David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. "Studio 60 on the (Insular, Myopic) Sunset Strip"
Tonight's where they lost all of Middle America. It was all about stuff that only showbiz insiders (and perhaps not even them) care about: Plagiarism, magazine profiles, executive gossip. Even the storyline that mainstream viewers might care about - starstruck lovers - was couched in Hollywood terms: How do extremely attractive celebrities cope with the dissolution of a relationship? And all America already knows the answer to that one: They start dating other extremely attractive celebrities.
The best bits on tonight's broadcast came from the "30 Rock" promo, where Alec Baldwin menacingly disapproved of the fact that he's not starring on the show created by Aaron Sorkin starring Amanda Peet. Now, that fact should make him grateful.
Requisite particulars: A show sketch is discovered not to have been written by the staff, but by a stand-up comic a decade back. (Mayhem results; the resolution might resonate with .05 percent of assembled viewers.) A magazine writer (played by executive producer Thomas Schlamme's wife Christine Lahti) - her readers are more important than the show's viewers, we're told, thereby alienating actual viewers all the more - is forced by Jordan (Peet) upon Danny (Bradley Whitford) and Matt (Matthew Perry) as a ubiquitous fly on the wall (only an idiot can't see where this is going). The tortured romance between Matt and Harriet (Sarah Paulson) continues apace, equal parts contrived (when will these nutty kids just call a truce and kiss and make up, already?) and blinkered (their escalation towards reconciliation and/or all-out war makes very little sense). Jordan's past threatens to surface (really - does anyone in America really care about the personal lives of network executives?).
Hence: Still smart, still sublimely performed ... but who cares? Most abject Hollywood follies come from really dumb ideas idiotically executed. "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" scarcely falls within that rubric; nontheless, it boasts that other X Factor of big-time failures - hubris. Sorkin's sorely convinced that audiences can relate to these characters, who are utter fantasy to the masses but accutely personal to him. He hasn't made their travails remotely relatable. The show has lost a huge chunk of its initial audience, and this wasn't the episode that's gonna lure them back.
Comments
Hmmm ... the plagiarism story line sounds awfully familiar to the one Jay Mohr cops to in his book, "Gasping for Airtime," in which he pitched a sketch that he totally ripped off from another stand-up comedian. Comedian sends tape to Lorne Michaels. Mohr denies, denies, denies. Comedian sues. Lawsuit quietly settled.
Posted by: B-Twp | October 10, 2006 2:16 AM
Even I don't care about this show anymore. And, unlike The Mayor, I care about everything. The bits that are supposed to be funny aren't funny. The bits that are supposed to be dramatic aren't dramatic. Their only chance is to have Alec Baldwin as next week's host.
Posted by: A concerned citizen | October 10, 2006 9:04 AM
Was there ever a possibility that a Sorkin TV show about a TV show wasn't going to descend in the most shameless kind of navel-gazing? I turned Studio 60 off some 20 minutes into the pilot, and I doubt I'm ever going back.
Posted by: MoroccoMole | October 10, 2006 11:54 AM
Here's my pitch:
The title: Show3 (with a small three -- 'cause it's pronounced "Show Cubed." It's a comedy about the making of a drama about the making of a sketch comedy show. All the angst borne out of being all serious and Hollywoodish about the inner-workings of making a drama about the making of a sketch-comedy show will be front and center.
Adding to the drama: In "Show3," there's another show on the same network about the making of a sketch comedy show ... only that show is a comedy about the making of a comedy.
The raison d'etre of "Show3's" stars -- playing "Punk'd"-style pranks on the rival show's cast and crew, and wondering whether they'll be able to kill said comedy-about-the-making-of-a-comedy, or wondering whether the two shows will at some point merge and be able to share the same bag of rice and compete together for reward challenges offered by the network ... and the chance to win $1 million.
...
There ... now that's out of my system.
Posted by: Steven Rosenberg | October 10, 2006 1:09 PM
I wouldn't know what happened on "Studio 60" last night. My cable is still f*cked up! But, the guy's on his way over right now. Heh.
Posted by: Suzy Q | October 10, 2006 2:51 PM
[the plagiarism story line sounds awfully familiar to the one Jay Mohr cops to in his book, "Gasping for Airtime,"]
So, Sorkin plagarized plagarism!
Posted by: Dave | October 11, 2006 7:51 PM