Epitaph for "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"

[spatch]

"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" was a TV show created by Aaron Sorkin.
Aaron Sorkin is famous for creating a TV show about the White House.
He also created a TV show about a sports news show called "Sports Night."

While Sports Night was a show about a sports show, it was not about any actual sports. The emphasis was solely on the sports show itself.

Aaron Sorkin believed he could use the same formula for Studio 60, which was a show about a comedy show. However, he learned the hard way that while you can make a show about a sports show without featuring the sports, you cannot make a show about a comedy show without featuring any comedy.


EDIT: While Studio 60 will be returning at the end of May to finish out its season committment, the chance for renewal falls somewhere between a skinny cowboy and Mother Theresa -- that is, slim to none.

Resquiat in something, at least.





that was a guess; I can't decline Latin worth a tinker's damn

Comments

[lediva.livejournal.com]

Aww. I liked Studio 60. I also thought it was really funny.

I also really wanted to see where Drive was going.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

You know, I really enjoyed parts of Studio 60, but there were definitely some things that bugged me. They had too many episodes focused on the intra-office romantic relationships. If they could have just focused on the actual show and spent virtually *any* time on non-romantic relationships, it could have been a really good show.

That said, I totally don't buy the argument that "ZOMG the sketches weren't funny!" SNL isn't funny, and people still watch.

RIP.

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

It's not that the sketches weren't funny and the show soldiered on, which would have been very realistic (and which 30 Rock handles quite well); it's that the sketches weren't funny and the viewers kept being told they WERE. Over and over again. Highest ratings ever blahblah Danny's a genius blah stations in the deep south begging to broadcast the show blahblah.

I remember the story about Next Generation early scripts having "insert technobabble here" notes at various points. I think a similar thing happened with Studio 60 scripts and "insert something Amazingly Funny here" notes, but someone really dropped the ball when it came time to supply the fun.

[spatch]

30 Rock doesn't focus too much on their sketches, either, save for brief glimpses of characters (such as Cowboy Hey Hey!) and Jenna's bizarre musical numbers which end in tragedy. Studio 60 won't let its pieces de-evolve into surreal chaos, because it's supposed to be seriouser and not a cartoonish parody.

And I agree with your assessment of the Studio 60 sketches. We knew Matt & Danny had been brought in to fix up the show, and that Matt absolutely destested Ricky & Ron, the former head writers who'd let the show turn unfunny. Okay. That much is plausible.

And then it's time to Redeem Ourselves with something Really Huge And Hilarious which was... a Gilbert & Sullivan parody.

Of the most frequently-parodied Gilbert & Sullivan tune.

And, as Tom Lehrer once bardphrased, was "full of words and music and signifying nothing."

Then we are told this is Comedy Gold! Ratings shoot up! We love it when they sing G&S! Hey, here's a sketch about a militant black Fruit Of The Loom character! Give it to the black writer? NO, THAT'S RACIST! Let's talk more about issues! Because comedy writers don't care about being funny, all they want to do is Make Serious Points!

And everybody loves it! We must be on Earth2 or something by now, because I ain't seeing it.

I had kind of hoped that the bad comedy in the beginning was intentional so that later on, the good stuff would really shine. But we haven't gotten to the good stuff yet. And the Dolphin Girl subplot smacks of Recurring SNL Character Syndrome.

Harumph.
Again, I say, harumph.

30 Rock gets it because they let the stuff break down and freak people out. Studio 60 didn't because it presented the stuff and told us it was funny, laugh.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

And the Dolphin Girl subplot smacks of Recurring SNL Character Syndrome.

Absolutely! And I think that was part of the point. I mean, Matthew Perry's character was really upset when she put it into the show's preview because *he had nothing written for it*.

I'm going to have to try out 30 Rock. I had one person tell me it sucked, but everyone else has said it rules.

[spatch]

30 Rock starts out as shaky as Studio 60 but by the time they got to the episode where Liz Lemon is seriously low on blood sugar and Tracy Jordan is off his meds so he keeps on hallucinating a little blue man (played by Rachel Dratch) is chasing him around, I knew there was something worth keeping in that show. And it's just improved from there.

The season finale featured Elaine Stritch as the mother of Alec Baldwin's character, and she was great.

[lediva.livejournal.com]

I suppose the romantic subplots were a bit too much, but I enjoyed the backstory aspect of it. I loved pretty much anything Matthew Perry did.

I totally don't buy the argument that "ZOMG the sketches weren't funny!"

Well, any plot involving a creative endeavor (putting on a show, acting, music, etc.) always runs that risk of the act-within-the-show not really being as good as it's supposed to be. I suppose I've mostly learned to suspend disbelief for that.

Heck, the ep where Matt Perry's character bombed at Harriet's award dinner... it took me a good 10 minutes to really grok that he didn't do it intentionally. I couldn't believe he really froze up.