Yeah, but there are lots of well regarded, excellent but cancelled TV shows out there. I always preferred it to 30 Rock.
Sorkin to go to HBO.
- Thread starter Professor Zoom
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Yeah, but there are lots of well regarded, excellent but cancelled TV shows out there. I always preferred it to 30 Rock.
If it gets aired over here, I'll certainly take a look. I've enjoyed Sports Night, West Wing and Studio 60
Studio 60 was pretty much hated by everyone. from what I can tell it had to do with two things, horrible female casting. The blonde haired christain bitch really destroyed the show. Then two the fact they would talk about all these important things going on in the world instead of making a funny TV show! Did we really need THREE episodes about how some brother was killed in Iraq? No!
However with this new show he will hopefully find some females that can act, and he can preach all he wants.
I like Sarah Paulson as an actress, but she was not credible as a standup comedian (even moreso than the other actors), and when you consider that she's basically playing Sorkin's ex-girlfriend Kristin Chenoweth...madame, you're no Kristin Chenoweth.
It lasted a full season and then was cancelled. I enjoyed it, but it was certainly no West Wing. I remember that, during the entire show, I only laughed at the skits we were shown during one episode. If the comedy show inside the show isn't funny, you have a problem.
It was the 'To Catch a Predator' one with Santa, right? I just ask because that was the only sketch that ever made me laugh on the show within the show.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUfg_uuMbmA[/yt]
I actually enjoyed 'Studio 60' quite a bit, but I agree that it's a hard sell to audiences to do a show about a sketch comedy show where none of the sketches are actually funny. Plus, while some of the more high-brow references may be appreciated and fit the level of fictional discourse on a show like 'The West Wing,' it's hard to take seriously when they're trying to wedge it into a fictional sketch comedy show targeted at mainstream audiences. I don't recall too many 'Saturday Night Live' skits focusing on 17th century French philosophers.
However, to respond to an earlier point made in the thread, if you watch any of the SNL retrospective shows they've done, they really do think they're as politically influential as the characters on Studio 60 did, and to a certain extent (though probably much less than they give themselves credit for) they are right. It's no coincidence that numerous running, sitting, and former politicians appear on SNL. In the 2008 presidential campaign it almost appeared obligatory to go on SNL, although the candidates also appeared on other entertainment shows like wrestling. While sketch comedy shows like SNL probably don't influence how very many people choose to vote (hopefully), they do shape the public perception of a candidate or politician in many ways.
Anyway, in response to the OP, I'm down for pretty much anything Sorkin has to offer, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he'll do with the in large part unrestricted content of an HBO series. Plus, I'm glad he's returning to something specifically about speaking about politics and social issues rather than trying to shoe-horn it in to places where it doesn't fit as well.
I could believe that. Like the early days, man, I'm surprised so many of them made it out alive with the drugs, the egos, etc.
It would have made awesome TV.
I loved the West Wing, Sports Night, The American President, and A Few Good Men. Charlie Wilson's War was good, and The Social Contract was decent enough. Studio 60, on the other hand, was a disaster. I don't know why Sorkin expected to do well with a show involving comedy skits, but it was a big "what was he thinking?" moment.
Studio 60 is what The West Wing would have been like if 50% of the first season had focused on the non-relationship between Josh and Mandy; I'm not interested in their relationship, I'm not interested in her, but I might be interested in him if he stopped talking about her.
Hopefully, Sorkin will be in his element with this new show and we wont have a repeat of S60.
Hopefully, Sorkin will be in his element with this new show and we wont have a repeat of S60.
Don't you dare diss the wonderful Mary Louise-Parker!
While I'm one of five people who actually loves Mandy, I will admit the Josh/Mandy dynamic didn't work but I think that's do to the incredible chemistry between Bradley Whitford and Janel Mahoney overshadowing the relationship. The Josh/Amy relationship was good but it was unfortunately dropped when Sorkin left the show. Ultimately, the Josh/Donna relationship was the most important.
While I'm one of five people who actually loves Mandy, I will admit the Josh/Mandy dynamic didn't work but I think that's do to the incredible chemistry between Bradley Whitford and Janel Mahoney overshadowing the relationship. The Josh/Amy relationship was good but it was unfortunately dropped when Sorkin left the show. Ultimately, the Josh/Donna relationship was the most important.
I think the Josh/Amy relationship suffered because it was one of those predictable TV relationships where the main purpose was to put off the eventual Josh/Donna relationship that most of us knew was coming. The Josh/Mandy non-relationship failed because the two characters had very little chemistry and Mandy's very presence on the show only served to ask the question "What's Mandy doing on this show, exactly?" The Matt/Harriet non-relationship failed because because it took over the show, it was like a plant that was watered too much. The Danny/Jordan relationship failed because it was a silly idea to begin with.
So, yeah... Sorkin doesn't have the best track record.
So, yeah... Sorkin doesn't have the best track record.
I liked the Amy-Josh relationship. I felt that the Mandy situation would have been handled better like that (keep Mandy as an outsider, don't let her set foot in the west wing).
This is one thing we'll have to disagree on, can't stand her. Normally I'm fairly tolerant but something about her rubs he all the wrong ways.
I don't think I've seen that episode since it originally aired but I'm pretty sure the young writer wanted to put it on HBO but the Sorkin-surrogate convinced him that it should be on the NBS (or whatever that fake network was called) because it was important that all the common people get a chance to see the show.Remember how in Studio 60 there was a hotshot young writer who wanted to make a show about the UN and the fictional version of Sorkin told him to go to HBO instead?
Yeah.
The sense I got from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was that Sorkin wanted to do a TV series commenting on the way American culture had changed after 9/11 -- I don't know if this was a conscious desire on his part or if it was a subconscious one, but that struck me as being, ultimately, what Studio 60 was really about. And on that level, the idea of taking a long-running sketch comedy show and using its creators as the vehicle for exploring how American culture had changed after 9/11 isn't unreasonable.
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