Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip

[Andy]

It's not even the only SNL-ripoff on the network. 

The other one, 30 Rock, premieres next Tuesday and could be funny, but it's got Tracey Morgan involved and the overrated Tina Fey is writing it.  Though it does have Alec Baldwin.  One of my three favorite SNL hosts of all time.  Not that it has anything to do with how good a sitcom will be.

[The Slak]

Alec Baldwin is my twin brother. So they tell me.

[forkserker]

Alec Baldwin is my twin brother. So they tell me.

You're a Baldwin? The born-again, or the one who trashed the hotel room?

[cubbiebluestew]

Alec Baldwin is my twin brother. So they tell me.

You're a Baldwin? The born-again, or the one who trashed the hotel room?

Maybe the one who put on about 90 pounds in six months.  Oh, wait. 

[forkserker]

Back to the show...am I the only one who thinks casting Sarah Paulson, a lesbian who is out and in a fairly high-profile (At least in the Broadway world) relationship, as the blonde Christian is a conscious dig by Aaron Sorkin at his ex, Kristin Chenoweth?

[James Westfall]

Back to the show...am I the only one who thinks casting Sarah Paulson, a lesbian who is out and in a fairly high-profile (At least in the Broadway world) relationship, as the blonde Christian is a conscious dig by Aaron Sorkin at his ex, Kristin Chenoweth?

Ya think?  From IMDb's biography of Cheno:

I'm a very controversial figure in the Christian world. I don't believe if you're gay or you have a drink or you dance you're going to hell. I don't think that's the kind of God we have. The Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world are scary. I want to be a Christian like Christ - loving and accepting of other people.

Seems the back story was written long before the show.

[HST]

I don't know, the last two episodes have been pretty disappointing. The reporter-on-the-set isn't doing anything for me either.

It's quickly degenrating into just watching it so I can gaze lovingly at Amanda Peet.

[cubbiebluestew]

I don't know, the last two episodes have been pretty disappointing. The reporter-on-the-set isn't doing anything for me either.

It's quickly degenrating into just watching it so I can gaze lovingly at Amanda Peet.

Yeah, I am not that interested in the "behind the scene" revelations of putting on a live tv show.  At least a courtroom drama has the underlying crime story going along with the soap opera story about the lives of the lawyers.  Similarly, the hospital drama has the plot line of the illness or epidemic confronting the patients in addition to the sordid love stories involving the hospital staff.  I just don't think there is that much about producing a televison show that is going to keep this thing going.
  About hospital love stories.   Am I the only one who finds horny doctors (whether male or female) creepy?  When I get my prostate checked I don't want to think that the person who is doing it is getting off as a result.

[forkserker]

I don't know, the last two episodes have been pretty disappointing. The reporter-on-the-set isn't doing anything for me either.

It's quickly degenrating into just watching it so I can gaze lovingly at Amanda Peet.

Yeah, I am not that interested in the "behind the scene" revelations of putting on a live tv show.  At least a courtroom drama has the underlying crime story going along with the soap opera story about the lives of the lawyers.  Similarly, the hospital drama has the plot line of the illness or epidemic confronting the patients in addition to the sordid love stories involving the hospital staff.  I just don't think there is that much about producing a televison show that is going to keep this thing going.
  About hospital love stories.   Am I the only one who finds horny doctors (whether male or female) creepy?  When I get my prostate checked I don't want to think that the person who is doing it is getting off as a result.

As long as you don't feel a hand on each shoulder, don't sweat it.

[HST]

I think Studio 60 has real potential but, for some reason, it's not working. The behind the scenes stuff could be good but, you're right, it isn't that compelling. It almost takes too much precedence over the very real human conflict on and off stage. The idea of a pressure-packed week compressed into a little less than an hour (and I love the clock on Perry's wall) is a great (and classic) device.

Part of it is the show within the show though doesn't seem that funny. The supposedly stolen lines, for example, weren't that funny. Why steal bad lines? And how can you not fire the two writers who protect the plagarist? You want them gone and they've offered to go. And the Gilbert and Sullivan opera earlier in the season? Awful.

The whole lead writer/lead actress romance-on-the-rocks should be great but they lack a little chemistry. Whitford, who is great, can't carry the show on his own as written. DL Hughley hasn't hit any stride and seems mis-cast. The bad network guy has stepped too far into the background too. He's a great character as one of those people you love to hate.


And, as someone who's married to a doctor, I'm all for horny doctors. At least one.

[KD]

I actually said to my girlfriend, "that sounds like an old riff from a horrible standup comic" when the "what's the deal with ADD?" bit was presented, and sho'nuff, it was.  Not good.  Someone needs to get to Sorkin and tell him to kill off any scenes from sketches or news satires, because all the "jokes" have sucked horribly.

Still, I'm liking the show.  It's worth it just to not be talked down to for an hour via my telly.  Pretty soon I'll be watching it just for one good line (like the one about the mind that practices a Juliette Lewis impression vs. the mind that puts that impersonation in Tim Russert's chair), and I'm OK with that.

[The Slak]

I think Studio 60 has real potential but, for some reason, it's not working. The behind the scenes stuff could be good but, you're right, it isn't that compelling. It almost takes too much precedence over the very real human conflict on and off stage. The idea of a pressure-packed week compressed into a little less than an hour (and I love the clock on Perry's wall) is a great (and classic) device.

Part of it is the show within the show though doesn't seem that funny. The supposedly stolen lines, for example, weren't that funny. Why steal bad lines? And how can you not fire the two writers who protect the plagarist? You want them gone and they've offered to go. And the Gilbert and Sullivan opera earlier in the season? Awful.
The whole lead writer/lead actress romance-on-the-rocks should be great but they lack a little chemistry. Whitford, who is great, can't carry the show on his own as written. DL Hughley hasn't hit any stride and seems mis-cast. The bad network guy has stepped too far into the background too. He's a great character as one of those people you love to hate.


And, as someone who's married to a doctor, I'm all for horny doctors. At least one.

That's my issue. That blonde who is supposed to be hilarious in the context of the show's world, is dreadfully unfunny and almost a chore to listen to. Does she have a speech impediment, or am I the only one seeing that? All her jokes are brutal. And that opera HST, wow, I mean...that sucked a huge, hairy paratestes. And you know that unfunny scene probably cost a shitload of money to get on the air even though it was a fake sketch on a fake show on a real show. Whew...

[forkserker]

That's my issue. That blonde who is supposed to be hilarious in the context of the show's world, is dreadfully unfunny and almost a chore to listen to. Does she have a speech impediment, or am I the only one seeing that?

I thought that was her hilarious Holly Hunter imitation.

Unfunny? "The bear said, ROOOOOOOAAAAAR!"? Gold, Jerry!

[cubbiebluestew]

When I was a young law clerk for the California Supreme Court I read a transcript in a rape case against a doctor where the young, and apparently naive, female victim testified that the doctor told her to get undressed, and to turn around, lean over and place her hands on the examination table.  "Then he stood behind me and put one hand on my right breast, one hand on my left breast, and the other hand in my private parts."

[The Slak]

That's my issue. That blonde who is supposed to be hilarious in the context of the show's world, is dreadfully unfunny and almost a chore to listen to. Does she have a speech impediment, or am I the only one seeing that?

I thought that was her hilarious Holly Hunter imitation.

Unfunny? "The bear said, ROOOOOOOAAAAAR!"? Gold, Jerry!

That is the EXACT one I think of when I think of not funny. And then they said, "Go with it". No wonder why this fictional show has fictionally shitty ratings.