Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip

[Ken Kennedy's(KENNEDY!) Number One Fan]

Previewing the 2006-07 Season, Part 1: NBC's 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'
By Brian Ford Sullivan

Please note: As a courtesy, please do not reproduce these comments to
newsgroups, forums or other online places. Links only please.

With the official start of the 2006-07 season less than three months away,
the drumbeats have begun by the networks to tout their new comedies and
dramas. What should you keep your eye out for? What should you avoid at all
costs? While it's still a little early for full reviews (some recasting and
reshooting will be done on a good chunk of them), we thought we'd spend the
next month or so previewing what's in store for the upcoming season. Each
day we'll look at one of the 39 new series set to premiere this season and
go over our initial impressions after viewing the pilot.

There's no particular order here, just whatever's next on the stack of
tapes. So without further ado, here's today's entry:

Looking for last year's previews? Check out the Rant archives by following
the links to the right.

STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP (NBC)
(Mondays at 10:00/9:00c this fall)

The network's description: "Emmy Award-winning executive producer-writer
Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing") and Emmy Award-winning executive
producer-director Thomas Schlamme ("The West Wing") return to television
with this crackling take on the drama behind the humor of producing a
popular, late-night comedy sketch show, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."
Sorkin lays bare the backstage politics, romances and delicate balance
between creative talent, on-air personalities and network executives in an
instant text-messaging world. Prominent are Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet,
"Syriana"), a savvy new network entertainment chief who inherits a massive
public relations disaster on the series -- even before she starts her first
day -- and Matt Albie (Matthew Perry, "Friends") and Danny Tripp (Bradley
Whitford, "The West Wing"), a brilliant creative team that she wants to
resurrect the program. Also playing crucial roles are the sketch comedy
series stars Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson, "Down with Love"), Simon Stiles
(D.L. Hughley, "The Hughleys") and Tom Jeter (Nathan Corddry, "The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart"), their normally cool-headed director, Cal Shanley
(Timothy Busfield, "thirtysomething") as well as supreme network honcho Jack
Rudolph (Steven Weber, "Wings"). Evan Handler ("Sex and the City") and
Carlos Jacott ("Being John Malkovich") also star."

What did they leave out: As if Perry, Whitford, Peet and co. weren't enough,
look for guest appearances by Judd Hirsch, Edward Asner, Donna Murphy and
(as themselves) Felicity Huffman and recent Oscar-winners 36 Mafia.

The plot in a nutshell: It's a typical taping night for the legendary sketch
comedy series "Studio 60" (think "SNL" in L.A.) - cast member Simon Stiles
(D.L. Hughley) is warming up the crowd, wardrobes are being finalized and
last-minute script changes are being put onto the cue cards. Brewing further
behind the scenes however is an argument between the show's executive
producer Wes Mendell (Hirsch) and the network censor Jerry (Michael
Stuhlbarg). At issue: one of the planned sketches. Jerry contends it will
offend religious people while Wes argues it killed at rehearsal, adding "and
funny is in short supply around here lately." Long out of the juice he once
had to get away with moving forward, a frustrated Wes opts to go with one of
their regular bits ("Peripheral Vision Man"), much to the cast and crew's
dismay. And so the "show" goes on, but not before Wes snaps and of all
things - walks onto the live taping, asks his cast to clear the stage and
launches into a tirade about the state of his show, his network (UBS) and
television in general (in short: "there's always been a struggle between art
and commerce, but now I'm telling you art is getting its ass kicked"). As
one would expect this sends up flares everywhere, most notably a dinner
party for the network's newest president Jordan McDeere (a radiant Amanda
Peet) thrown by her boss Jack Rudolph (the always great Steven Weber in full
smarmy mode) and Wilson White (Asner), the chairman of UBS's parent company.
From there Jordan and Jack head to their offices where they brainstorm ways
how to deal with the fallout. Jordan's idea: bring back "Studio 60's" two
golden boy writer/producers Matt Albie (Matthew Perry) and Danny Tripp
(Bradley Whitford), who were unceremoniously dumped from the show two years
ago after butting heads with Jack (and have since moved on to becoming
well-liked filmmakers). It's a call that Jordan essentially hangs her job on
and she sets off to sign the pair before the news cycle kicks off on Monday.
It'd be almost criminal to spoil any more than this, but you can obviously
guess Matt and Danny come on board, but not without their own issues to deal
with on and off the show.

What works: While reading the above might feel like a giant info dump, on
the screen it's not. Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme know how to keep a
half-dozen plates spinning and it's a genuine pleasure to watch things
unfold. But the real draw here is the awesomeness that is Perry and
Whitford. While they don't appear until nearly halfway in, the show really
comes alive once they're introduced. Written as essentially the second
coming of "Sports Night's" Casey McCall and Dan Rydell (except slight more
troubled), their friendship feels more real than anything I've seen on TV in
a while. (Matt: "Now we're back in the NFL and only one of us can screw up
at a time and I think we both know that most of the time it's gonna be me.
You're the big shoulders." Danny: "I hear you." Matt: "Good, 'cause I'm
pretty stoned and I can't really remember what I said.") Plain and simple:
if you were a fan of "Sports Night" and/or "The West Wing" - this show is
for you. It's filled to the brim with all of Sorkin's trademarks: characters
"banter" instead of talk, emotional gut punches appear out of nowhere and
most all, how special a thing friendship is and how honorable working toward
something greater can be.

What doesn't: I almost hate to bring this up since it will undoubtedly send
up red flags to people who have fears the show will be "too inside."
Nevertheless, a key plot point hinges on the concept that directors are
bonded by insurance companies, that is to say that should (for instance) a
movie shoot be delayed because something happens to the director (i.e.
he/she falls ill, can't work, etc.), the insurance company will cover the
money lost waiting for he/she to recover. In other words, if a director
isn't bonded, they rarely are hired. Anyway, I bring this up because more
than a few people who've seen the pilot (and aren't a TV/movie nerd like
myself) were confused by the concept. It doesn't necessarily take away from
the enjoyment of the show - hell, I don't need to have a medial degree to
understand what's happening on "House" or a legal degree to follow the
proceedings on "Law & Order" - but it's worth pointing out. The other burr
in my saddle is Wes's "Network"-esque speech (i.e. "I'm mad as hell...").
While his/Sorkin's comments about the FCC and network television's general
fear of conservative/religious groups and potential calls for boycotts are
dead on, some of it - more specifically his attack on reality shows - feels
a little dated. Sure there's still a few eye-rolling concepts out there but
in general the days of "Who Wants to Marry My Dad?" and their like seems to
have past. It's hard to say art is getting beaten up when stuff like "The
Office," "My Name Is Earl," "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," etc. airs every week.
The other implication is that "Saturday Night Live" (or any other TV for the
matter) is bad because there's limited freedom on broadcast television. Is
that really true? I mean I love FX and HBO as much as the next critic, but
are those shows necessarily "great" because they can drop an a-bomb or show
a bare breast? Or conversely are "The Office" and "Grey's Anatomy" "bad"
because they can't? I certainly get that there's a general fear of such
things on broadcast television, but it's a hard argument to support when
"art" is kicking ass quite a bit on broadcast TV nowadays.

The challenges ahead: Obviously "Studio" has to overcome the "too inside"
label that has already been branded upon on it, not to mention a somewhat
tricky time slot (albeit obviously an improvement over being thrown under
the bus on Thursdays at 9:00/8:00c against "C.S.I." and "Grey's Anatomy").
That being said, if people are willing to give it a shot - I think they'll
be surprised how genuinely entertaining the show is.

COMING TOMORROW: ABC's "Traveler"

[Brett A. Pasternack]

<crossposts snipped>

Post by Ken Kennedy's(KENNEDY!) Number One Fan
Previewing the 2006-07 Season, Part 1: NBC's 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'
By Brian Ford Sullivan
What did they leave out: As if Perry, Whitford, Peet and co. weren't enough,
look for guest appearances by Judd Hirsch, Edward Asner, Donna Murphy and
(as themselves) Felicity Huffman and recent Oscar-winners 36 Mafia.

I believe that makes Huffman the first to complete the Sorkin trifecta
of appearing on SN, TWW, and Studio 60. I suspect she won't be the last. B^)

[David M. Nieporent]

Post by Brett A. Pasternack
<crossposts snipped>

Post by Ken Kennedy's(KENNEDY!) Number One Fan
Previewing the 2006-07 Season, Part 1: NBC's 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'
By Brian Ford Sullivan
What did they leave out: As if Perry, Whitford, Peet and co. weren't enough,
look for guest appearances by Judd Hirsch, Edward Asner, Donna Murphy and
(as themselves) Felicity Huffman and recent Oscar-winners 36 Mafia.

I believe that makes Huffman the first to complete the Sorkin trifecta
of appearing on SN, TWW, and Studio 60. I suspect she won't be the last. B^)

...

Well, it's pretty much guaranteed that Josh Malina will be in it.

[alfornos]

'Studio 60': Golden Child and Whipping Boy
Reaction is already crackling on the Web as bits of NBC's coming
'Studio 60' series get leaked. It's enough to fray even Aaron Sorkin's
nerves.
By Maria Elena Fernandez, Times Staff Writer
July 19, 2006

IN Hollywood, there used to be a period of time called the "bubble,"
which described the quiet months between the making of a television
pilot and the launching of it as a new series.

That bubble has burst. And no one is feeling the ramifications more
than Aaron Sorkin and his new series, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."

Set designers are still at work building a massive theater inside a
sound stage for his drama about a troubled sketch comedy series set in
an old vaudeville house. Production on the show begins today. And yet,
two months before NBC premieres it, vocal segments of its
not-yet-existent audience are divided: Chatter on the Web has declared
alternately that "Studio 60" is the fourth-place network's savior and
that Sorkin's return to TV is dead on arrival. To Internet bloggers, it
is both "the biggest hit of next season" and "an underwhelming
disappointment."

For Sorkin, 45, who has been away from television since he left "The
West Wing" in 2002, the experience has served as an education in the
new, bumpy world of promoting a show.

"It's unusual for backlash to begin before the show starts," said
Sorkin, sitting in his office with his longtime producing and directing
partner, Thomas Schlamme. "But I'm hoping now that the timing will work
out that there will be a backlash against the backlash by the time we
open."

"Studio 60" is not alone in such scrutiny. TV is being filtered,
analyzed and debated on the Internet like never before, resulting in
savvier viewers who feel fully invested in even the smallest of
programming decisions. Already there are dedicated fan sites for
another upcoming NBC drama, "Heroes," created by viewers who are
hailing it as "the next 'Lost.' " In an attempt to keep up, networks
and studios are developing new levels of fan interaction using a
variety of digital platforms.

"The Internet has created something that didn't exist five or 10 years
ago, a direct dialogue with the creators or actors of a show," said
"Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof. "For fans, they feel they have this
access and they are empowered. When we do our podcasts, and we explain
what we're doing, they disagree with us and they tell us, 'Well, it's
my show too.' "

It would seem to be a network's dream to have people identify so
closely with a show, to hear them debating the finer points of a pilot
episode around the water cooler. But in the case of "Studio 60," the
premature analysis is making an already struggling network's job even
harder.

Someone leaked early drafts of the script for the show's pilot to the
Web before a single scene had been shot. Casting announcements were
disseminated on the Web faster than you can say "Get me Matthew Perry."
Things spun further out of the network's control when NBC decided to
parade the cast to advertisers at a development session in March, then
showed a six-minute trailer to advertisers and reporters at the
television preview conferences in May. Those clips hit the blogosphere
in nanoseconds, as did a rough cut of the pilot. Reviews popped up
immediately.

Even in the age of the Internet, the focus on "Studio 60" seems
unusually sharp, undoubtedly because of the involvement of Sorkin, its
award-winning creator. "Studio 60" would be just one of dozens of
television series launching in the fall if it weren't for the writer
whose past is as colorful as the words he puts on paper. A playwright
and screenwriter ("A Few Good Men" and "The American President"),
Sorkin, a recovering cocaine addict, has stayed away from television
since he left "The West Wing" under a cloud of NBC complaints that he
was delaying production by routinely turning in scripts late. So
intense interest from the media, especially from television critics,
was to be expected.

Still, he could not have envisioned that the script he wrote almost
entirely in a London hotel while he was there for a revival of "A Few
Good Men" last summer would generate this kind of fury from so many
pajama-clad bloggers months before viewers get to even see his new
show, which stars Perry, Bradley Whitford, Amanda Peet and Steven
Weber.

"I try not to look at it," Sorkin said, and then half-joked: "It scares
me."

But, like it or not, this modern court of public opinion isn't going
anywhere. As NBC President of Entertainment Kevin Reilly warns, "We've
only just begun on that front."

The early feedback was a virtual love fest. One 35-year-old blogger at
craigbe.com declared he was "fully prepared for an embolism to hit"
after reading a draft of the script. "It's like 'Entourage' meets
'Larry Sanders' meets 'The West Wing' all wrapped up in 'Sports Night.'
Good God, this is going to be amazing," he wrote.

Then came the clip presentation for advertisers and a self-deprecating
skit that Sorkin wrote for the actors designed to mock their own heady
buzz, and the rumbling began.

The characters seemed as smart and as fast-talking as Sorkin usually
draws his players, and Schlamme's 360-degree camerawork, with its
famous "walking-and-talking" sequences, were on hand too. But
advertisers and reporters didn't know what to make of the trailers: The
clips were clunky, not catchy. There was Perry falling out of a chair,
a stuffy-seeming rage against reality television and insider-y
executive power talks. Was it a comedy or a drama?

Bloggers jumped into the fray: "Every second of 'Studio 60' sounds like
Sorkin and looks like Schlamme and thus it's all familiar and
reassuring and intelligent and nowhere near as smart-seeming as it was
back when 'The West Wing' premiered," wrote Dan Fienberg of Los Angeles
on his blog, fienprint.blogspot.com.

Reilly spent a lot of time at the NBC party after the trailer
presentation - and in the weeks following - pleading with ad buyers
and the media to wait until they saw the entire pilot. But, he said,
"I'd rather see some dialogue, even if it's not all positive, rather
than no dialogue."

For his part, Sorkin is learning what a few in the industry already
know about Internet fans: They may bark loudly, but there's not that
many of them. Yet.

Craig Beilinson, a father of two, is the Sorkin fan who predicted he
would be struck with an embolism. "The Internet is causing public
opinion to spread faster than ever, but it's not clear that it's having
an impact on the viewing habits of the general population yet," he
said. "Look at what happened to 'Arrested Development.' No amount of
rabid blogging about how it was the greatest comedy on TV could get
more people to watch it."

Reilly appreciates the closer relationship with the audience that the
Internet affords, figuring it can only help programmers and marketers
target more efficiently. But in the case of "Studio 60," viewers may
have gotten a bit too close for comfort, he said.

"One of the dangers of the Internet is any sort of work getting out
prematurely or any sort of early judgment before anything is ready to
be hatched," Reilly said. "When you have perfectionists like Aaron and
Tommy, they want you to see their finished product."

Sorkin seems to be a quick study: "We can't let this affect us because
if it does it will only affect it badly. So you have to believe in what
you start out doing, believe in what you've got and keep going
forward."

The characters of Matthew Albie (Perry) and Danny Tripp (Whitford) are
best friends and partners, much like Sorkin and Schlamme, who, in
addition to "The West Wing," previously collaborated on "Sports Night."
Matthew is the offbeat genius writer and Danny is the brilliant
director-producer, but it's Danny's - not Matthew's - misstep that
finds them running a 20-year-old sketch show that is lagging in the
ratings.

"The idea of what happens in the pilot is based on the idea of what
would happen if once, just once, it was Tommy who screwed up instead of
me. Where would that land us?" said Sorkin, who is divorced and shares
custody of his 5-year-old daughter, and who no longer talks publicly
about his addiction recovery.

In truth, Reilly wasn't dying to launch a series about show business
when others set in the industry were failing or succeeding only
marginally, but the Sorkin-Schlamme pedigree tempted him. When he read
the script, Reilly said, he thought "Studio 60" would be a talent
magnet that could help him revive NBC, which with its falling profits
continues to be a drag on parent company General Electric. And so, the
bidding began. NBC and CBS were neck and neck, both offering big bucks
and promising huge promotional launches.

The producers chose NBC because "it felt a little like home, and we
felt it's still the place you'd expect to find a show like this,"
Sorkin said. The show's budget is big: NBC is reportedly spending
between $2 million and $3 million on each episode.

And it did lure in the talent, spurring Perry to return to TV, Whitford
to stay in it and Peet to give it a another try. In interviews, most of
the cast said they have deliberately avoided reading early reviews of
the show because, as Whitford put it, "show business is like dating a
schizophrenic: I love you, I ignore you, you're fantastic, you're
terrible. I don't need that. I just want to wear makeup and be funny."

But Weber, who plays the chairman of the show's fictional network, NBS,
said he has absorbed almost every syllable.

"It's the equivalent of a baby being born and ... everyone is shouting
at it, 'Come on, grow already!' " Weber said. "The element of time is
the most important thing: time to gather an audience or time to repel
an audience, time for people to draw conclusions."

While the pilot clearly takes aim at television's current lowbrow
factor, Sorkin promises he is not raging against the medium that pays
his bills. The characters of Matt, Danny and Jordan are all driven by
the legacy they have inherited, the "medium of Sid Caesar and Jackie
Gleason, Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, and it's ours now, and
it matters what we do with it," Sorkin said.

The same could be said for Sorkin and Schlamme, who as they begin
toiling on their third series together, are surely mindful of the fact
that none of those luminaries had to contend with the Internet.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-studio19jul19,1,2052676,full.story?coll=la-headlines-entnews&ctrack=1&cset=true

[alfornos]

Friday, July 21, 2006

Line of the tour

This is why they pay Matthew Perry the big bucks: because, during the
session for NBC's much-anticipated "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," he
got by far the biggest laugh of the press tour -- and at the expense of
boss Aaron Sorkin.

Earlier in the session, Sorkin made a passing reference to superstition
and used the phrase "it's like bad crack in the schoolyard," then
quickly stopped himself and said, "Why did I use that word?" (In case
you're an emigre from Venus, Sorkin has had a very public drug
problem.)

A few minutes later, I asked Perry and co-star Bradley Whitford how it
felt to be playing characters so closely modeled on Sorkin and
producer/director Tommy Schlamme. (In addition, Perry's character is
taking vicodin during the pilot and Whitford's is a recovering cocaine
user.)

Sayeth Perry, "It's mostly like bad Vicodin in the schoolyard."

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_alan/archives/2006_07.html#163515

[alfornos]

Studio 60 Live Blog

Aaron Sorkin has already delivered a great line about how his show, a
backstage look at a show very similar to "Saturday Night Live,"
compares to the Tina Fey (of "SNL") series "30 Rock," which attempts
the same in 30 less minutes.

"I'm going to take Tina's idea and add twice as many words to it."

Sorkin on the influence TV has on society: "I think it's bad crack in
the school yard." Pause. "Why did I use that line?" And the room
erupted. You may recall that Sorkin had some drug woes in the past.

So not only does it seem the man is back and sharp but he's also got a
good sense of humor about himself.

The cast hasn't taken on single question yet. Because we're almost
always more interested in the producers and writers than actors.

Whoops, there goes Timothy Busfield. And now Matthew Perry who says, "I
think it's more like bad Vicodin in the school yard." And the crowd
roars because, well, Perry has had his own woes and just took one for
Sorkin. And now Bradley Whitford. You know, this is a pretty solid
cast.

I understand that the Perry thing needed a bit of a set-up, but things
fly pretty fast in these sessions so forget it. Just know it was funny.
And by the way, the cast here today is Steven Weber, Nathan Corddry,
Sarah Paulson, Amanda Peet and D.L. Hughley.

Sorkin says he's changed the way he's writing this show as compared to
"The West Wing" - which should please NBC since his inability to
delegate and need to write every word was one of the main reasons he
was removed from "The West Wing," since the delays in the writing ended
up costing lots and lots of money.

There have been stories about an alleged "backlash" against "Studio 60"
but none of it makes much sense in the real world. The gist is that as
one of the most talked about new series - probably because Sorkin was
returning to network television - "Studio 60" had a high profile ripe
for speculation. So? Exactly. But an early script did pop up on the
internet as did, allegedly, some clips, and people in the blogosphere -
known as non-pro in Variety speak - started to log in. But look, I've
seen this pilot already some time ago and it was exactly what you'd
expect from Sorkin. Smart, fast-paced, a bit inside baseball and of the
highest quality. The acting performances are solid and the writing is
great. What's not to like?

That doesn't mean it will work, of course. But much of the alleged
"backlash" and a "backlash to the backlash" is Hollywood generated, a
town that fixates on itself out of habit. And it can't be trusted. No
matter what anyone says, the audience is always - always - the deciding
factor on a series, not hype.

Great quote: "There's nothing you can do to make it easy that also
won't make it bad." Sorkin on the difficult, grueling nature of making
a TV series every week. As Whitford says, it's the equivalent of making
11 feature films in 9 months.

This much is clear just listening to Sorkin talk about his craft - he's
great to have here. He's smart, knows the industry and is candid. Maybe
too candid.

"I will give everyone in this room $100 if I can just get that quote
out of the papers tomorrow," Sorkin said of the "crack" line. He then
said, with honesty, that after all the preparation he did for this
session, the fact that he said it almost immediately, "is just
unbelievable."

By the way, this won't translate at all, but the session is great
because all the actors are being both flippant and interesting and
funny, and each one is trying to one up the other while also being self
deprecating. It's kind of like the series itself.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=24&entry_id=7301

[alfornos]

07/31/2006

Busfield quick to get on board with "Studio 60"
By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith

It was no slam dunk getting Matthew Perry to join the cast of Aaron
Sorkin's upcoming NBC "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." "Matthew's such
a big star," notes Timothy Busfield, who has consultant-director status
on the series about a "Saturday Night Live"-type television show behind
the scenes, in addition to co-starring with Perry, Steven Weber,
Bradley Whitford, D.L. Hughley and Amanda Peet. "You don't just make
someone like Perry an offer and get him the next day. It took months to
get the deal set."

Conversely, it took literally seconds to seal a "Studio 60" deal with
Busfield.

The actor/producer/director, who played White House correspondent Danny
Concannon on Sorkin's "The West Wing," has been close to Sorkin since
he signed on to make his 1992 "A Few Good Men."

"He asked me to read the script for 'Studio 60' in November or
December," says Busfield. "As soon as I did, I e-mailed him to ask who
he had in mind to play Cal (the control-room director). It wasn't more
than three seconds later that he responded with the message, 'You.' And
that was it. I was the first one signed for the cast."

Sorkin and Busfield are so close that when a "West Wing" shake-up
occurred in the show's fourth season, and Sorkin left the fold, "That
was pretty much the end of the show for me," says Busfield. "There
wasn't a whole lot of Danny again until the last season, when they
figured they sort of needed me to finish Danny's story with Allison
Janney. They needed to give Allison something to do," he says, as he
refers to his character's love story with the character played by
Janney, which finally reached a culmination in the series' swan-song
episode.