Wednesday, February 07, 2007

studio 60 : this ends tonight

I’m chiming in with TV Squad and Eric3000 and the folks who are getting fed up with Studio 60. I'm out.

I gave up watching last week. I didn’t even care if it was “to be continued.” The fact that the stories weren't resolved and I would have to watch these stupid plot lines for another week was all the more reason not to tune in this week.

Creepy: What is deal with the psychological warfare Simon is practicing on Darius? I’m just confused. And afraid.

Clichéd: Tom lying to Lucy. Why? Normal people are not this allergic to telling the truth. In the real world women can handle the blow of having a date postponed. And gee do you think that will come back to bite him in the ass?

Creepy: Harriet and Matt. This whole relationship has been preposterous from the beginning, mainly because she is so unappealing. In what way are we supposed to find her convincing as a romantic interest? And she’s supposed to be America’s comedic sweetheart because she makes a dolphin noise? I thought his bidding on the auction was just a silly romantic gesture. You’d think he’d torn out her soul. She was so nasty to him, repeatedly demanding: “What did you expect? What did you think was going to happen?" finally ending with the verbal threat: “This ends tonight.” Oh if only.

Creepy: Danny stalking Jordan. I have no problem with May/December or June/October romances but this is just off. Way, way off. Speaking of which, Amanda Peet is miscast from the get go. Yeah, right. She’s a corporate president. It is a total casting midlife crisis. Sorkin goes from from Christine Lahti to Geena Davis to Amanda Peet. She's Sorkin's casting version of a hair transplant and sports car.

Clichéd: Jordan and Danny sitting on the roof. Enough has been said about this trite scenario. (e.g. "Excuse me while I go find something to jam in my eye. Repeatedly." - Jay Black on TVSquad) As far as I'm concerned, this moronic locked on the roof scene should have only lead to one thing: she should go into labor and Danny must deliver the child. The other thing I kept thinking is, she has got to need to pee by now.

Just plain irritating: The whole Christian thing. This must be written by people who know jack about what it is like to grow up as a practicing Christian in middle America. They appear to be completely unaware of -- or ill-informed about -- the various practices and beliefs of the different denominations. And there are a lot of them. And there are regional differences as well. Some of the errors on the show have been pretty blatant to anyone who is familiar with these things. Furthermore, either the writing is ignorant or they intentionally want Harriet to be utterly idiotic when it comes to her current dealings with these issues.

Now I can go back to watching the New Adventures of Old Christine (that is one godawful title) which conflicted with Studio 60. Even though the kid on the show is really weird, and not in a good way, I adore the character of Matthew, the brother. The actor’s name is Hamish Linklater or something. He is a total scene stealer. I mainly watch for him. Wanda Stiles is fab as well. Actually the whole cast is great. Except for the kid.

Finally, it is interesting to compare Studio 60 to 30 Rock. 30 Rock has become such a favorite that I will watch the reruns. Already. Alex Baldwin’s “pos mems” promotional video last week slayed me even more the second time round.

3 comments:

eric3000 said...

Good analysis! I actually stopped watching prior to this last episode so I'm glad to know it was just as unbearable as I expected it to be. Yeah, I really don't understand the Harriet character. There is so much discussion of her religious beliefs and yet I still don't have a clue what they are. Of course, I could say the same thing about Kristin Chenoweth (apparently the inspiration for the part) so maybe that's appropriate.

And 30 Rock and Christine are two of my favorites! It's amazing that 30 Rock intentionally writes terrible material for its show-within-the-show and yet it is still better than the "comedy" writing on Studio 60. And we love everyone on Christine. Even the kid. Yeah, he's weird but he's actually a really talented physical comedian; remember him running into the glass door to look at the cat? Well, you know how I feel about people getting hit in the face. I can't get enough.

Linda Merrill said...

I have to admit that I'm wilting on Studio 60 - and I sooo wanted to love it!

Anonymous said...

I like what you say, but I have a few things about it that i just can't leave.

1) The impossible romance of Danny and Jordan. I think they make a great match. (The stalking was a bit creepy)

2) The first episode... do I have to say more?
The comedy was there, but they just didn't have the power to pull it through afterward, they expected people to just sink in, but they expected the same amount of humor, episode after episode.

3) Great Cast - I think that they have an amazing cast, I just think that putting the episodes together was the problem.

I like the character of Harriet, just not the actress.

4) Luke and Matt both trying to get Harriet. It's hysterical watching Matt obsess about Harriet ( The one quote I will never forget is when Danny asks Matt, " Is Harriet going to be a problem?", then Matt rambles on for a minute about how close they are and how much he likes her, Danny sighs and says "We're screwed.")

What I agree with you on:

1) What the hell is Simon's problem. He just keeps getting on Darius about every little thing

2) The writers room. Three writers cannot put on a show every single week... It just doesn't happen

3) What the hell is with the dolphin voice??

4) Lucy can get over Tom. I never really thought they would be a good match anyways

5) I have yet to see 30 Rock, but from what I have read, it is a great show, and I am thinking of leaving Studio 60.

Final Notes

-Real Care Baby... that was funny
-Harriet, he did it to impress you, and you snape at him for bidding tons of money on this auction
-I love Aaron Sorkin, but he could have done a lot better on this

- Thanks

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Part of WWAA - West Wing Addicts Anonymous