I went through all last week’s episode trying to figure out who the new writer guy WAS, and this time suddenly realized it was Mark McKinney way out of context. He’s a good addition to the show, and I’m glad they’re developing the Dawn Tinsley character better.
Not entirely true. She’s seen talking to Ed Asner’s wife about her pregnancy (“I can’t stop eating”) right before Jack’s offer of resignation. But for the most part, yes, mostly men.
Actually, I see two things wrong with your rants on the subject.
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The subject of abortion was raised (although it was subtle and the actual word was never uttered). During the tease, Danny makes a little speech about the ex’s reaction to the news, roughly “Of course, it’s totally your decision and I’ll pay whatever you decide…”. Maybe it would have been nice to see her decision process (do I/don’t I keep it), but it was obvious last week that she was already past that point.
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There have been a number of references to how conservative (read Republican) the Chairman, whatever the hell Ed Asner’s role is, and Board of Directors all are and you think someone’s going to tell Jordan to get an abortion? Can you imagine the unholy stink that would be raised if that ever got out? I submit that they might fire her, they might “suggest” that she get married post-haste, or they might ignore it altogether, but it would be completely unrealistic for any of them to suggest that get the Big A.
It’s hard to say exactly, but the conversation with Asner’s wife appears to have been after a public anouncement. That wasn’t made completely clear, so we’ll have to wait for whenever the next episode is to find out whether the world knows.
I hadn’t noticed that, but today’s world is so over-air-conditioned I don’t see that as a problem. I wear sweaters every day at my workplace, even in the summertime.
And I imagine that the entire world will be shocked, shocked I tell ya, by the front-page news that a network president is [gasp] expecting a child out of wedlock! I expect, at the very least, a series of self-immolations by Christian right activists in the NBS lobby to protest her continued employment.
I’m having trouble with the notion (either here or on the show) that the president of the entertainment division of a television network having a baby out of wedlock would be such a big deal. Why on earth would this be a public relations problem for a network? Letterman has a child out of wedlock and I don’t see Les Moonves getting all bent out of shape over it. Several movie stars continue to draw big box office despite having children without benefit of marriage. The private lives of the behind the scenes executives is not on most people’s radar. In today’s world, love it or hate it, these issues aren’t the scandalous deal-breakers that they were in the past.
You beat me to the point, flurb. I was busy getting “The page cannot be displayed” messages every time I hit the “Post Quick Reply” button.
It has already been firmly established that, in the Studio 60 universe, Jordan’s private life is tabloid fodder. That’s the way it is. Once that’s firmly established, it’s preposterous to think that her pregnancy would NOT be additional tabloid fodder.
Whether or not a studio exec’s life ever could become tabloid fodder is another question. I think it’s unlikely, but not impossible, particularly given someone as female, hot, and young as Amanda Peet. And celebrity of that sort can be self-sutstaining.
After all, who would think that the daughter/granddaughter of someone who owns a bunch of hotels would end up being tabloid fodder, yet we have Paris Hilton.
Anyhow, as I said, the fact is that IN THE SHOW’S UNIVERSE, it is clear that Jordan is more of a celebrity than network execs usually (ever?) are in our universe. Let’s accept that plot conceipt and move on.
You don’t know what their first thoughts were. You only know the first thing they said. Jack paused long enough to have had half a dozen thoughts before deciding to say congratulations, which is what anyone with any class would say in that situation.
I was thinking Lou Grant talking to Joe Rossi.
It’s obvious she’s planning on keeping the baby. When the OB/GYN asked her if she’d told anyone, she said no, you don’t announce until after the 12th week. Clearly she was ensuring that she didn’t mis-carry before announcing her condition.
The first thought of a fictional character is indeed exactly the first words they say. That’s what makes them fictional characters instead of real ones.
Or your first thought might have been that I was using a figure of speech rather than being utterly literal.
Either one is an adequate explanation of what I said.
And none of their second thoughts raised the subject either.
MaxTheVool has it correct. Someone said many threads ago how ludicrous a plot line it was to make the gossip about a network president the source for serious recriminations in the corporate board. Oh right: that was me.
However, now that they’ve headed toward that abyss, they can’t suddenly decide to walk on air and have the ultimatum issued by Ed Asner utterly vanish when they write a new scandal into the plot. Well, they can, of course, but not without serious recriminations from anyone watching the show in disbelief. :smack:
The point is that no matter how they finally decide to go ahead with the plot line, the consequences would be foremost in everybody’s minds. Danny making a snide comment about birth control is not sufficient. They’ve backed Jordan into an idiot’s corner. She had a one-night stand with some guy. Bad. She doesn’t use birth control. Bad. She doesn’t get a quick very discreet abortion when she has the chance. Bad. She keeps the baby. Bad. She’ll be tabloid fodder as a symbol of single motherhood. Bad. (Murphy Brown lives!) She’ll be a pregnant mess when her first upfronts arrive. Bad.
I know the best advice about creating plot lines is to torture your characters, but c’mon. Every one of these makes Jordan look too stupid to be a network president and a liability to a network that’s already told her she’s on the edge of firing. If they have a plan to dig themselves out of this hole in a smart way that would be superb writing that I’ll want to see. If they resolve it with stupidity equal to the stupidity that got them into it, the show has no chance.
Um, watch much TV? Next you’ll be telling me it’s a reasonable universe.
I loved this episode, and I’m at a solid 50% in terms of being right.
Clever dialog wins for me every time. I’m not so worried about how realistic this is, not knowing much about the TV business.
And I’d have so married that movie director guy, even if all he wanted to do is cheat on me.
And, they managed to repeat at least a couple of bits of popular bullshit during their “Christmas debunking”. For Christ’s sake (to coin a phrase), doesn’t anybody in tv know what the Immaculate Conception refers to?
You’ve been watching too many George Lucas movies.
The Chatholic school alumn raises his hand eagerly, grunting “pick me! pick me!”
But aren’t we all Chatoholics here? 
Speak for yourself, pal. I haven’t had a glass of chatohol in nearly a week.
You mean they have a school for people addicted to chatting? What a crazy little world we have!