Studio 60 (or: A Slave to Duty)

Now, I know I touched on this before, in the letter to Mr. Sorkin, but I feel it bears repeating. Studio 60 is a... show with a lot of wasted potential. This week's previouslies reminded us of the following things:

• Reality shows are for dumb people. Didn't you hear? If you like reality shows, you're functionally retarded. Isn't that cute? (Subtext: "Hi, I'm Aaron Sorkin, and I hate reality shows because I blame them for people not liking my shows. For some reason.")
  
• Danny and Jordan entered a relationship that made me uncomfortable a few times, but then got together, and I genuinely hope that's not going to be a terrible thing. (Subtext: "Hi, I'm Aaron Sorkin. I seem to have written these characters into a corner by making one of them a pretentious douchebag, and the other a terrifying, unstoppable cruise missile of 'love.' Or maybe 'unholy obsession.' Oh, fuck it, let's get together and hope people go with it.")
  
• Matt and Harriet broke up, because they're both irritating, sanctimonious bastards when they're together. (Subtext: "Hi, I'm Aaron Sorkin. Have you met Kristin Chenoweth?")
  

The lesson? "Hi, I'm Aaron Sorkin. I hate."

Oh, my, do I have more to say after the jump.

Let's ignore, for a moment, the bizarre vendetta that Mr. S has against reality television and against people that "don't get" his show. That's pathological and weird, and he's creepy in that sense. What's weirder and creepier and pathologicallier is the bizarre-ass allegory that Johnny Cokefiend has constructed. Matthew Perry is acting his ASS off in this show. I know! Who could've predicted that? But Perry is going to be senza ass, because he acted it clean off in pursuit of... what? Aaron Sorkin's crazyface? It's cheating if you get to write the words for both the character who's ostensibly "you," AND the character who you've pitted yourself against. But you're not even doing it right - you get to make Ma(aaron)tt Alb(sorkin)ie this witty genius and a platform for your ire, and you write him all petty and bitchy. And we have no idea why HarriettotalynotKristen Chenowethayes gave this dickbag the time of day, because he's a baby, and she's... got no redeeming qualities. But your show claims that she's a genius comedienne. Who can't tell a joke. No wonder nobody cares about your show - your main "romantic" storyline doesn't make any fucking sense.

What's even more infuriating is that not only is Perry doing a genius job with this mish-mash of a Sorkin Therapy Session, between great silent reactions, really good chemistry with everybody (specifically Bradley Whitford, Timothy Busfield, and the girl who plays Suzanne the PA), but so is everyone else!

Bradley Whitford, when not saddled with the weirdness of Jordan obsession is funny, per usual, and a delightful producer of shows. He and Perry are best of friends, and you can tell. He pedconferences with the best of them, and gives - at worst - interesting line readings.

Timothy Busfield is my favorite, if for no reason other than the time I took the Warner Bros. studio tour, and we went past the West Wing set. Allison Janney was talking to some production person and studiously ignoring the tram. Timothy Busfield takes the opportunity to wander out of the "White House," and shout "Allison Janney, ladies and gentlemen!" at the tour, and starts applauding. It was terribly funny. ANYway, I could watch Cal operate a TV show for an hour. That'd be good times. They nailed that part of the show last Monday, with the zooming all over the studio during the dress rehearsal. Which was then ruined by Weirdo Jordan being bizarrely insecure about the boobs on the guest artist. I don't get it.

They stopped showing us the sketches that aren't funny, and just started showing us the funny that surrounds the sketches that may or may not be funny. The pitch for "Dolphin Girl," two weeks ago was very funny. Nathan Corddry and Sarah Paulson wander in and pitch it to Matt, and it's spot on. This week, Nathan and Nate Torrence really want a sketch called "Metric Conversion" to be in the show. A sketch called "Metric Conversion" does not strike me as having a ton of hilarity potential, but we don't have to see it. We do, however, see Tom and Dylan be tremendous in their attempts to get it on the show. ("BIG SKETCH," yells Dylan, awkwardly, and I watch that over and over, because it's FUNNY!)

Ed Asner as Yoda of NBS - great times. Steven Weber talking to the Chinese parents of a viola prodigy that wants to get into Tom Jeters pantaloons - exceptional times, all the way around, if a bit repetitive. It was the same story ("What will happen if I'm just honest with Mr. Zhang Tao this time? The same as the last time? Hopefully the Harsh Truth will cause him to respect me again."), but it was well-played. Also the viola prodigy wanting all up on Tom was well-played.

But Amanda Peet has this thankless job of being this bizarro network executive with no sense of propriety. She's handling it admirably, and looks like she's having fun with it, but it's absurd. Even leaving out the weird giving-in to the stalkeration of Bradley Whitford's Danny Tripp, and the insane arguments that she had against dating him (not: "I'm your boss," or "You're stalking me," or anything, it was "I'm scared of feeling," or something. Briefly, "You're a recovering cocaine addict," I think. I don't recall. I passed out from irritation.), she's a loon. And Aaron Sorkin, well, Aaron, it's pretty clear you're just writing based on things you've heard about pregnant women. "I hear the're hungry all the time! And for weird foods! Oh, and their hormones are doing things! WHERE'S MY TYPEWRITER? I have a PREGNANT LADY to write! Genius!"

GOD.

So much potential. Sorkin's a good writer. But there's so much that's weird with it. Just stop being weird. STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP.

Watch it. It's good. It'll probably be canned, and that's a shame, because maybe Aaron'll stop using it as a canvas for weirdo allegory. Because it's way too much insight into the terrifying world of Aaron Sorkin, and eventually, we the audience get tired of saying "OKAY. We get it, you did all this stuff. Isn't it funny that a lot of this happened in real life. If you keep winking at us, we're gonna think you're some sort of predator. Knock it off."

And I like the show. Yeesh.