Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip

I don't like Aaron Sorkin. I doubt I'll ever be a fan of his. I the few episodes I saw of Sports Night and I didn't even bother with The West Wing because Aaron Sorkin (whose work I tend to hate) + politics (which always goes over my head) = recipe for suckitude.
So I had no interest in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. 'Cause you know what I dislike just about as much as Aaron Sorkin shows? American sketch comedy. (Kelsey Grammar Presents The Sketch Show was good, but that was based on a British series so it doesn't really count as American.)
Anyway, Lauren convinced me to watch Studio 60 with a two pronged attack:
1) She kept quoting the "Let's get rid of Demented Santa" scene
2) She reminded me how she was right about Arrested Development
What she failed to mention, however, was that Studio 60 was a drama and the Demented Santa scene is the funniest thing that happens in all of the show's twenty two episodes (except for maybe some of John Goodman's scenes in Nevada Day and the line "He wrote and recorded a treason jingle?").
Ultimately, she was right; I did like Studio 60, but unlike Arrested Development, I'm not going to run out and buy it.
Anyway, this is a review. I guess I should get to reviewin'. There's too much plot to write a real synopsis, but basically two former writers of a sketch show (who left on bad terms the first time around) are hired as executive producers (and, in one guy's case, head writer) of the same sketch show, which has sucked ever since they left. There's all kinds of personal relationship drama and people talking while walking.
First of all, it took me almost five episodes to get over the Aaron Sorkininess of the show enough to actually enjoy it. I'm not a fan of drama and I'm not a fan of realism in my entertainment, so in most cases I really have to work to enjoy a realistic drama. That being said, this one was mostly worth the struggle.
Except the uber-religious character never stopped bugging me, mainly because her Christianity was pretty much the only character trait she had. I've known some uber-religious people and, honestly, it never comes up that much. Nobody's only personality trait is "I'm a Christian." And if there are people like that, I've never met them and I hope I never do. They sound boring. (I found out from IMDB that the uber-religious character was based on Kristin Chenowith, which inspired a "no wonder I didn't like her" moment for me. Kristin Chenowith sets my teeth on edge.)
There's a lot of drama between her and Matthew Perry's character because the two of them used to date but are still in love with each other but they've had several breakups but she's a devout Christian and he's an atheistic Jew and blah blah blah, who fucking cares?
Anyway, other than that (which, now that I think about it, took up most of the show), I really liked Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. Most of the characters apart from Little Miss Bland Pants were likeable or, at least, interesting. I even ended up liking Steven Weber's character, who starts out the show as an uptight businessy asshole, but develops more layers than probably any of the other characters.
Matthew Perry really impressed me as Matt Albie because I'd only ever seen him on Friends and (this is going to sound horrible of me) I wasn't aware he could act. The guy's really good and I'd like to see him in more stuff that uses some of his talent, not just things like The Whole Nine Yards. (My apologies to any fans of The Whole Nine Yards who may be reading this.) Even though I wouldn't necessarily like the guy if I met him, I cared about him because Matthew Perry made me like him on screen. It's always impressive when an actor can do that.
The other people who really stood out to me were:
- Timothy Busfield as director Cal Shanley (strangely, the closest thing to comic relief in a show about a sketch comedy show is the director and not any of the comedians)
- Nathan Corddry as Tom Jeter, one of the actors (who is given one of the major plot threads of the last five episodes (which are basically just one long episode) and he carries it better than I think a lot of other actors would have; I'm not a fan of his brother Rob but Nate Corddry is one of my new favorite people)
- Bradley Whitford as executive producer Danny Tripp (probably my favorite character, the guy who really carries both the show and the show within the show)
Sadly, I didn't bother to write this review until after I'd read its IMDB trivia pages and its TV Tropes page (I actually wasn't going to write a review at all, but I was bored), which told me more about the show's connection to Aaron Sorkin's real life and opinions than I cared to know and, as a result, I like Studio 60 a little less. But that isn't to say it's not worth watching. It's just more worth watching if you don't know (or don't care) about what bits of it were pulled from real life.
And I can't end this review without mentioning the sketches. There's a lot of talk on the show about how great the show within a show is now that Matt and Danny have taken over and "oh, Matt's a brilliant writer, blah blah." However the sketches they actually show (most of which seem to be Simon Helberg as Nicolas Cage) are mediocre at best (Simon Helberg actually does a pretty good Nicolas Cage impression but that doesn't make the sketches funny). So a lot of people complain that the sketches are pretty awful so how are we supposed to buy that the show's brilliant now?
I have two things to say to that:
1) The sketches aren't any worse than anything on Saturday Night Live or Mad TV (by the way, did I mention I hate almost all American sketch comedy?), so if nothing else Studio 60 is on par with those shows.
2) The characters don't say the sketches are brilliant so much as they say the show has improved since Matt took over writing. I contend that the show was just so abysmal before anything we're shown that what we're seeing now is gold compared to whatever it was that we weren't shown.
In fact, the series begins with the guy in charge of Studio 60 interrupting a live broadcast lambasting all of television because the one sketch he liked got cut. If the man in charge thinks the show is so bad that he has to interrupt the broadcast to tell people that the show is so awful that they should turn it off, and that television is terrible and turning everyone into idiots, I'd say he's in charge of a pretty lousy show.
That being said, it was a pretty awesome speech and a good way to begin a television series. It gets you hooked right away.
Too bad they had to add all that relationship nonsense between Matt and Harriet. It was almost a brilliant show.

End of line.
-Sally