Running Studio 60 thread (spoilers)

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

Great, great pilot. Just nice to see Hollywood make fun of itself. That roundtable of all the network execs was classic. The way the ad guy took "the Big Three" as Detroit ... and the scene where the Standards guy was putting the VCR tape in sideways: brilliant.

Amanda Peet could do really well with a well-written character like she has. We've barely been introduced, but such a great feel for these characters. Again, it's so much more compelling than the real SNL, just like the West Wing ideology did for any real White House administration. I like the thought that there could be two behind-the-faux-SNL shows that are both infinitely funnier than SNL itself. If there's anything as ripe for the picking as 1600 Pennsylvania, it'd be Rockefeller Center.

Favorite moment? The bad Bush impersonator stopping Hughley when he's moving out on stage to stop Judd Hirsch. And it's a cheap trick, but just having the old West Wing font for the "JORDAN" character intros is a deft touch. Very happy to see Schlamme and Sorkin back together again.

I'm TiVoing CSI:Caruso out of habit, but once "What About Brian?" kicks in in October, I think the sunglasses will be off for good.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

I'm in. An entertaining 42 minutes of TV. That's more than can be said for 90 percent of the crap on the tube.

TiVo, go to work.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

Bravo will have it on Wednesday night I think and maybe once this weekend too. Check your local listings for time and channel.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

Maybe it's me, but Bradford's character seemed a lot like Josh Lyman as a director and coke addict.

The line to Amanda Peet -- "I have no reason to trust you and every reason not to." -- just screams Josh.

One last thing -- Was it just my TV or did the show's lighting make the last few seasons of West Wing look vivid and bright?

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

No, it's not just you. With the exception of Martin Sheen and Dule Hill, I'll have trouble picturing anyone on West Wing playing another role.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

Mmmmm...Dule Hill.

Continue.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

Much that I agree with here, but don't you wish Sorkin would have turned his attention to something more substantial than a backstage SNL-based dramedy?

Maybe after the fever dream of the Bartlet administration he felt the need to aim lower. He certainly has assembled a tremendous cast and he can write the hell out of a script, but where do you go beyond a certain point with the whole enterprise?

And, while she's sexy as hell, I wasn't buying Peet in that role one damn bit.

I'm probably wrong, hope I am, but I say this one doesn't make it to Season 2.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

Well, I'm going to continue to make this thread sound like a broken record: I totally loved this show. Small part, but one I really liked, is when Peet goes to her office for the convo with Weber and looks down the hall with a wonderous look in her eyes, then it pans down the hall and back to her, and now she has a real deer-in-the-headlights look until she asks Weber "Where is my office?"

Also, the shot at the awards show table with the machine-gun dialogue that made me think back to "Sports Night." And finally, my favorite line: The writers tell the director he still has his job after pointing out he left the producer's diatribe on the air for 53 seconds, then Danny (Whitford) tells him "If you had made it 54 seconds, I would have given you a raise."

Unlike a couple people on this thread, I think this show will make to a second season. I believe NBC is going to give it every chance to succeed, and it would have to be an unmitigated disaster for it not to go to Season 2.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

With the star power it's got, it would take a colossal meltdown by Sorkin for Studio 60 to die before a second season. He'd have to head straight for the crack pipe and start turning in scripts late again, but on a grander scale.

This is going to make for interesting Monday nights - eschewing MNF in favor of 24 at 8 p.m., followed by Studio 60 at 9.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

No worries on 24: It doesn't start til mid-January.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

Jack Bauer could take down MNF, but he doesn't want to... yet.

 

Re: Studio 60 premiere (spoilers)

Speaking of Martin Sheen, The Departed looks like it'll be a kick-ass movie.

And what happened to Dule Hill's USA show Psyche? Did it get canned already?