I had an interesting exchange with some other Studio 60 fans tonight. Someone posted the episode synopses for the next two episodes, and I responded with “Why do I get the feeling I’m going to say I liked it better when it was called Celestial Navigation when it’s over?”
That sparked a lengthy quote war, and really illustrated the problem with Studio 60: it’s not Sorkin funny. Celestial Navigation is probably one of the best West Wing episodes, because it’s hilarious. Studio 60 should be that kind of funny every week, but we haven’t once gotten that level of humor. I don’t know if it’s Sorkin being off the cocaine and mushrooms, or if it’s forgetting how to write that way, but the show needs that kind of writing to be successful.
“We’ve been navigating by the north star, which turned out to be the Delta shuttle from LaGuardia. It’s a miracle we’re not in Nantucket right now.”
Awww man, that was the last remaining new show that I liked.
But, the thing that I find the most upsetting about the linked article, is that CSI: Miami has 17.5 million viewers.
I’ll believe it when it happens. Not that I don’t think that NBC won’t cancel it, but I think they’ll give it an entire season. It took at least that long for a lot of their past ratings and award-winning giants to find an audience (Scrubs, Cheers, Seinfeld, The West Wing, and the original Law & Order, IIRC.) NBC may be dirven by the bottom line, but I think they’ll catch a lot of flak for cancelling a television show that’s all about how stupid and short sighted television networks are.
Of course, the last episode of SportsNight showed how the show got saved from cancellation, so there is room for irony here.
I thought they only ordered scripts? That doesn’t mean much, since it just opens your options up – if you didn’t order scripts ahead of time, you wouldn’t be able to pick up the back 9.
I watched a little of it but missed most of the episodes. Did it get any better? The thing that killed it for me was the fact that the show within a show really sucked. It didn’t look funny or edgy. We need to do something to bring the audience back to our side and quiet the protestors. I know, lets do a Gilbert and Sullivan parody. :dubious: The brilliant and controversal sketch was “Stupid Christians”. If they were so clever why couldn’t they come up with a better title? I’m a big Sorkin fan but this show didn’t seem like a good fit.
The sketches/jokes never really got good – certainly not to the extent that one would view it as the truly transcendent show that it was characterized as. Although, there were a few moments of quality, mostly in the area of impressions such as Sarah Paulson’s Holly Hunter and Nancy Grace impressions. And some guy’s Nicolas Cage.
It was “Crazy Christians.” And I think they did the right thing there by not actually trying to show the sketch.
Thanks. Still a dumb title that gives no hint as to why it was supposed to be so good and dangerous. You’re right, it never could have lived up to the hype.
You know, someone (was it you Loach?) made a big deal about this in the thread for that episode. Who the fuck cares what the damn title of the piece was? This is supposed to be sketch comedy, nobody gives sketch comedy pieces a cool title unless the title is relevant to the sketch.
Look at SNL for crying out loud. And that’s for recurring sketches. Most of those title are descriptive rather than “funny” or “clever”.
Sorry for the slight hijack. I just don’t get it, given all of the real issues that S60 has, the titles to the sketches are the least of their issues.
I’m another person who doesn’t follow the complaints that Studio 60 doesn’t show the comedy sketches that the show is supposedly about. The show is about the people who make a comedy show, not the comedy show itself. Nobody complains that Grey’s Anatomy doesn’t show complete surgical operations or that Law & Order doesn’t show the complete trial - they just show enough to establish how the characters affect the operation or trial and how the operation or trial affects the characters. Studio 60 is doing the same thing. The show has problems but this isn’t one of them.
Second, the skits on the show don’t seem funny enough to warrant the praise heaped upon the show by the characters. It’s like the writers coming up with the joke “Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.” and everyone on the show saying how it’s the funniest thing ever and how they’ll win an Emmy for it.
So I think they should keep everyone and make the show-within-the-show be something more serious or else they should make the show-within-the-show be a cheesy skit comedy show and tone down the seriousness of the characters.
But yeah, I won’t miss it, either. I simply cannot stand Sarah Paulson. She utterly ruined any good this show could’ve been for me. And Amada Peet was painfully miscast, so at least if it is cancelled, it’ll free her up to do something more appropriate.
That’s because people like watching smart characters figuring things out. Watch smart characters bumble around aimlessly is not entertaining, and it’s long past time Aaron Sorkin figured that out.
I wouldn’t care so much if they never showed any thing from the show. But they do and what they do show is pretty lame. I wouldn’t mind that it was lame except it’s supposed to be ground breaking edgy comedy. Gilbert and Sullivan is not pushing the envelope. My biggest problem is that the characters as they have been presented do not seem to be capable to produce a comedy show if their life depended on it. That is just my impression of it. If you get a different vibe while watching it that’s fine too. I could easily see the cast of Sports Night producing a Sportcenter-like show. The show segments rang true. To me Studio 60 does not.
Quite frankly there is enough of the Sorkin touch so that I will watch if it is on, I’m just not seeking it out.
Why has anyone claimed that SNL is cutting edge or funny? In the last 20 or so years? I got the impression that Studio 60 was supposed to be a good show, not like SNL.
If CSI:Miami (or really any of the variants) were about smart characters figuring things out, you might have a point. But this isn’t the thread for that particular argument, so /end hijack.
Studio 60 probably deserves a longer shot based on ratings, quality (both mediocre at this point), and promise, but it costs way too much to make when they can just throw in Deal, No Deal, or… Better Deal?!