He did explain/apologize, immediately afterwards.
Given how sympathetic the initial cops were portrayed, it sorta jarred that they didn’t ask if he needed to quickly straighten up his affairs first, let someone know what was happening, change, etc, instead of just apologetically slapping on the cuffs and hauling him off.
No I didn’t. I took your “Grr. More waiting. /me takes the lord’s name in vain.” and extrapolated. Then I used the catchphrase that was used during the show and wrapped it around some hyperbole. You’re obviously not smart enough to understand. 
They were in West Hollywood which, according to the jokes made about it, is the gay section of L.A. Not much of a stretch for the regulars to know that the cast eats at that restaurant and be ready to ambush them afterward.
I agree that John Goodman as the crusty small-town judge was a cliché trying to turn a cliché on its head and the first few minutes of the program were painful. I don’t think the cops were badly portrayed, though, any of them.
It did get better as they backfit the weird chain of events that led up to the Fellini Flight. That was something Sorkin did on the West Wing that often was effective. Now he just has to dig himself out of the hole in good fashion.
He ended the first season of WW with an assassination attempt and that made the show the success it became. Maybe he can have Harriet assassinated and save this show!
Is anyone else convinced that Simon is gay, (not that there’s anything wrong with that)? There were a couple of clues in the last few episodes, but of course the only one I can remember now is when he turned the hot chick over to Tim. Well, and Harriet’s comment about gay people working for the show in this episode.
I’m trying to fathom some reason why Tim’s speeding (which will obviously turn out to have been A Noble and Good Thing) is known to Simon only. I wonder if they were running from some gay bashers or something and Simon will end up outing himself in Tim’s defense (as he already has forshadowed with the whole joint thing).
Anything with John Goodman has got me for the hour.
Was the Nevada cop that kid from “That 70’s Show”? It looked like him with blonde hair and the moustache.
Tom seems to be the only sane one of the whole group. And I strongly suspect the Chinese father is fluent in English and that’ll come back to haunt one or two of them.
That roving gang of gay guys really needed to be dressed better.
Fair enough. I guess buying the CD and waiting around for her to show up sounds like such a huge waste of time, money and effort that it just didn’t seem realistic to me that characters would do that. But I guess I should consider some of the stuff real people do!
I have to admit I am getting tired of the Christianity angle… I can’t tell if Sorkin is trying to write realistic Christians sympathetically, or if he is making fun of them. He’s not doing well either way.
But I have to admit I thought the sketch was the funniest one we’ve heard/seen so far.
“Jesus Christ, it’s hot in here! Can we open a window?”
Jesus: “Sure, go ahead.”
“Oh, and my dad? Get him. Not for me to do it, because I’m all about the forgiveness, but you go ahead.”
I think they’ve been hinting that Simon’s gay from the very beginning of the show.
I also think your speculations about why they were speeding are very plausible.
That’s an interesting angle. Don’t you think the daughter would tell him if they were dissing him though? I don’t remember ever seeing them separated.
Looking back, I can see how it looks like Simon may be gay. I never would have guessed that in a million years. I had thought he was just doing Tom a favor shluffing off that girl at the party because he (Tom) was a little depressed that night.
It’s not HBO, it’s TeeVee…
Stereotypes exist because they are sometimes true…
This show is no more real or fake than The West Wing. I’ve got friends in politics who were just as put off by every episode of that show as people here are.
My question for the people ripping it apart is: why are you still watching? I agree, it’s flawed, it’s not as relevant as TWW, the Matt/Harriet/Christian thing is annoying, etc… But I like it because I like the way Sorkin writes dialog and that his scripts at least attempt to deal with issues.
I tried watching an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond once 'cuz it was popular and I thought I might be missing something. Couldn’t make it to the second commercial break. I couldn’t imagine watching a show like that just to be able to rip it apart here…
What? And ruin her chances of meeting Tom Jeter? :eek: :rolleyes:
The latest rumor going around is that Studio 60 is about to be picked up for a full season, based on what people in the fan community are hearing from folks associated with the show.
Finished 3rd last night behind CSI: Sheboygan and the “Southern Pop” Music Awards on the Alphabet Network.
I dug this episode. Sort of turned me around (apparently other folks too, like brianjedi reports). I also like to think that it’s because of Mark McKinney. I was scared he didn’t have it in him - maybe he doesn’t though. Maybe he’s just the only one at the table who said “ya know, I think our viewers are a little tired of Matt and Harriet. I wrote the Dr. Seuss Bible, let’s do some Jesus Stuff!”
“What shall we do with this uppity Jew?”
I thought the Jesus skit wasn’t very funny… but apparently, so did Danny, and for the rigth reasons. Which was a fine outcome.
Overall, an excellent episode.
I’ve kept watching because I like some of the snappy dialog, and the show often seems about to address taboo issues in a way that would warm Sam Harris’s heart.
But I think it’s going downhill. Aside from the ludicrous legal stuff, it’s just becoming clearer that they are doing poorly many things others have done well. John Goodman pretending to be a podunk idjit - OK fine, except that then he went on to actually be a podunk idjit. The whole schtick is a ripoff of My Cousin Vinny, which did much better in actually portraying the judge as an intelligent, thoughtful, and fair jurist.
The manufactured gravitas over the artistic integrity of the show just doesn’t ring true. There’s a much more effective treatment of the issue (even though arguably the subject of the artistry is just as trivial) in Big Night.
Again, they might be able to do something interesting that I haven’t seen before with a sympathetic, deeply Christian character interacting with an atheist, in the weird, anti-Christian, yet catering to Christians world of Hollywood. They just haven’t actually done it yet.
Favorite episode so far. Gave me hints of good West Wing.
Speaking of which, that plane was HUGE. Did they reuse the Air Force One set?
So, in what demented reality does a Police Dept. in LA extradite someone to Nevada over a speed-trap ticket?
Oh, it was for “failure to appear.” No, I’m still not buying it.
And, wait, Simon can’t be gay, Tom is gay. I mean, this is TV (not HBO) & Tom is the slight femmy one.
Right? Right?
(Yes, first season West Wing was bizarre, too. Remember Sam’s call girl buddy? Sorkin doesn’t do research.)