on the episode. Fine episode though, without them. Gave the "gueat host" and the ensemble cast a chance to shine for a change. Second Pilot? Heck yeah, I would have watched this show without the 'big three' - if it was regularly this good, maybe even have prefered it. This show SO needs a full season DVD set. I did not read this article until after the show aired, and even then skimmed the talkback with hesitation. Discussions of this show here, in the Shark Tank and elsewhere always seem to devolve into p*l*t*c*l name calling and divisiveness along party lines, and I'm real glad to see so little of that here this time. Oh, a few non-fans showed up to comment, but none had anything of worth to say.
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"I'm a big fan of it becoming a little bit more character-driven, a little bit more about the people," [Matthew] Perry said before the ax fell. "I absolutely think it could use more of the relationship stuff and who's dating who and who's breaking up with who."
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And that's why you're an actor, Matthew, and not a network exec or show-runner. This episode of Studio 60 was great when it was about the show, and fucking terrible when it was about Simon chasing women and Harriet bugging people about her relationship with Matt. -
why did 30ROCK succeed when STUDIO 60 failed? because 30ROCK is funny. People expect a show about a pseudo-SNL to be funny...crazy actors, eccentric producer and hilarious writers. Tina Fey gets its.
Sorkin and Schlamme gave us anti 700 CLUB diatribes and Eli Wallach lamenting HUAC...it was painful. Perry and Peet were WASTED -
was the stuff about the clock, and their crazy mojo. It was the closest to returning to the Danny/Casey banter from Sports Night. Whether Sorkin is on TV or not, I'd kill to get banter back on TV that is as enjoyable as stuff like conversations about "vicious circles" from Sports Night.
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like the show but that was weak. Perry carries that show.
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I avoided it for a long time -- partly due to irrational Sorkin loyalty, partly due to the fact that I'd never found Tracey Morgan funny, mostly because I've got enough TV in my life as it is -- but I finally got around to checking out the first season and liked it quite a bit. Little bit of US Office awkwardness, little bit of Arrested Development farce, lots of SNL-esque non-sequitur wackiness, and Tina Fey's relatively grounded character glues it all together really well.
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I don't think the comparisons are accurate. First, 30 Rock didn't succeed. It survived. It is still a potential ratings casualty by midseason next year if it doesn't find an audience. Second, it is a comedy. There are different standards by the network for comedies. Dramas are a dime a dozen and you can replace a poorly rated show. People don't watch comedies anymore and even a mediocre rated comedy might be better ratings than what is replacing it. 30 Rock showed enough hope in the ratings to give it a second shot. Third, NBC went way out of their way to promote Studio 60 and didn't do nearly as much with 30 Rock. Even with all the summer hype Studio 60 produced tepid ratings after the first few weeks and was trending downward. Fourth,Studio 60 took a lot of swipes at Middle America. Middle America is most networks bread and butter. I'm sure executives were very nervous about Studio 60. 30 Rock might have taken a few shots here and there, but they never made anti-Religious Right, Republican, etc. a major part of the show like Studio 60 did. I personally feel that NBC did give this show a shot and it didn't produce. Studio 60 would have been better suited for HBO or Showtime where you tend to get a more affluent viewer and ratings aren't as important.
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I would say that similarity of setting notwithstanding, 30Rock & S60 have almost nothing in common. And that's not a comment on quality -- I think both shows are/were fairly good at what they do.
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Mira is right though. I caught the pilot and the first couple of episodes and it felt like a chore. I love Sports Night and the first couple seasons of The West Wing. This just didn't do it for me though. Kinda bland. Especially when you've got so many other great shows to compete with these days.
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It felt like a show that knew it was dying. Even though it must have been shot months ago it still felt like it was made in a rush - mainly due to the shortened running time. The "second pilot" kind of makes sense. Especially if they wanted to shoot something in a hurry to demonstrate to NBC what a cheaper version of the show might be like.Coming back after a break I expected a big episode with the two main leads - Perry and Whitford. I admit it was great to see all of the supporting cast having something to do - particularly Timothy Busfield. But leaving out the leads really did seem to send out the message of "the show's gone, so we're not going to bother anymore and neither should you". I hope this was a blip and Sorkin goes all out with the remaining episodes as he will have nothing to lose.
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That made me laugh. But I doubt it was meant as a joke.
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I loved the Studio 60 pilot. I got it early from Netflix, burned a copy, started a facebook group, went the whole nine yards. And yet even I only have only the slightest bit of anger at it being cancelled. The show quite simply did not follow through on the mission statements laid out in the pilot. Some major problems. 1. It became too bogged down in cliche romance crap (the Jordan/Danny was so rushed and crappy).
2. Not enough Matt/Danny banter. Look back at the first few episodes, their chemistry yielded some of the best moments and yet they were later rarely in the same scene.
3. Drawing out boring plots. Ok, we get it, Harriet is a christian and is in love with Matt. How many times do we need to be reminded.
Ironically I found my favorite character of the show to be Steven Weber's character. So dead-pan, loved it. So yes, I am very disappointed that S60 went downhill and failed. Given it's high budget and low ratings it didn't have a chance. And it wasn't about it being too smug or too smart, it was simply too trite for a drama and too unfunny for a comedy. Should have been 70% Sports Nite and 30% West Wing, not the other way around. -
No one gives a rat's ass about the Harriet/Matt romance/roman a clef, and yet Sorkin continues to beat it into the ground (boy, I hope Kristen Chenoweth has a tight restraining order). Whitford's character is even more insufferable than his character on "The West Wing." The "cast" of the fake-SNL show are a bunch of uninteresting tools. That said, the only thing I'll miss when this show goes away is Steven Weber, who was sadly underused. Oh, and it was nice to see Tim Busfield and Allison Janney work together again (they have a buttload of middle-aged-love chemistry). Other than this, don't let the screen door hit you, Sorkin -- I beg you to go make mediocre movies.
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"No one gives a rat's ass about the Harriet/Matt romance/roman a clef, and yet Sorkin continues to beat it into the ground"Matt wasn't even in the last episode.
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It's like comparing Scrubs to ER. Funnily enough, both those shows were on the same network, on the same night, and it has never been a problem for anyone, never been a competition where only one can survive.
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After about 10 minutes I realized they were trying to lower the production costs of this episode by keeping their stars out of it. That was horribly distracting for the rest of the show. But honestly, it probably cut $1 million out of the budget.
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