Sherpa's Wonderin's

Sorkin V. Fey

This last year has been a dismal (or more productive) one for my tv watching habits. I used to have several shows that I watched regularly, now that Arrested Development is gone, the only shows I watched was Earl when I was around and SNL when I remember to record it. I started watching West Wing regularly a couple of months ago (its actually nearly as good as when Sorkin was still involved) but the show will be canceled the end of the season. Next year at least two new pilots look promising. The problem though, both pilots on the surface have nearly the same premise and very talented creators. Tina Fey is pitching a pilot to NBC about the backstage happenings at a comedy variety show. Aaron Sorkin is also pitching a 1 hour pilot to NBC about the backstage happenings at a comedy variety show. Tina is one of my favorite writers, Aaron may be one of the most talented tv/screen writers of his generation. So, taking what we know about these two shows...here's a Sorkin v. Fey showdown:

Sorkin

Master at dialogue (west wing, and american president for all its flaws had stellar dialogue

Fey

Master at one liners (weekend update)

Sorkin

Cast of Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry vying for Amanda Peet's affections (this cracks me up)

Fey

Alec Baldwin as a vice president of East Coast television and microwave oven programming (this cracks me up too) and Rachel Dratch.

Luckily Fey's show looks to be a half hour sitcom (please save this genre!) and Sorkin's is a hour long drama. Also looks like Fey's show probably won't be on for next fall-mid-season more likely, while Sorkin's show will probably be picked up in the fall.