NBC has taken the somewhat unusual step of releasing two of its fall pilots a month ahead on a new DVD (for rental only).
Both are well worth seeing and, we can hope, could get even better as the season progresses.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has a few problems, starting with the title – not exactly as catchy, succinct, and easy to remember as ER or The West Wing, eh?
It marks Aaron Sorkin’s return to weekly TV after his forced exit from The West Wing a few seasons ago. Comparisons to his previous series, which was certainly one of the best things ever on weekly commercial television, are inevitable. There is good news and bad news here.
Sorkin's characteristic fast-paced dialogue and wit are present, to be sure, and the show is entertaining. The plots in The West Wing were almost always McGuffins – the missile crisis or the scandalous Congressional hearing or the Supreme Court nomination – and were just frameworks for the snappy repartee and dazzling performances. But this is a TV show about a TV show, and it is in danger of becoming a glib portrait of glibness.
The setting is a Saturday Night Live-style weekly series that goes into crisis when a producer has a shocking reaction to a censor’s request to cut a sketch about religion. The previous writer and director of the show (played by Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford) are called back in to save it – even though, not unlike Aaron Sorkin, they had been asked to leave the same series a few years before.
Whitford is not bad, but surprisingly a bit bland compared to his memorable work on The West Wing. Perry is good, and surprisingly sharp. Amanda Peet is wonderful as a new executive who masterminds bringing the pair back on board. And Steven Weber makes a bracingly good asshole as her boss at the network (no friend, shall we say, of our two heroes).
Article comments
1 - Boxclocke
Funny you mention the cumbersome title. The show was originally going to be called the much more reasonable "Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip," but there was some sort of copyright something something, so they changed it at the last minute.
Plus, if the West Wing is any indication, it may take a full season for the show to hit its stride, but (if it lasts that long), by that point, Sorkin will settle into a groove, the actors will get comfortable, and you'll love the characters.
2 - rs123
The backstage material may not need to be as strong as the review implies. "Studio 60" seems quite consciously tailored as, at least in part, a vehicle for social and political commentary. Needless to say, a sketch comedy show offers a perfect framework for this. In addition, the format will be able to deal with immediate reactions to the commentary. So it seems to me that "Studio 60" will ultimately derive much of its strength from the same topics and controversies as "The West Wing" did.
3 - handyguy
The topical sketch comedy of the show within the show may indeed provide some serious issues to bounce the characters and dialogue off of...although in the pilot we don't get to hear enough of any sketch for it to have a point. We hear a lot about "the religion sketch"...but could anything they show us live up to the hype? I mean, it's called "Crazy Christians." Not too promising. But the dialogue and acting and direction are charming enough to keep me watching and hope that I'm wrong about the basic triviality of it all.