Hey La, Hey La, My Boyfriend's Back...

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Elysium and I just watched Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Aaron Sorkin's (and Tommy Schlamme's) new show on NBC. I feel like I just saw an old flame from 20 years ago, and things are still hot between us. (And I swear, I think Elysium feels the same way about it!) Aaron Sorkin is the best, best, best! I love his snappy, witty, intelligent dialogue. No dumbing down for 12-year-old boys there. And speaking of which, Judd Hirsch's monologue/rant at the beginning was like listening to Aaron speaking straight from his heart.

I'm so happy! What a great new show. What a wonderful new cast. A lot of familiar Sorkinesque faces in the cast, with some interesting new ones thrown in. I can't wait to see where it goes. And you people had better watch it. Because if another of my boyfriend's shows get cancelled (or hijacked and given to that hack John Wells), there's gonna be trouble...

Thank you for listening to me gush. You may now return to your regularly scheduled calm.

It's like watching her get attached to Firefly all over again.

On a relevant note, it really was a fantastic show. I know Netflix had this a few weeks ago, but I wanted to wait for the actual pilot, if only so I didn't have to wait weeks for the next episode.

What I like about Sorkin above all else, and this show meets this standard, is that despite every reason not to be he's a hopeless optimist and idealist. I know many folks think that idealism is somehow a bad thing, and laughable, but I think it's noble in a world that this cynical. Like the West Wing before, he is out there on television trying to say that things could be better, that they should be better, and that's worthy in my eyes.

Excellent show, highly recommend catching it if you have the chance.

You see Sean, that's how a real man satisfies her.

So it'll be on for about 6 more episodes, eh?

JoeBedurndurn wrote:

So it'll be on for about 6 more episodes, eh?

Buh-zing!

Cool. I missed it, but it's already on the in the wild, so I'll download and watch it. (Yes, I know normal people have Tivo, but I watch maybe 5 hours of TV a week, so that seems a silly expense.)

duckideva wrote:

Cool. I missed it, but it's already on the in the wild, so I'll download and watch it.

Watch it! And then make everyone you know watch it. If enough smart people watch the smart shows, maybe they'll have more smart shows, and less "reality" shows about marrying Donald Trump and covering yourself with spiders and racing across the country with Paris Hilton. Do it for the children!

I also enjoyed it immensely. I'm also kind of amused that the star of Sorkin's first series Sports Line, Felicity Huffman, was the 'guest' on the sketch show being filmed. Very cool callback.

Also, Matthew Perry just gets better and better doesn't he?

Hell yeah, Sorkin's BACK baby!

NBC forced him out of West Wing, but you can't stifle comedic genius I say!

Mixolyde wrote:

I'm also kind of amused that the star of Sorkin's first series Sports Line, Felicity Huffman, was the 'guest' on the sketch show being filmed. Very cool callback.

The show's name, as I'm sure you know and just mixed up, was Sports Night. One of my favorite shows of all time.

I was not much of a fan of West Wing, but considering the greatness of Sports Night, I'll definitely give a shot to a new Aaron Sorkin comedy.

I just downloaded it, based on this thread. I'm definitely interested.

I never liked Matthiew Perry, becuase of all the overdone verbal/"comedic" ticks, but I thought he was excellent in this.

Thanks for the heads-up. I don't watch TV, so I don't get to know about the good stuff that's out there.

Intruiged. I'll try and download it.

edit: Wow, Limewire results include porn, pron and some pr0n too. Yuk. BitTorrent?

Well coolies gonna have faith in your judgement and d/l for my g/f and I to check out. Right now we're on a deadwood binge

I also downloaded this tonight (last night?).. 500 seeders on the particular torrent I got it from, so it definately seems popular. Excellent show, and I dont even watch TV..and I would like to support this. What channel, day and time does it normally air on? Between this and Prison break (is that back on TV yet?) There are some good things on broadcast air..(please tell me this is on broadcast air)

Elysia wrote:

Do it for the children! :)

Isn't that the point of the activity?

*Legion* wrote:

The show's name, as I'm sure you know and just mixed up, was Sports Night. One of my favorite shows of all time.

Right! 130am for me, ugh. I only caught a handfull of Sports Night, but I get more and more tempted to buy the DVDs every day. Particularly as this new show is starting up and I need more Sorkin!

Morrolan wrote:

I never liked Matthiew Perry, becuase of all the overdone verbal/"comedic" ticks, but I thought he was excellent in this.

I loved him in Whole Nine Yards for the way he can combine physical comedy with clever, quick wits. He was in a few episodes of West Wing and was brilliant in them.

Ganguro wrote:

What channel, day and time does it normally air on?

Mondays, 10pm, NBC. I know it's opposite Monday Night Football, but I don't think that's generally their target audience anyway. Hopefully a smart show for smart people will last a bit longer on NBC than FOX, even in a bad time slot. Hopefully the rant in the beginning didn't alienate too many people either.

Ok...it was genius. It was. I'm not sure about the casting for the "Jordan" character, mostly because her acting seems primarily to be smirking and also staring into space. But, she's easy on the eyes, and perhaps she has range, who knows.

I'm now officially in love with Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford. Who would think that was possible?

The rant was magnificent, I hope the character is a returning one. The Christian subplot is incredibly well written. Rarely does popular entertainment lead me to think about theology, but as it was presented, I find it believable that an "out", but not necessarily evangelical Christian would face some difficulties in the entertainment business if they were outside of the Christian genre.

The writing is a prime example of how dialogue should be written. It's fast, it's witty, it's real and believable. Sorken's team writes dialogue that sounds like my friends. I love that. All in all, I believe it's worth watching, and hope it does well competing against Worm Eating and Who Wants to Nail My Sister.

My wife and I are hooked as of 10:05 last night. Very good writing, definately reminds me of The West Wing (for obvious reasons). Support good TV!!!

duckideva wrote:

I find it believable that an "out", but not necessarily evangelical Christian would face some difficulties in the entertainment business if they were outside of the Christian genre.

You'd better believe a practicing Christian would face a lot of skepticism, if not outright discrimination in the entertainment industry. I, too, was intrigued by this character. And the whole damn show, for that matter. I watched it last night for the third time (I watched the DVD from Netflix twice).

There aren't any signifigant differences between what broadcast last night and the Netflix DVD, right? Not that it would stop me from watching this tonight, but I want to be sure.

Why isn't this show on iTunes? (Or if is, why isn't it easy to find on iTunes?)

Demiurge wrote:

There aren't any signifigant differences between what broadcast last night and the Netflix DVD, right? Not that it would stop me from watching this tonight, but I want to be sure.

The only difference I noticed (aside from the commercials) was that they truncated the opening credits. The content of the show wasn't affected though. I assume they did this for time.

Ttraditionally speaking, TV shows about the inner workings of show-business do not fare well. The aforementioned Sports Night comes to mind quickly. Not sure the rhyme or reason but it's just the history.

The pilot for S60otSS was a little flat, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.

The Studio 60 is actually a building across the street from my former office. It was also filmed in our building quite often. So maybe I'm pulling for it just to see my old stomping ground.

I meant to watch this, but now I'll have to d/l as well. It's the one show I'm REALLY anticipating this season other than Battlestar. I'm slightly intrigued about Heroes, but haven't seen enough.

duckideva wrote:

I'm not sure about the casting for the "Jordan" character, mostly because her acting seems primarily to be smirking and also staring into space. But, she's easy on the eyes, and perhaps she has range, who knows.

I disagree. (But not about the eye easiness.)

What she did with her face while in situations that would have turned me into either a soggy puddle or an erupting volcano was one of the things that kept me stuck watching TV last night instead of putting in an hour of Oblivion. I kept trying to understand what was going on behind the mask, figure out what it would take for her to lose her cool, if that's even possible. I didn't see smirking or vacant staring, and I have to assume that the show's producers think so too given the way they lingered more than once for us to watch her subtle expressions.

But then maybe it's me putting something where there's really nothing.

She looks perpetually devious/scheming, but not necessarily in a malicious way. If the character turns out to suppor that, then I say she's a great actress. If the character doesn't, then she sucks. :p

That show already started? Man, I suck at keeping tabs on which shows start when. I'll download this and check it out, since it's getting such fantastic praise from you guys. I'm always interested in well written, intelligent shows, so this is great!

My $0.02 into the ring with the hats, very enjoyable show. Please oh please oh please kill a reality tv show...

I had a youtube link to the pilot in the "post a video" thread at least a month ago, if you can find it. Good stuff.

EDIT: Link dead, but here's my thoughts.

Imagine if Sport's Night wasn't set around a fictional sports show but instead around Saturday Night Live. That includes all the shortcomings of the real version, specifically that the funniest moments were all twenty years ago and the boys upstairs are too afraid of offending people to allow funny sketches. The only thing weird there is that this was a crisis SNL had in the early 90's, not '06, so it kinda feels like a 99% fictional documentary set in the wrong timeframe.

I dont know what to think about a show that partially force feeds the "some studio executives are A-Okay, podnuh" vibe but I have to admit it's pretty entertaining anyhow.

They should leave the intro out if this gets aired. The "Main Title and Intro to Come" is accidentally poignant given the context.

Speaking of SNL, isn't Tina Fey's new show based on the same premise? I can't remember the name, or when it airs, but I seem to remember hearing buzz about it.

duckideva wrote:

Speaking of SNL, isn't Tina Fey's new show based on the same premise? I can't remember the name, or when it airs, but I seem to remember hearing buzz about it.

I think you're right deva, but I can't remember enough about it to sound like I know what I'm talking about.

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