Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a short-lived comedy-drama from Aaron Sorkin. It was his follow-up to
The West Wing, which, in at least the four seasons he was involved, was one of smartest, wittiest, and most insightful shows on television. Previous to
The West Wing, Sorkin also wrote the tremendously underappreciated
Sports Night for ABC. Needless to say, when
Studio 60 premiered, expectations were very, very high. Nevertheless, the first episode received positive reviews and attracted a sizable audience.
And then came the second episode.
And the third.
Critic reaction began to turn. The audience began to vanish. By Christmas,
Studio 60 was on hiatus. By June, it was history.
I remember enjoying the series, especially the first six episodes, very much. The repartee sparkled, the characters were well-defined, and the overall premise felt like it had legs. But as the show progressed, certain quirks began to emerge:
1. The lead character, Matt Albie (portrayed by Matthew Perry), is supposed to be a fantastic comedy writer. However, the sketches we see him write were so bizarrely unfunny that the whole credibility of the conceit (Matt as Comic Genius) became strained. One memorable sketch involved Juliette Lewis circa 1992 hosting
Meet the Press..which may have been amusing...in 1992...but not in 2006.
2. About halfway into the series, Matt Albie's co-producer best friend Danny Tripp (portrayed by Bradley Whitford) became obsessed with the president of network programming, Jordan McDeere (portrayed by Amanda Peet). And by obsessed, I mean at one point he approached her and told her, "I'm coming for you, Jordan." Naturally, she asked him to back off. He said no. And we the audience were meant to consider this both endearing and romantic. Naturally by series end, Danny and Jordan end up together, if for no other reason than Aaron Sorkin likes to give happy endings to characters named Danny (i.e. Daniel Kaffee in
A Few Good Men, Dan Rydell in
Sports Night, and Danny Kincannon in
The West Wing).
3. The show-within-the-show took itself waaaaaaaay too seriously. Almost every episode we're reminded that what they do is Important and affects the National Zeitgeist. Dude, it's sketch comedy.
I recently rewatched the entire series on
Hulu. Some of the episodes still shine. My favorite then and now is "The Disaster Show," which guest stars Allison Janney as herself, doesn't include any of the Matt & Danny soap opera that weighed the show, doesn't take itself too seriously, and is just plain fun. Other highlights of the series include the overall performances (especially Ms. Peet, Sarah Paulson as Harriet Hayes, and Steven Weber as Jack Rudolph) and one really great gag involving a Hitler-Santa. Plus, there's this exchange from the 2nd episode, which is just plain perfect:
- Harriet: I got a laugh at the table read when I asked for the butter in the dinner sketch. I didn't get it at the dress. What did I do wrong?
- Matt: You asked for the laugh.
- Harriet: What did I do at the table read?
- Matt: You asked for the butter.
If you missed it the first time, it is worth seeing. I mean, how else are you going to spend your summer vacation?
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