# Interesting article about "Studio 60" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 25, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557 "2006-12-25T22:27:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557/21 "2006-12-28T00:51:07Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] I’m not going to read the article, because I won’t register on their site. So tell me - do comedy writers hate the show because they think the comedy isn’t funny? Or do they hate it because they think it inaccurately portrays the _process_ of writing comedy. I can’t help but notice the contrast between this show and “30 Rock”. The comedy writers on 30 Rock act like I think comedy writers would act. On Studio 60, they seem like the most pretentious, unfunny people I’ve ever seen. It’s all heavy drama and tension in the writer’s room. I tend to believe that ‘30 Rock’ is closer to the truth, at least because the show is full of actual comedy writers and ex-SNL people. [/QUOTE] I didn’t have to register to read it maybe because I linked directly to the article instead of the LAtimes main page it is asking people to register. Basically comedy writers hate(d) it because the comedy isn’t funny (the ardor has died down as the show has improved) yet the audience is supposed to think that the Matt Perry character is a fucking genius. We are supposed to think that because Sorkin TELLS us over and over again that he is. Like other people have said you can’t just tell us that someone is the best at something and then give numerous examples of the opposite being true. The same can be said of the Harriet character. Everyone bows down before that character and tells us that she is a gifted comediene but the actress herself isn’t charismatic or funny. She’s a great actress… but quit telling me she’s the second coming of Lucille Ball. The article actually ends with a former comedy writer for a late night show saying that the reality is that the backstage politics of comedy tv is much darker than either show (Studio 60 or 30 Rock) can imagine. Which isn’t true at all…30 Rock being made up of former SNLers (Tina Fey had a bad reputation when she was running things) just realizes that comedians cutting eachother down and jockeying for position isn’t as funny as Rachel Dratch in a blue blob costume. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557/22 "2006-12-28T01:10:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] I’m not going to read the article, because I won’t register on their site. So tell me - do comedy writers hate the show because they think the comedy isn’t funny? Or do they hate it because they think it inaccurately portrays the _process_ of writing comedy. I can’t help but notice the contrast between this show and “30 Rock”. The comedy writers on 30 Rock act like I think comedy writers would act. On Studio 60, they seem like the most pretentious, unfunny people I’ve ever seen. It’s all heavy drama and tension in the writer’s room. I tend to believe that ‘30 Rock’ is closer to the truth, at least because the show is full of actual comedy writers and ex-SNL people. [/QUOTE] I took the bullet and registered to read the article. The summation is that (according to the article) comedy writers don’t like it because they don’t think it’s authentic. They don’t think the sketches would really work as sketches (it cites a sketch comedy troupe who performed some of the fictional sketched in order to prove the point), they think the Matthew Perry character is pretentious, political and moralistc in an unrealistic way. They make the point that comedy writers are more interested in getting a laugh than getting across a mesage. The character of Harriet is also mentioned as a character who is supposed to be exceptionally talented and riotously funny but who never actually shows any evidence of it on the show. The article mentions a popular blog by a comedy writer named Ken Levine who has apparently done a lot of commentary on the show which is held up as being representative. It doesn’t give a link but it shouldn’t be hard to google. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557/23 "2006-12-28T07:03:00Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] The article mentions a popular blog by a comedy writer named Ken Levine who has apparently done a lot of commentary on the show which is held up as being representative. It doesn’t give a link but it shouldn’t be hard to google. [/QUOTE] Levine was a writer for _The Simpsons_; in fact, his latest [posting](http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/) is a nice long segment from his script (cowritten with David Isaacs) for the classic episode “Dancin’ Homer.” Here’s his funny take on [If Aaron Sorkin Wrote a Show About Baseball](http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/10/if-aaron-sorkin-wrote-show-about.html), complete with requisite character named Danny and pedeconferencing aplenty. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557/24 "2006-12-28T07:25:41Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] (it cites a sketch comedy troupe who performed some of the fictional sketched in order to prove the point), . [/QUOTE] Yes MY sketch troupe. I wrote and performed in the show so if anyone has any questions, feel free. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557/25 "2006-12-28T08:31:27Z")
Sorry to post again without much content, but [here is the direct link to the article](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-studio25dec25,0,6128459.story?coll=la-home-entertainment), which does not require registration. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557/26 "2006-12-28T14:15:09Z")
[QUOTE=Push You Down] Yes MY sketch troupe. I wrote and performed in the show so if anyone has any questions, feel free. [/QUOTE] Which sketch? How did it go over with the audience? What did you think about the material? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557/27 "2006-12-28T15:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=choie] Sorry to post again without much content, but [here is the direct link to the article](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-studio25dec25,0,6128459.story?coll=la-home-entertainment), which does not require registration. [/QUOTE] That was awesome. I wish I was clever. ☹😛 -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557/28 "2006-12-28T19:32:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sean Factotum] Which sketch? How did it go over with the audience? What did you think about the material? [/QUOTE] I actually wrote the one wholly original piece in the show. A running sketch about the protestors outside of the Studio 60 building protesting “Crazy Christians”. I was involved with the whole show so I can tell you about that. My sketch went over well with the audience. Overall though I’d say the audience appreciated the show but it wasn’t a laugh riot. It was a show written for people who had followed the show first and for a general audience second. With filling out the couple of sketches that appeared on the tv show the difficulty was working in the bits that were actually on the show and trying to write in the style of those sketches. I think we had varying degress of sucess with that. Our full version of Nic Cage Couple’s Counselor can stand on its own. The Nancy Grace missing cell phone sketch, not so much. Other things like the Comedia Dell’Arte sketch wasn’t seen on the show just referred to as being outrageusly funny. All we had to go on was that it took place at a movie theater concession stand and used traditional costumes. So we wrote a sketch about a modern person having to deal with comedia characters (I played Pantalone). That was funny regardless of if you had been watching Studio 60 and knew that it was so funny it had become a recurring sketch. . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-article-about-studio-60/385557.md?page=1)