Sherpa's Wonderin's

"It's Like Bad Crack….."

When Studio 60 was announced this spring, I was excited to see another high quality, well acted drama on the television. I watched the pilot a month before it aired and it impressed me. Sorkin riffed off of Network effectively; the acting was crisp, the dialogue classic Sorkin, and it appeared that the pilot was just the start of another chapter in high quality television by Sorkin. Well, we're 6 episodes into the show now and the show shows every sign of sinking fast. The storyline has stalled, the acting quality has declined, and the show has yet to bring the funny in a sketch.

Although I enjoyed the pilot, the confrontational scene between Harriet, one of the actors on Studio 60, and Matt, the head writer on Studio 60, was heavy handed, and one of the few downers of the episode. Unfortunately the preachy writing of this scene foreshadowed much of the rest of the series. Although there has been glimmers of potential, they are increasingly few and far between. Sorkin seems to be sleep-writing, disappointing many of his fans and television critics.

The cruel irony of the show is that this is a show that cries that television should be better, that the two main characters create a superior product, the variety show, or the show-within- a show. The reality is with one exception, the variety show excerpts haven't been funny. The first sketch presented, the "cold-opening" on the first episode Matt and Danny (the head producer) helmed was a Gilbert and Sullivan spoof and failed to impress. An interesting side note is that SNL did a very similar spoof in 1995 parodying the same Gilbert and Sullivan song.Anyway, Aisy, that's pretty much my short take on the show.

I'm sorry to see it go, as it is better than some of the stuff on TV, but falls far short of almost everything I've seen Sorkin write to date. Although a few reviewers (mostly bloggers) have praised the show, here's a small sampling of what television critics have said about the show

.Another thing "30 Rock" is not is a self-important bore like "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," A fresh episode is scheduled to air next Monday night at 10, in the time slot normally squandered on that pomposity "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," also known as Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme's revenge on NBC for not renewing "The West Wing" through the year 2525. The San Francisco' Chronicle's C.W. Nevius was more generous and supportive of the show at the start of the season. "Sadly, it isn't working out. We've hung in there, but it is starting to have the feeling you get on NFL Sunday when it becomes clear that the home team isn't going to be able to stop those slashes off tackle," he wrote. Here is a show that has imploded after just six episodes. The pilot of Studio 60 had me absolutely hooked by the witty writing of "The West Wing"'s Aaron Sorkin and the phenomenal cast of characters. But every week since I've been less and less enthralled.

Some critics have suggested that the show is too smart, or too inside baseball. But Studio 60's real problem is structural. The show, which is set behind the scenes of a live network sketch show (also called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), must be a brilliant hour-long drama and a brilliant sketch comedy. And so far, the sketch comedy hasn't been satisfying http://www.slate.com/id/2151608