… which is where the head writer, producer and director make the final cut and dump stuff that didn’t work to well during dress rehearsal.
I liked this better than last week, though Danny’n’Jordan sneakin’ around was a bit painful. Perry is really growing on me as a dramatic actor, though the drug thing felt a bit too clichéed. Not his fault, though, he did a good job with it.
And I actually felt the flashbacks were a lot more interesting than what was happening now. Had S60 started with the struggling writer and actress, trying to make it, I might’ve felt more for these characters. Problem is that Perry is too old to play an up’n’coming writer.
I understand that Sorkin wants to say things about network tv and the entertainment industry. Considering the immense turnover of that industry, and how much time we, the public, spend consuming entertainment, it’s something that I feel could be very engaging. During this show, however, my mind kept drifting and I was thinking it’d be much more interesting if they did a 24hr cable news show, sorta reflecting what we saw on WW. Sorkin could still say the things he want to say about tv, add some cheesy soap elements, have the tension of the deadline but add some gravitas that’s lacking right now.
Somehow I doubt he will be trusted with a high budget, high profile show again very soon. And from what I hear him saying in interviews, it doesn’t seem like he’s learning from the experience. Too bad.
From everything I’ve seen, Sorkin has a couple of big axes, both personal and professional, to grind, and is using Studio 60 to do it. It’s very disappointing, because he has in the past done this and still entertained. So without seeing this episode yet (it’s on Mondays in the US, apparently a day after you see it) I’m going to tentatively agree with you about his future prospects in the network television industry.
What Matt says to Tim: “Please don’t quit! I want you to stay with the show so I can AVOID getting your office! I’m SO happy sitting on the floor all damn day.”
What Matt ought to have said: “Bye. Did you leave any candy bars in your desk?”
I liked this one. I happen to like Danny and Jordan. I’m sick of angst, frankly. It would be a hugely different dramatic ploy to have an actual happy couple.
So far the (still 15 minutes to go) Matt & the drug thing seems forced, and not enjoyable to me at all to watch.
Please don’t go down that road. Just end it with a nice message where matt gets a waikeup call and throws away the drugs he got from the big boobed singer.
I grew up in the Christian faith. A liberal church, but a Christian nonetheless, so I may just be sheltered… But is it really so surprising to meet a bible-believing Christian out in the wild? I mean, I thought only Jack Chick thought that this was a nation of Atheists.
Isn’t it more that SNL would be the last place a god-fearin’ born-again would feel comfortable and therefore be found? I don’t think it’s so much ‘in the wild’ but ‘in that particular jungle’.
Sorkin isn’t learning to compromise his vision to appease unhappy viewers and executives
He keeps writing from personal experience
Matt wasn’t mean enough to his hallucination
Matt’s addiction to drugs isn’t worth exploring
Episode was mediocre
Characters mispronouncing a commonly mispronounced word = bad writing
Studio 60 is flawed, but the level of complaint I hear every week on this board is way out of line with the quality of the show. All shows are flawed, including many great ones. This was a good episode. It revealed important backstory for a major character, featured several excellent performances, great cinematography and just the right level of humor for a serious storyline.
It’s a much better show than these threads would suggest.
I’m with you, initech. Yes, I’d like to see things move along differently, but I’m generally satisfied with what’s been going on. Sure, that Tim guy was an obvious internal dialogue thing for Matt, but I thought it was done well.
And is that a real pop singer, the girl with the drugs? I don’t mean real in the Studio 60 world, but in ours? The NBC website says the music was by Gina La Piana, but her imdb credits don’t include Studio 60.
And I really like how even Andy noticed that Matt was starting to lose it, and offered to be there for him. If he wanted to talk to someone.
Did anyone see Danny in the flashback scenes at all? I looked for him, and listened for a mention of him, but came up empty.
I think the singer was fictional. They wouldn’t want to use a real person and imply that she used drugs, because God knows, you wouldn’t want people to think that there is drug use in the music business.
initech, I’ll agree that this was the strongest show in some weeks. I kind of enjoyed it and I thought a lot of the cuts between the present and the flashbacks were clever. The Revelation(s) thing is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, and if you’re going to make a character’s religious faith a central character issue, she should know what she’s talking about. It took me out of the show. (But ingenue Harry was very cute!)
Matt asked him for help reading his Neve Cambpell skit that he wrote for Harriet, but he just wanted to sleep. He was lying down in the writers room with a pillow over his head so you didn’t see his face. He then went out and found Simon.
They lost me a couple of weeks ago. Last night they lost my wife and TV addict teen daughter.
I went upstairs to read at 9, leaving my wife in the TV room. Daughter was downstairs and never bothered to come up to watch it. Wife turned it off after the opening scene, saying she realized she didn’t care about any of the characters. Sounds like something I said a few weeks back.
So that’s 0 for 3 among folks who were strongly disposed to like this show. Too bad.