It's gotten better since its slow-ish start, and the most recent episode was pure and classic Sorkin magic.
The press rumors are now swirling that the highly touted and mega hyped Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is going to be "imminently cancelled."…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
26 - Bryan
I love how people describe this show:
* cerebral challenging
* smart,soulful,with brilliant powerful dialogue
* Perhaps the population doesn't get the show
* And what does that say about the population in general. Not too smart!
No I just think most people don't want to tune into another preachy liberal show. I think the show is fabulous except for the fact they can't go 2 minutes without saying something about a) how great liberal ideas are or b) how horrible the conservatives are. Wow, they say some well thought out, but completely one sided political statements, it must be ground breaking. No, it's just the west wing in a different setting...if this supposedly "powerful" dialog was with the reverse political slant would everybody who loves this show care? Yeah right, it would be stupid then ;)
27 - Jimmy
The show-within-the-show is the only real problem. The comedy bits they serve up there are so lame, it undermines the main premise that what they're working on has any cultural significance. Why not get some of the greats who crafted the best SNL sketches (Michael O'Donoghue, Alan Zwiebel, etc.) to write something new for these segments? Even if they fail, it'd be nice to know there's genuine comic minds behind these bits.
28 - Eric Berlin
You bring up an interesting point, Jimmy. I think part of it ties into the self-setting of so many hoops to jump through. The episodes that have featured the sketches the most tie the content of the show-within-show to the overall storyline. Now *that* is hard to pull off. So while "Science/Schience" and the Gilbert & Sullivan song parody may have worked for the storyline, they weren't really funny.
When you think about it, how many classic SNL moments are really politically edgy, anyway? I'll wager that they might be "risky" in the sense of taking a chance comedically -- from Wild and Crazy Guys to Gumby to Wayne's World, etc. The focus was on the comedy and not the "message."
29 - L.A. sophisticate
This show just plain phony.
And no, I'm not part of the crowd that "isn't smart enough" to "really get" Studio 60. Everyone seems to be blaming middle America for the show's downfall.
I'm a liberal and an academic, so I'd like to think I have a brain. I loved the pilot episode but it was downhill from there. I can't deal with Studio 60.
The show needs to get over itself. It's definitely not as smart as it thinks it is. And Aaron Sorkin's autobiography really is not that compelling. Studio 60 simply does not know how to connect with an audience. The characters are empty, at best. Is anyone buying that Matt and Harriet have chemistry - a real romantic connection? Harriet may just be the weak link on the show. The token fundamentalist Christian that Hollywood loves to pander to these days because they think that alone will draw ratings. And her fellow comedians really add nothing.
The one bright side is that Amanda Peet, Steven Weber, Timothy Busfield, and Matthew Perry are all excellent. Too bad the show doesn't revolve around those 4.
30 - Ann Coulter
* Matthew Perry's delivery was brilliant
* The casting is brilliant.
* last week's episode ... was, in my book, brilliant
* smart,soulful,with brilliant powerful dialogue
Brilliant? Maybe, but too bad it's not very entertaining. I saw the pilot and found the plot lacking any real suspense or even conflict. The characters didn't have any attitude or emotion. You can substitute garbage cans for the actors and the result would be the same.
31 - Jacob
I hope Studio 60 isn't canceled; otherwise I'll have to wait until the State of the Union to drink again.
32 - John
I love this show. I really hope all of the cancellation talk is just rumor. I think it's and extremely unique concept that hasen't been done before. It's different from all of the cops and robber and attorney type shows. The cast has great chemistry. The acting is incredible. And while it is great drama, I also think it is funny. Some shows take a while for the public to catch on. I hope NBC gives it a chance to do that before they rush to pull it off the air too quickly. If I am remembering correctly, Friend's (along with some other great shows) took a season or two to get a large public following. I do think some of the problem may be the time slot it's in. It's too good of a show to start at 10:00pm. I really hope it doesn't go away. Along with HOUSE, it's my favorite show on right now.
33 - Bob
It will be a sad day if they cancel this show. It is the only show I watch. It is certainly the only show that has made me laugh out loud repeatedly. I was disappointed with The West Wing went off the air but when Studio 60 came on, I was very please to once again have a show with the writing and direction quality that it has. A damn shame that the masses are idiots and they apparently watch idiot reality TV and version 10 of CSI crap.
34 - Caitlin
I was a huge fan of Sports Night, and the first four seasons of the West Wing are my favorite TV show ever (I got so sick of the horrible writing post-Sorkin that WW ended for me at the end of season 4). Studio 60, however, makes me sad. The Sorkin model of storylines and writing in general is just not working in this context. There are valid points to be made about networks pandering to the lowest common denominator in programming and dumbed-down writing on many popular tv shows, but an episode that features a storyline about Nate Corddry's father not knowing who Abbott and Costello were sets up too much of a straw man to be taken seriously. The show-within-a-show is so horrifically unfunny that its fictional popularity just makes everything else implausible. We loved the Bartlet administration for being what government should be. The fictional Studio 60 is in no way what TV should be.
35 - Caitlin
And just to clarify: I am what many would call an East Coast, educated, liberal elitist snob. I have no problem with Sorkin taking potshots at conservatives; I just wish they were wittier and worked in context.
36 - AM
My husband and I have started watching S60 the last three weeks and have really enjoyed it. Where do we tell NBC not to cancel? I'm tired of the stupid reality shows and stupid sitcoms... this show rocks.
37 - JIM LEWIS
I read an artcle recently that I think was from the L.A. Times. It was talking about Studio 60 and how it's not funny. I guess comedy writers like to wite on blogs and such on what's wrong with the show. One, it's not funny. I know it's not realy supposed to be seeing it's more of a drama but I guess the sketches on the show need to get funnier. I guess Aaron Sorkin needs to hire some actual comedy writers. I mean, It's supposed to be a show about the the goings on behind the scenes of the funniest sketch show on TV. Two, comedy writers and people working on sketch comedy shows aren't that smart.
I guess it's not real in that sense. Maybe a drama about a comedy sketch show isn't what people want to see. It seems to be a good show though,
and I hope it does last.
38 - Floyd Henderson
I don't know and never have known why the American public hates to be pushed toward quality television. I just know that they do. My only reasonable guess would be that they have constantly been spoon-fed the sorriest excuses for entertainment by network executives who refuse to hire the best writers and then get the hell out of their way and let them do their jobs. For example, write quality dialogue for well-conceived and well-developed characters in the framework of a good storyline.
Hey, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox....stop thinking we are all as ignorant and stupid as the worst and lowest common denominator. Give us something and someone we can relate to and care about, and we will skin those dollars off towards your sponsors. And, you get to keep your jobs by doing something of which you can be proud, instead of the same old pap reheated ad infinitum (that means over and over, since I'm assuming you all are as stupid as you assume we are).
39 - Floyd Henderson
Also, I just finished reading some previous comments about Studio 60's ''shortcomings'' and I must say most of the posters just don't get it. It's not supposed to be about funny comedy sketches. It's supposed to be about the writers and performers for such a show and what they go through each week while trying to produce that show. It's about the people and the process, not the end product. The conflict(plotline) is the problem of writing and producing such a show in the midst of each of the main characters' everyday crises in just getting from midnight to midnight each day.
40 - Sadie
Exactly! Who cares about how funny the sketches are when they are really just background pieces to the story of the show. That is not where the focus is. If people are going to be critical of it they should concentrate on the actual show, not the sketches.
41 - Sadie
Also, I have a question. There wasn't an episonde on my tivo this week. Does this mean it's already gone on hiatus, or are they just taking a week off?
42 - Salty
Studio 60 was a well written great show, It is to bad it did not make it.