Now you find it…
It was on ABC, tuesday nights with Dharma & Greg.
You missed it the same reason everyone missed it - ABC had no clue how to advertise it - and nearly no one watched it.
We loved Sports Night. Another nail in its casket was that sometimes it was on at 9:00, sometimes 9:30, sometimes 8:30 on Wednesday…well, you get the idea. They couldn’t figure out where in the schedule to put it to reach its fans, and its fans couldn’t figure out when the heck it was on. There was even a Yahoo group aimed at saving it from cancellation. Obviously, they failed.
We loved Sports Night. Another nail in its casket was that sometimes it was on at 9:00, sometimes 9:30, sometimes 8:30 on Wednesday…well, you get the idea. They couldn’t figure out where in the schedule to put it to reach its fans, and its fans couldn’t figure out when the heck it was on. There was even a Yahoo group aimed at saving it from cancellation. Obviously, they failed.
I thought the writing for Jeremy’s character got a little weird for a while in the second season (“I can’t give blood! It isn’t the needle…blah blah blah”), but the show was pretty consistently hilarious.
I thought the giving blood bit in particular was hilarious – Jeremy was the mouthpiece – he was always right about everything all the time, and that part was the writers making fun of their own earnestness.
The ending to that episode gave me chills every time I saw it, Sapphire Bullet.
“What’re you, nuts? Huh? Are you some kind of…nutty nut-girl who’s nuts? There’s a difference between divorced and separated. One is divorced and the other is separated. That’s why they have those names.”
The big difference for me between the first season and the second season was that they got rid of the laugh track in the second season. Made it a much better show imo.
I thought the scripts and storylines for the second season were noticeably poorer, however. Apparently it was tough for Sorkin to divide his attention between Sports Night and West Wing, and Sports Night suffered for it.
I too was a huge fan of Sports Night when it was on. I think the problems with the last season resulted from trying to go overdramatic to save the show. Probably had something to do with being named “The Best Show You Are Not Watching.” William H. Macy even came on as an effort to save the sinking ship. And while I loved him and his character I don’t think the show needed outside blood, but just more of what made it so good in the first place.