“Studio 60” – Not So Much
Word comes today that cancellation is imminent for Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” Not really surprised at all.
Those who know me know that I love Aaron Sorkin’s shows. “Sports Night” and “The West Wing” were both brilliant under his pen and deserve all the kudos lauded on them. When word of “Studio 60” came out, I got very excited. It seemed so right that Sorkin would be back on TV following his exit from “The West Wing.” I remember watching a 2 minute up front presentation this Summer that got leaked onto the ‘net and my anticipation grew ever so much more. Watching the Pilot many weeks before it aired on the network got me even more excited! I couldn’t wait for the show to premiere! It was looking like, very quickly, NBC would have a great, intelligent hit drama on their hands.
Then I saw episode two and the rest. Oh boy.
I think my dissatisfaction with the show began when I noticed Sorkin recycling old story lines and themes from both “Sports Night” and “The West Wing.” Sure, many writers go back to the well for ideas, but for someone like Sorkin, who raised the bar of quality so beautifully with “The West Wing,” I expect more. Yes, he recycled some storylines from “Sports Night” for “The West Wing,” but he made them different enough that you really didn’t care.
Why is it every Sorkin show has to have one, if not many characters who have major problems with their fathers? Not every man out there has a strained relationship with his father. And while the circumstances may not be exactly the same, the machinations are. Whether it be Danny from “Sports Night” or President Bartlett on “The West Wing” or Tom Jeter on “Studio 60,” it’s the same thing.
Then this past week we saw an episode that had Cal, played by Timothy Busfield, help out an old man who was found wandering around the studio clutching onto a photo he found in the basement of the studio. It turns out this old man was a writer, briefly, for a past incarnation of “Studio 60” when it was a radio show. Turns out (like we didn’t see this coming) he’s pictured in the photo. This story is very similar to a story from “The West Wing” that involved an older woman who freaked out on the White House tour when she saw a particular painting. Turns out the painting belonged to her father before the Nazi’s stole it in WWII. No, not exactly the same, but when you see them played out on the screen they’re very similar.
I wonder if Sorkin thought that he’d be getting an entirely new audience with “Studio 60” and everyone would forget about what happened before in “The West Wing” and “Sports Night.” There are many other examples I could give, but I won’t bore you with details because there’s more worth covering here and the problems don’t end there.
Let’s talk characters. Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford both give good, convincing performances in their respective roles, but Sorkin really hasn’t given either of them all that much depth yet. I love Amanda Peet and like her Jordan McDeere character, but her over confidence does get a bit tiring after a while. A lot of people don’t find her believable in that role, I do, but allow her to come down to Earth every once in a while. She’s not grounded at all. Sarah Paulson as Harriet Hayes is great, but Sorkin’s spent so much time talking about her religion that it just got obnoxious. Plus, when it comes to the relationship between Matt and Harriet, well, will you two get over it already? Jesus.
As for the rest of the cast, well, it’s clear Sorkin didn’t know what to do with them. D.L. Hughley’s wasted, as is Timothy Busfield, and Nate Corddry spends most of his time as a site gag and not a very good one, either. Frankly, the only really interesting and funny character thus far has been Steven Weber as NBS president Jack Rudolph. He’s been funny, believable and the most compelling character thus far on the show – and he’s rarely been given more than 2 minutes and episode. His “Fight Me, Right Now” moment with Danny in the last episode was hilarious.
Plus, it’s just hard to take these characters seriously as they take themselves so seriously. When the cast of characters on “The West Wing” walk around with an air of arrogance and over confidence, you can accept it because they are, in a fictional sense, making life-or-death decisions that affect the entire world. That same attitude is carried over into the characters on “Studio 60,” but, let’s face it, the decisions these characters make don’t affect the entire world. Hell, they barely affect the entirety of the fictional network they’re broadcast on.
Oh, quick aside, why is it that every one of Sorkin’s shows has a Danny character? Not that if impacts the overall quality of the show in any way, just curious.
While the drama Sorkin’s crafted thus far with “Studio 60” has been above average, the comedy is not and is horribly telegraphed. Once he sets up a joke it becomes painfully obvious how that joke will play out within seconds, rending any comedic moment in the show mostly laugh less. Remember the baseball bat scene through the window? Like we didn’t see that coming from a mile away. Remember Matt’s tirade about professionalism to the writing staff? Like we didn’t know Harriet was going to walk in to scream at him seconds latere. Too many others on that level. Frankly, what the show needed was a comedic writing team – a group of writers separate from the regular writing staff, completely dedicated to bringing the funny to the show. Have them focus on the skits from the show within a show and let Sorkin concentrate on the drama.
Oh, and let’s not forget the contempt Sorkin showed for his viewers in an early episode that found Nate Corddy talking about online bloggers and their opinions on the premiere of “Studio 60.” It allowed Sorkin to get off his chest all the hate he has for the blogosphere and online commentators. Hell, I’m right there with him in one sense (the Internet has given the spotlight over to far too many morons with an opinion (I count myself amongst them)), but on the other hand that’s the way things are these days and you just have to ignore it because when you address it you run the risk of alienating your audience. Keep in mind, the blogosphere is not filled with paid reviewers, rather it’s passionate people who make up your audience. The quickest way to loose an audience is to call them all idiots. Nicely done, Aaron. Oh, and this was also a partially recycled bit from “The West Wing.”
I could go on about the problems plaguing the show, but I think you get the idea. It’s not an awful show by any standard, but it’s also not terribly good or all that enjoyable. I would watch it week in and week out hoping for that trademarked Sorkin brilliance, yet I’d continually get something less than that.
It’s too bad, too. Network television desperately needs more creative and imaginative, but right now there aren’t too many bright spots in the new TV season.
