Studio 60

Yes, I'm obsessed.  But I kind of think I want to do a bit of a 360 regarding last week's post, because I thought tonight's episode was really frustrating.  Creating drama within the context of the West Wing of the White House worked because the things going on there really are dramatic.  I get the drama of working in the White House.  I'm about as into the behind-the-scenes of a sketch show as any audience member out there, but the stakes just aren't feeling the same.  What percent of the audience the show-within-the-show can retain over the season premiere just didn't seem like an important enough thing to go into a commercial break with.  Tonight's episode had to resort to outside interference to find drama -- power outages, and a DUI arrest.  If they're already out of things actually normal to the making of a sketch comedy show by episode 3, and have to do one-off things like that just to create drama, I'm worried about what's left for episode 6, or 16, or 76.  And the other thing that really disappointed me in tonight's episode were the sketches in the show-within-the-show.  They showed a lot of clips, and they weren't funny.  The show loses so much credibility for me when it talks about what amazing stuff is going on, and then the clips we get to see aren't terribly good or interesting or edgy or funny.  I want to believe Aaron Sorkin can write amazing sketches.  So if he can't actually do that, I don't want to see any clips that show me otherwise.  I want to be able to believe he can, and only see sketches when they're awesome.  Otherwise they just make the show seem stupid and all the drama not much worth it.  It's not worth caring about a crappy sketch comedy show.  Maybe worth caring about a good sketch comedy show.

Clearly I'm still watching, and I probably won't give up on this thing for a long while, because I think it can be amazing, and I think Aaron Sorkin at his best is unbelievably terrific.  But tonight left me pretty disappointed and unimpressed.  Especially after last week's episode, which was great. 

But that's just my take on it.  The folks over on the message boards at Television Without Pity (great site, by the way) seem to have liked it.  They're usually pretty on-the-ball, so maybe it's just me.

Comments

[D]

The sketch they opened with, the quiz show-type thing, was painfully unfunny. What made it all the worse was the shots of Whitford sitting in the fake audience, laughing as if it were funny.

[cam]

How can anyone take seriously a show which
i) stars Amanda Peet
ii) has a character named Jordan Mc Deere
iii) and perhaps the fatal coup de grace has Amanda Peet starring as a character named Jordan Mc Deere?

[Anon]

I think the AL posts have peaked. Stop while you're ahead.

[jonbrandt81]

Anonymous Posters - should, like their actions imply, go live under a bridge and scare children like the trolls they are.

Keep em' coming Jeremy. And, just to make this post on topic, there is no way that Sorkin can keep this up. It's like a comedy Sportsnight and, much for the same reasons, it just won't work.

I give it two seasons though because it is far superior to most other stuff on television. I mean, if "Till Death..." survives, the networks aren't setting the bar that high.

Unfortunatly, "Grey's Anatomy" remains the best show on television for another season.

[Anon]

There's nothing troll-like about pointing to the fact that the AL blog has become an exercise in juvenalia - the posts aren't funny any more, it's really tedious and it's not witty or illuminating in any way. The joke is spent. Blachman should stop now and save his energy for the pilot. He's diluting the brand with this shoddy effort.

[Sean]

I agree here. The Quiz Show was painfully unfunny, because the jokes were, as the TWoP'ers would call them, anvilicious.

"Look! Science! And these people aren't! HA! HA!"

Subtle like nothing.

I like the banter. Sorkin dialogue is the tops. But I hope it turns around.

[Pam Linberg]

I think the show has potential. It's one of the smarter things on TV right now (not that that bar is very high). It needs work, but I'll keep watching because it's better than anything else out there (except Gray's and Amazing Race, which rule). As for anonymous poster, if you don't have the guts to put your name to your comments, go away. We love you (and AL), Jeremy.

[MD]

The anon people seem to have nothing better to do than insult those with more talent and creativity. Is someone coercing you to read a blog you feel the need to disparage...?

[anon]

The anons alas are right.

[Jon]

Ok. I'm watching the pilot for 30 Rock and I just had an idea.

This show is very funny. Why don't they combine these mediocre shows into one outstanding Drama/Comedy show?

What do you think. Oh, and of course "anons" think everything "anons" say is right. It wouldn't make sense for a anon to say, "Don't believe what anons say".