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ENTERTAINMENT October 1 , 2006
I had no intention of watching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I never watched The West Wing so the name Aaron Sorkin did nothing for me. The names Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet are like garlic to my vampire. I have a pretty strict "No Friends" policy I hold fast to and I've never seen a good movie starring Amanda Peet. But when many of my best friends whom I respect gang up on me and recommended Studio 60, I had no choice but to ignore them. After all, I already picked my new shows this year: Heroes and Jericho. Problem I ran into is, both those shows suck. Still, they insisted that I see Studio 60. So I caved and decided to catch up on the first two episodes. Studio 60 is pretty fucking great. It's probably the best written, best-directed new show of the season. Going behind the scenes of the fictional sketch comedy show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the flagship of the fictional television network NBS, show runner Sorkin kicks off the pilot going right for the heart of why Saturday Night Live, comedy on television, and television itself is a neutered, crippled beast. Judd Hirch, a bitter, burned out stand in for Lorne Michaels, sabotages his own show and launches into a scathing and accurate tirade against what has become of television since Janet Jackson's "nipplegate". Hirch's rant puts the blame on corporate fear of the FCC and the religious right, which have cut off any attempt at creating innovative or daring art. It's also a thinly veiled indictment of the poor quality of programs on NBC, which have caused their ratings woes. It's a dynamite opening. I hope the eventual season DVD will include Hirch's entire, uncut speech as a special feature. Steven Weber, the head of NBS's parent company, and Amanda Peet, the brand new president of the network, kick Hirch to the curb and bring in Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford as the show runners of "Studio 60." The comedy and drama that results as the network heads, the new showrunners, and the established cast and crew interact with each other, bringing myriad character conflicts to the fore is fascinating. Perry and the main star of "Studio 60," Sarah Paulson, used to have a relationship. Whitford is a recovering cocaine addict (something Sorkin knows very well) who is perceived to be slumming in TV because he can't get the insurance bond to direct feature films. Peet is in over her head and is barely holding the crises together as her boss Weber snarls at her, half expecting her to fail. Religious groups protest outside the studio and threaten affiliate boycott. If the show has a weak point, it's that "Studio 60" is a sketch comedy show but the series has yet to show whether the sketches on the show or the cast are funny. In the pilot, the sketches aren't supposed to be, which is part of what sets Hirch off when standards and practices forces him to yank an old Perry-written sketch that would be hilarious because of its controversy. After Perry and Whitfield take over, Perry, who is supposed to be brilliant, comes up with a musical cold open that parodies the state of "Studio 60." But it wasn't funny either. The cast of "Studio 60" are good actors but they aren't inherently funny. Perry goes to great length to describe Paulson's talent but we don't see it. Peet is written to be funnier and delivers her lines with more confidence than Paulson does. Real life SNL cast members like Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler are inherently funny people. They can't help it; comedy is part of their essence. Paulson and the "Studio 60" cast aren't inherently funny and don't seem like comedians or comic actors. Even D.L. Hughley doesn't bring many laughs. All the actual comedy is saved for the sly reparte between Perry, Whitford, and Peet. But they're all great. Perry only occasionally lets Chandler slip out in his performance and Whitford gets a huge laugh taunting him in Chandler-esque style about his worrying: "Can you be any more Jewish?" And Peet is magnetic; she has never been better. Ratings for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip have reportedly been good but not great. If audiences don't warm up to this show and the way it skewers modern television with wit and insight, it probably sadly means, like the demise of Arrested Development last season, that everything Hirch said in his rant is right on the money.
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