Studio 60 Remembered - The Cold Open

The second episode of almost every new TV series sees a drop in viewership. It may be small or it may be huge, but the point is that it does happen. Studio 60 took a drop in the ratings. They went from 13.14 million viewers and a 5.0 in the 18-49 demographic to 10.82 million viewers and a 4.4 in the demographic. Moreover the critics who had raved about the Pilot pulled out their knives after the second episode. There were some strongly worded criticisms and in some cases some absurd statements were made by people who really should have known better.

The episode opens at the press conference introducing Jordan to the media, and incidentally formally announcing Matt and Danny the new Executive Producers of the fictional Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. Jordan is fielding questions about her programming philosophy as the new network head. She says that she has three criteria for new programming: “Do I like it. Would my parents like it. If I had kids would I want them to watch it.” If the answer to any one of those questions is “Yes” she’d put it on, if the answer to all of them was “No” she wouldn’t have the show on the network. She deflects a question about Wes’s rant with a little humour before saying that she refuses to comment on an internal matter. Backstage Matt and Danny are waiting to be introduced. Matt is irritated at Danny for sending him home for the weekend where he slept for 28 hours. Matt thinks that that’s time he could have been writing. Moreover Matt is angry that Danny sent Jeannie, one of the cast members home with him to make sure that he was okay. Matt and Jeannie have a sort of “friends with benefits” thing going on when they aren’t involved with anybody else, but Harriet doesn’t know about them, and this seems to matter to him. Matt’s also worried about the reception their hiring is going to get from the public. He heard a caller from Tolucca Lake describe them as “Barbra Streisand loving, Michael Moore worshipping jackasses.” Danny tells him not to pay attention to it. Then with a big build-up about how they’re going to restore Studio 60 to it’s past glory Jordan introduces Matt and Danny.

At the studio Cal has put the live feed of the news conference onto the studio’s internal system and we see the reaction of various people to the appearance of Matt and Danny. Jeannie (Ayda Field) comes into Harriet’s dressing room. It is clear that they are friends, and also that Jeannie hasn’t had the career that Harriet has: when Harriet says “I want my body to look like yours,” Jeannie replies “I want my talent to look like yours.” In an office off the Writers’ Room co-Executive Producers Ricky Tahoe (Evan Handler) and Ron Oswald (Carlos Jacott) are also watching the live feed. Ricky is by far the most vocal of the pair; he calls it “the most humiliating day of my life.” Matt makes it clear in the press conference that he’ll be overseeing the writing which leads one of the writers to ask if Matt will be overseeing the writing or doing the writing; they’ve all heard stories about how it was when he was with the show. Ricky responds, “I don’t know. I’m just Matt’s butt-boy right now.”

At the news conference a reporter asks why they’ve abandoned the movie project they were planning on doing to come back to the show. Matt starts to give a standard pat answer when Danny interrupts and tells them all about his drug test and how he won’t be able to direct for a couple of  years. This gets Jack Rudolph, who has been watching in his office, to come down. More is to come. A reporter for Rapture Magazine asks about a sketch called “Crazy Christians.” Matt confirms that he wrote a sketch called “Crazy Christians” four years ago but it never aired. The reporter then asks if they can expect to see the sketch on Friday’s show. Matt starts to reply that he doesn’t know what’s going to be on the show yet but Danny jumps in and tells her, yes it will be on the show. With that the press conference ends and Shelly herds all of them off stage. Away from the public everyone is shouting at everyone else until Jack Rudolph gets out of the elevator. He stops them from cross-talking with each other. First he wants to know why Danny didn’t stick with the planned answer to why they were coming back to the show. Danny explains that it was going to get out anyway and revealing it this way was not only better than having it come out in drips, but being honest about it was also best for him as a recovering addict. He then turns on Jordan the joke she used handled a question about whether she knew about Danny’s drug test (“I don’t remember. I was high at the time.”), but Jordan is more concerned with why a reporter from Rapture Magazine was accredited to the news conference. Shelly angrily responds that it isn’t NBS policy to exclude religious publications from the network’s press conference, and when Jordan asks “how many whackjobs actually read Rapture Magazine” she reveals that the circulation is four times that of Vanity Fair, a statement that comes as a surprise to just about everyone else, including Jack. As the others leave Danny asks Jordan about her introduction for them, specifically the part about restoring the show to its former glory as the flagship of the network. He thinks that’s setting the bar rather high. She tell him, “Clear it.”

By the time they get to the theater Matt is trying to figure out how to clear the bar that Jordan had set. They need a big “cold open” for the show but he doesn’t know what it’s going to be. There are other details to work out, most importantly which one of them will take Wes’s office. Neither one of them wants it, but it’s obvious that Matt is going to get it whether he wants it or not. Matt reveres Wes, who wrote for the Smothers Brother and wrote with Pryor and with Cosby, invented Studio 60, and gave him his first job in television. He says “I rather sit in Lorne Michael’s office,” to which Danny responds “Lorne’s office is in New York and he’s still using it.” The office is a mess – it looks as though it had been ransacked, but one feature catches Danny’s eye as being new since they left. It’s a digital clock. when Danny turns it on it shows the days, hours, minutes and seconds left until the next show. Matt says, “No wonder he [Wes] went crazy.”

Matt has to go meet with the writing staff while Danny is going to talk to the cast. Matt doesn’t know any of the staff; they’ve all been hired by Ricky and Ron. Danny goes in for a moment as well to “put them at ease,” although he has an unusual way of doing it.What he says is more of an ultimatum than a pep talk: “This isn't TV camp. It's not important that everybody plays. Come at Matt with good ideas and you'll be a big part of the show; don't and it won't matter because he won't remember your name.” With that he leaves.

The cast are waiting for Danny in the basement dressing rooms. Tom is reading a post on from Bernadette of Bernadette’s Blog which says, “Studio 60 seldom rose to the level of Saturday Night Live at its best. The hiring of Matthew Albie and Daniel Tripp is a sideshow and that Wes's courageous and eloquent sign off last week should have served as the final nail in the show's coughin [sic – that’s how Bernadette spelled it according to Tom].” Simon tells Tom to stop reading the Internet and describes Bernadette as writing this in her pyjamas, with a freezer full of Jenny Craig and surrounded by her five cats. Tom responds that he has to care about Bernadette’s Blog because she’ll be be quoted by the New York Times to show that they’re listening to the public and aren’t part of the media elite. Tom says that he prefers it when they were part of the media elite. The conversation turns to Matt’s back. Simon has had the same surgery and is certain that Matt won’t be able to write the show. According to Simon you aren’t supposed to move around for a week and a half, and you certainly can’t sit in a chair for fourteen hours, which Harriet says is a short day for Matt. Jeannie tells them not to worry, Matt is doing forty leg lifts with 30 pound weights which Simon finds difficult to believe; he couldn’t tie his shoes so soon after his operation. Just then Danny comes in. His speech to the cast is about as diplomatic as his speech to the writers.He’s talked to them all and he’s sure that they’re probably worried about the changes he and Matt might make and whether they’ll be still be with the show . When Tom says not until just now, Danny says, well you should have. “Don't give me your very best or pick this week to complain about something you're going to make these decisions very easy.” Matt won’t be writing the first show around guest host Mark Wahlberg, and because he doesn’t know many of the cast he’ll be writing for the people he knows so they need to be patient…and become one of the people he knows. Simon asks about Matt’s back; he practically had to have an epidural to get out of bed when he had the surgery and Matt is claiming to be doing forty leg lifts. Jeannie says he isn’t claiming to do them she saw him doing it. Harriet is surprised: “Matt. At a gym?!” to which Jeannie responds, “No, at his house. he bought a machine.” That’s when the penny drops for Harriet and she realises that Matt and Jeannie have been involved. The room becomes so quiet that you can hear the noises made by building’s ventilation system. Harriet asks to be excused which Danny allows; when Jeannie wants to go after her, Danny refuses to let her go. Just as Danny is leaving, Simon asks him if he had seen the first show of the season. Danny replied that he hadn’t seen the show yet. There was a definite sense of tension in this exchange.

In the Writers’ Room Matt is becoming increasingly frustrated. The Room keeps proposing sketch ideas of the “Bush is stupid,” “The government gives things names the opposite of what something really is” variety. They aren’t funny and what really proves it is when Ricky explains one of the ideas to Matt – the rule that if you have to explain it it isn’t funny obviously applies double in the Writer’s Room. When Matt mentions that he needs a cold open the room bursts into anarchy with everyone talking at once and no one suggesting anything worthwhile. Matt eventually gets the room under control again and then comes down on the way the writers are dressed. Matt has decided that grown men dressing like they were in Junior High isn’t cool. When Ron says “It’s comedy Matt,” he replies “Not yet it isn’t, and until it is we are all going to act professionally. You understand. We're going to act dress talk write and behave professionally.” At that moment a very pissed off Harriet bursts into the room: “You are an adolescent, oversexed, whore monger with the sensitivity of a head of cabbage.” Matt excuses himself from the room and goes into the hall with Harriet. He makes it absolutely crystal clear that if she ever does that again he will bench, to the point where she’ll be the highest paid extra in Hollywood. Once he has made his point, they argue about what’s really bothering her. He slept with one of the people who works with her, and the way it came out humiliated her. She refers to the show as “my show.” Matt reminds her that it isn’t “her show” and that while she’s been there for seven years, he was there for two years before that and incidentally so was Jeannie. Matt reminds her that she broke up with him, and he’s got the email to prove it. She goes through a list of people he’s supposedly dated since the broke up ranging from Fiona Apple to Marlo Thomas (which is absurd since she’s married to Phil Donahue who can “still beat the crap out of me.”). Matt asks if she got confirmation from the Drudge Report and she says she got confirmation from Jeannie…about Jeannie. Matt tells her not to worry, he doesn’t date or do anything with people who work with him. What’s really really bothering her finally comes out: “I have an active imagination Matthew. They pay me a lot of money for it. And you had to know I was going to find out. So now I have this in my imagination. That's just mean.” She walks away but Matt follows her. He didn’t mean to be mean; Danny sent Jeannie home with him to make sure he was okay, and…it’s obvious that he wants to tell her something but instead he tells here that they need a really good show this week, and the need her head in the game. She tells him to sit down and write.

On Tuesday morning there’s a meeting in Jack’s office with Jack, Shelley, Peter (Scott Klace) from Affiliate Relations and Joe (Mark Edward Smith) from Sales. Jordan arrives. They have a problem; the affiliate owner from the Terre Haute station has been deluged with calls protesting the “Crazy Christians” sketch and he won’t air the show if the sketch runs. Jordan is dismissive, because it is “just” Terre Haute and tells them that she doesn’t tell “the guys” what they can and can’t put on the show. In fact she promised them that they can run the sketch. Terre Haute isn’t the real problem it’s the organized nature of the protests. Clearly it is the work of the editor of Rapture Magazine working through the various “family oriented” religious websites (they mention the AFE which as nearly as I can tell is a fictional organization but seems to be an analog for the Donald Wildmon’s American Family Association). Posting something like this on their forums is like the Batsignal for these people. Jordan asks how bad could it get. Shelly explains that they can expect the phone lines at Studio 60, the network headquarters, and twenty-two Red State affiliates to be flooded within the hour, it will be a news story all week and they’ll probably attack Jordan with personal stuff. Jordan’s willing to accept that, but Jack’s not sure the advertisers will feel the same way. Jordan feels that she’s bullet proof on Friday nights because half of the advertisers on the night are movie studios that release on Friday nights and want their movies associated with what’s hip and cool. As long as she delivers eyeballs she’s fine. Joe can’t believe her naiveté. Without the affiliates there aren’t going to be any eyeballs. If the big affiliate groups pull their stations NBS will be reduced to their owned and operated stations and whatever affiliates stick with them, or as Jack puts it “We'll be reduced to the size of a college radio station.” He practically begs Jordan to tell Matt and Danny to pull the sketch. She refuses: “I am the president of the National Broadcasting System and I won't be told what to put on my air by amateurs of any stripe.” With that she leaves.

Over at the studio, Danny is meeting with Cal and the technical staff. There’s nothing for them to do because Matt hasn’t written anything so all of the trades are on standby for when Matt does give them something to do. The meeting breaks up and Danny starts upstairs to his office. As he is halfway up the stairs his assistant Jane arrives to tell him that Jack White has severe tonsillitis. It takes Danny a couple of beats to realize that Jack White is the lead singer for the White Stripes… the show’s musical guest. He turns back and tells Jane to get in touch with anyone who isn’t touring or dead.

Upstairs Danny runs into Simon. He asks what the whole thing about whether he’d seen the first episode of the season was all about; Simon knows that Danny hasn’t watched the show since he and Matt left. Was Simon trying to embarrass him or make a point? Simon tells him that he would never try to embarrass Danny but the whole business with the drug test was new information. He thinks that Danny is spending two years “slumming” on TV. Danny tells him that it doesn’t matter, he’s here now and what matters is that if they hadn’t come Ricky and Ron would get the show but Simon replies that Danny left them with Ricky and Ron. Danny tells him that he was standing beside Matt and where was Simon. He responds that he was standing beside the show.

Danny goes into Matt’s office followed by Simon. According to “The Clock” there’s 3 Days, 7 Hours, and 22 minutes left until Friday’s show. Matt is standing in front of the line-up board. The only thing on it is the monologue and the two musical numbers from The White Stripes. Matt wonders if the White Stripes would mind playing for the whole hour and a half. Danny breaks the news that they won’t be playing at all. Just then Tom comes into the office wearing a wig, painted on moustache and soul patch. He’s heard that Matt is choking and is there to pitch an idea that for a sketch with him and Harriet as Jack and Meg White. Then Cal comes in to tell Matt not to “grip it too tightly;” it’s only Tuesday. Matt tells the four of them how he lectured the writers on clothing. He couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. He also explains the trouble he’s having with the cold open for the show. Unless something big happens between Tuesday and Friday they’re going to have people’s attention for the open. The problem is that there are so many things that it has to cover. It has to be self-deprecating, an acknowledgement and an acceptance, It has to be on a grand scale. It needs to be a song but not just a song, something bigger. Tom says “We take the show seriously but we don’t take ourselves seriously. We screwed up but we won’t do it again.” The Cal says, “We’ll be model citizens.” You can see the inspiration coming to Matt’s face. He asks the guys if they knew who did the greatest “Frat Humor” of all time. Tom mentions Rudy Vallee, Cal says Groucho Marx, but Danny says W.S. Gilbert. Danny comes up with the first line: “We’ll be the very model of a modern network TV show.” Simon follows with, “We hope that you don’t mind that our producer was caught doing Blow.” After a moment they agree to the line. Matt then says that they need something that speaks to the legacy of Television, in the style of Arturo Toscinini and the NBC Orchestra. Danny runs out the door to call to his assistant Jane. She’s on the phone with Clay Aiken’s manager. Danny tells her to get John Mauceri and the West Coast Philharmonic, and also the Los Angeles Light Opera Chorus. Jane asks if this is a joke; Matt says he hopes so, but Danny says no. Cal goes off to get the production people working, while Danny tells Simon and Tom to get a change of clothes and their shaving kits – it’s going to be just them this week (an indication that the writer’s room isn’t going to be involved in the writing). Tom asks, “Harriet too?” Matt replies “Harriet too.”

It’s now Friday night. Outside the theater a reporter is doing a stand-up. According to her the police estimate that 200-300 protesters are gathered many of them carrying signs saying “NBS equals God-haters.” (From what we the audience can see the number can be counted in the dozens rather than the hundreds, but that may be as much a statement about the size of TV show budgets as it is about TV news hyperbole – though I personally prefer to think the latter rather than the former). This sets the scene for what’s going on inside the theater as the show prepares to go live. Matt wants to take a quick shower. It’s 102 degrees out and he’s worried that the crowd will be too hot. They go into Matts office and we can see that the board, barren on Tuesday, now has eighteen items on it, not counting guest Mark Wahlberg’s monologue and the good nights at the end of the show. Matt says, “In an hour and a half it'll be empty again.” The statement astonishes Danny: “Would you just enjoy the moment? Would please just live in what's happening right now and not time travel to the next...?” They’ve had the greatest dress rehearsal that either of them can remember seeing in the show. Things are going to go great. He does need to talk about one thing with Matt and that’s how things are between him and Harriet. Danny feels they’ll be in trouble if Matt is still in love with Harriet. Matt says he’s not: “I love her talent. The woman's got millions of fans but there are maybe fifty guys in town who really understand how good she is and we're two of them. I admire her. I'm knocked out by her talent. And I like it when she makes me laugh, and I like making her laugh, which isn't easy to do, so it's gratifying. She's undeniably sexy. I like it when she smiles at me, and a couple of other things, but that's it.” Danny says, “We’re screwed.”

In the dressing room Jeannie finally talks to Harriet about the situation with Matt. She apologizes for the way that it came out. She and Matt are friends but sometimes when they’re without anybody they wind up with each other. Harriet hits her over the head with a prop bottle, then smiles and says “Light’em up Jeannie with the light brown hair.” Elsewhere Danny meets up with Simon. He explains that at the start of Simon’s second year, which was Danny’s last year, Simon had lost a part in Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday to Jamie Foxx. He had been pissed at just about everyone, and said, “I just graduated from Yale Drama. I don't belong here,” which pissed Danny off because he did belong there. Now Simon says that he belong there, and says “So don’t fire me.” Simon explains that he can’t “do the voices;” Ricky and Ron have been pushing Simon to do imitations and gives a bad version of Bill Cosby saying “Jell-o Pudding Pops.” Danny doesn’t understand, how did Wes let Ricky and Ron take over the show but Simon defends him, explaining that Wes was tired, and Matt and Danny were like sons to him, and he didn’t stand up for them. Danny simply says, “We didn’t ask him too.” Danny promises that they’re going to be starting fresh and they’ll be playing to Simon’s strengths including having him anchor the news on the show.

Jack is in the VIP gallery of the theater getting a beer. He sees Jordan goes over to sit with her. He makes his presence known by saying, “Mary, you’ve got spunk,” then they both say “I hate spunk.” It was his way of reminding her that he likes television too. She asks what the final count was. They lost five affiliates including Terre Haute, four local advertisers and three national advertisers. And Jack had to change his email address… twice. “But,” says Jordan, “Frogs didn’t fall from the sky.” Jack tells her that if the ratings don’t go up or the public doesn’t find Crazy Christians as funny as she does things are going to happen that will make frogs falling from the skies seem like Club Med. He adds, “They always win Jordan.” She replies that that may be true but she’s not going down without a fight. And if the ratings do go up they’ll welcome back the advertisers who left them, at 120% of the original ad buy. “We’ll be the first network to charge a coward fee.”

Backstage, Matt and Danny gather the cast. Danny tells him that he’s watched them all week and he’s really impressed. Matt tells him that it’s hot outside and people who are hot don’t laugh as much because they’re sticky and uncomfortable. Then it’s Harriet’s turn to lead them in prayer: “Blessed are you oh Lord our God creator of the universe and Father of us all. Thank you for giving us one of your greatest gifts, a sense of humour. And if you have time please make something heavy fall on Matthew's head. We say this prayer in the name of your son Jesus Christ who had to have been funny to get so many people to listen to him. Blessed are you forever and ever, Amen.” Then just before she goes out on stage she asks Matt why she got a laugh in the table read of a sketch but not at the dress rehearsal. He tells her that in the dress, “You asked for the laugh;” in the table read, “You asked for the butter.”

After everyone takes their places, including Danny in a director’s chair on the floor in front of the stage and Matt in his office, The Clock counts down the seconds before the show starts, with a parody song based on Gilbert and Sullivan’s Modern Major General:

Cast:
We'll be the very model of a modern network tv show
Each time that we walk into this august and famous studio
We're starting out from scratch after a run of 20 years and so
We hope that you don't mind that our producer was caught doing blow.

Chorus:
They hope that you don't mind that their producer was caught doing blow
They hope that you don't mind that their producer was caught doing blow
They hope that you don't mind that their producer was caught doing lots of blow!


Men (Simon, Tom, Dylan, and Alex):
Yes it's hard to be a player when at heart you've always had a hunch
To bite the hand that feeds you is a scary way of doing much
But still when we walk into this august and famous studio
We'll be the very model of a modern network TV show!

Chorus:
But still when they walk into this august and famous studio
They'll be the very model of a modern network TV show!

Harriet:
I am a Christian, tried and true, baptized at age eleven so
Unlike the lib'rals, gays and Jews, I'm going straight to heaven.


Ladies (Harriet, Jeannie, Samantha):
But if you feel you've been cheated and our sordid content lets you down
We'll happ'ly do the favor of an intellectual reach around!
Chorus:
They'll happ'ly do the favor of an intellectual reach around
They'll happ'ly do the favor of an intellectual reach around
They'll happ'ly do the favor of a hundred-dollar hooker's reach around!

Harriet (whispers):
That wasn't the same thing we said.

Chorus:
They'll happ'ly do the favor of a verbal euphamistic reach around!

Studio 60 Cast:
We know the evangelicals are lining up to tag our toe
And then the corporations will not hesitate to pull their dough
But still when we walk into this august and famous studio
We'll be the very model of a modern network TV show!


Chorus:
But still when they walk into this august and famous studio
They'll be the very model of a modern network TV show!
But still when they walk into this august and famous studio
They'll be the very model of a modern network TV show!

As announcer Herb Shelton announces “Live from Hollywood, It’s Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip.” Matt turns away from the stage and looks at The Clock. It has started counting backwards from seven days again.

_____________________________________________________________

One of the things that a lot of critics and other people had trouble with is that we didn’t see the “Crazy Christians” sketch. We heard a lot about it, or at least heard its name bandied about a lot but we didn’t see the sketch or see or hear the rehearsals or the script or even learn anything about the content of the script. It was just a name. Some people, mostly commenters on media blogs – I think Alan Sepinwall’s blog was one of them – invoked Chekov’s gun when referring to “Crazy Christians.” As you may recall Chekov said that, “if you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.” In their minds “Crazy Christians” was built up as being a brilliant piece of writing (or as being so controversial) to such a point that you had to see it. I don’t think it was necessary to show it. In fact I think that “Crazy Christians” accomplishes its purpose best by not being seen. In a very real way it drives the show, or at least the beginning episodes of the show. Because I don’t think that “Crazy Christians” falls into the category of Chekov’s Gun at all; I think that “Crazy Christians” is a McGuffin, in the best Hitchcockian sense of the term.

Wikipedia describes a McGuffin as “a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction.The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least initially) willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is. In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, a potential threat, or it may simply be something entirely unexplained.” (Emphasis mine in both cases.) Hitchcock used McGuffins of course, and they were often unimportant to the story that was being told, serving as a motivator to the action rather than having any importance in their own right. Take for example The Lady Vanishes – one of my favourite Hitchcock movies. All of the action happens because of Miss Froy’s little song, and yet the song itself, and what it signifies, have no importance to the plot of the movie.

“Crazy Christians” fills that role in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. It is the reason for Wes’s fight with Jerry in the first episode. It is why Wes has his on screen meltdown. It is emblematic of the way that the writing on the show has slipped and Wes’s weakness. In short it is why Matt and Danny have to be brought back. In the second episode it is symbolic of Jordan’s determination to take bold stands regardless of the opinion of those around her in the quest for a return to quality. That she is willing to air “Crazy Christians” in spite of the threat of viewer boycotts, affiliates refusing to air the show and companies pulling their ads falls squarely into the definition of a McGuffin; she is “willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it,” or in this case to use it.

“Crazy Christians” It motivates Jordan’s confrontation with Jack and the executives not to mention Shelly, and it becomes Jordan’s line in the sand – this far and no further. And  the sketch was Wes’s breaking point at least twice. He wasn’t willing to stand up for Matt in 2001 when “Crazy Christians” was the sketch for the week that Matt was forced to quit, and it losing the fight with Jerry Wes Jerry on the first show to keep “Crazy Christians” in the show was the what drove him to his rant. “Crazy Christians” led indirectly to Ricky and Ron taking real control of the show leaving Wes as more figurehead than anything else.

“Crazy Christians” also sets up a lot of what follows. I’m thinking particularly of the revelation of Jordan’s DUI in the next episode, followed very quickly by her ex-husband’s proposed book and the stories that he was shopping around. After all Shelly had told Jordan that running the sketch would lead the other side to go after her personally. Another aspect of “Crazy Christians” as McGuffin can be seen in the two "Nevada Day” episodes later in the season. The Judge’s antagonism towards Jack and Danny is in part motivated by the sense that the actor, the show, and the network are making fun of people like him who are sincere in their beliefs. “Crazy Christians” is part of the basis for this antagonism.

There are of course real-world analogies in the “Crazy Christians” storyline, and they are as valid today as they were when Sorkin played with the idea in 2006. I’m not really referring to the decision by KSL in Salt Lake City to drop NBC’s new series The Playboy Club. It is at least understandable given that the station is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This isn’t a case of a station bowing to outside pressure out of fear in the way that the fictional Terre Haute station in the Studio 60 did, but rather a policy decision by station ownership. The more important aspect is the groups that create this climate of fear – the AFE in the show, the Parents Television Council in real life – which mobilize their followers occasionally based entirely on rumour. The PTC demanded that CBS change the name of $#*! My Dad Says and when that failed threatened boycotts and FCC action because “obviously” the show was going to be filled with obscenities. The truth is that the show was just another not particularly well realized sitcom. This year they’ve “slammed” NBC-Comcast for a supposed nudity clause in the contract for actors on The Playboy Club (presumably for possible foreign sales and possibly for inclusion in cable network airings and DVDs), and demanded the removal of the word “Bitch” from the title of the ABC series Good Christian Bitches (which was also the name of the book on which the series is based) despite the fact that ABC had already stated that that was only the working title of the series that became Good Christian Belles. The PTC promised to “use every method at its disposal to turn advertisers and viewers away from a provocative title that compromises respect for both women and Christians in an attempt to draw ratings.”And remember that statement was issued when the only thing known about the series was the working title which ABC had already said would be changed.

I also want to spend a bit of time in this extremely long and overdue piece to discuss the episode’s finally, the parody song Modern Network TV Show. Looking for some unrelated material recently I came upon a blog where the reviewer referred to the song as “a filk,” apparently feeling that any parody song qualifies as a “filk” (they don’t) and that somehow it being a filk makes it is somehow a lesser creation (this particular blogger was angry at Tom and Simon’s comments on bloggers as a class and the song got caught in the crossfire). Parody songs have been a mainstay of comedy for generations. This is no different.

A bigger objection to the song as found in the comments section of Ken Levine’s blog in which various commenters said that you don’t use a Gilbert & Sullivan parody song because it shows “how out of touch and superior the characters considered themselves,” and therefore using it unironically was an indicator of “how out of touch and superior Sorkin is.” I don’t think that I need to tell you that I disagree with this assessment. I liked the song. I like that Sorkin has a fondness for Gilbert & Sullivan. I have a fondness for Gilbert & Sullivan. After all he used “For He Is An Englishman” from HMS Pinafore in an episode of The West Wing, and posters from productions of Gilbert and Sullivan were seen in both The West Wing and Studio 60. But it goes further than that for me. I think that the song works for what it has to be. The show has to regain its status. This is something that Ricky and Ron and the Writers’ Room don’t recognise when they pitch the same old material that they’ve been doing all along. For them it’s just business as usual. Matt recognises that the opening has to be different. as he puts it, it has to be “self-deprecating, an acknowledgement and an acceptance, but it has to be on a grand scale.” The big thing, left unspoken, is that it has to acknowledge what Wes said without referring to him. It has to be an apology for the crap that the show has become and a promise that they’ll restore both the cutting edge comedy and the idea of quality that has vanished from TV. Most of all it has to be a clear indication that they won’t be treating their audience like morons. People who claim that using Gilbert & Sullivan shows “how out of touch and superior Sorkin is,” are themselves being superior by claiming that an audience is incapable of appreciating either Gilbert & Sullivan or the the message that the parody song was trying to put across. I don’t buy it.

Studio 60 Remembered – The Pilot

They say that hindsight is 20:20. A lot of critics looking back at Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip – including several that I have tremendous respect for – have retroactively claimed that they were “suckered” by the show’s pilot. It should serve as a reminder to those who do reviews as a profession that they should keep their powder dry until they see what the next few episodes are like, or preface heir statements about how promising a show’s pilot looks by saying something like, “It’s really impossible to praise or condemn a show based on the pilot but…” Of course professional critics have an advantage in that often, before a show debuts, they get screeners that include not just the pilot but also a couple of subsequent episodes, which allows them to say that “While the pilot looks (great/good/poor/horrible) the episodes that follow are really (terrible/weak/acceptable/brilliant)…” It’s not that easy for someone like me who watches a show at the time that it airs and has no idea of what will follow. I can either judge the show on the pilot and risk the rest of the season being totally different from what I reviewed, or I could wait for another episode or two before reviewing and hope that a) the show isn’t cancelled before I can write a review (see – or rather don’t see – Lonestar) or b) the ratings don’t discourage me so much that I don’t write about the show because I know it won’t make a lick of difference and the show is doomed. The latter happens a lot incidentally, and may be why I didn’t write a lot of reviews in the past couple of years. But to the review.

The series opened on the set of a variety show just before it’s about to go on. The show has been on the air for twenty years according to the man who is warming up the audience (who we’ll later learn is Simon Styles – played by D.L. Hughely). While he’s going through his well rehearsed routine he notices something going on off-stage. It is an argument between the show’s Executive Producer, Wes Mandel (Jud Hirsch in a special guest appearance), and a network official named Jerry. Jerry is demanding that Wes pull a sketch that did well at rehearsal, because it will offend religious people. Wes is adamant that the sketch go on, to the point where he wants to call Network Chairman Jack Rudolph, or new network executive Jordan McDeere, but both of them are at a party – actually a party for Jordan. Wes then asks Jerry what would happen if he just decided to go ahead with the sketch over Jerry’s objections. Jerry responds that Wes won’t do that and the reason why he knows is that, “if you still had the muscle to do it you wouldn't have asked.” Wes pulls the sketch, much to the irritation of the show’s director Cal (Timothy Busfield); not as much because the sketch was good – he says that it didn’t stand a chance – as with what is replacing it, a continuing piece called “Peripheral Vision Man” which is not only not funny but has never been funny. Down in the dressing rooms Wes is a beaten man. When guest host Felicity Huffman (playing herself) asks Wes why her monologue hasn’t been changed in spite of the fact that they had agreed it needed changing she notices that Wes doesn’t look alright. He tells her that he’s fine, and that her instincts about the material aren’t wrong – it isn’t funny – but that they didn’t get a chance to change it. As the show – which is done live – gets underway, Wes suddenly decides that  he’s had enough. He stops the “cold open” sketch just after it starts and delivers a long and rambling rant (which I’ll reproduce below). In the control room all hell is breaking loose. Jerry is demanding that Cal take Wes off the air or at the very least mute his mike, but the best reason that Jerry can give for this is that, “he’s telling people to turn their televisions of!!!!” When appealing to “reason” doesn’t work Jerry resorts to threats, telling Cal that if he doesn’t take Wes off the air, not only will Cal be fired but he’ll never work in the industry again. Finally Wes goes a word to far and Cal is able to cut the cameras and sound.

At the party for Jordan Wilson White (Ed Asner), the Chairman of the Tunney Media Group which owns the Nation Broadcasting System has just finished a toast in which he notes all the high points of Jordan McDeere’s career (including four years at NBC where “where she saw to it that Jay Leno spanked David Letterman on a regular basis”) when a waiter brings Jordan (Amanda Peete) a note from her assistant that something has happened at Studio 60. She comments that it can’t be anything too bad, not on her first day. As she finishes saying that every cell phone in the room starts ringing. Jordan and Jack Rudolph (Steven Webber), along with most of the network executives at the party rush down to the studio, where Jerry gives his explanation of what happened: “I cut a sketch and he went crazy.” The executives take over the dressing room being used by the show’s musical guests, Three Six Mafia, to watch the video tape of the episode…when they can finally find a copy of the tape that will work on the commercial VCR in the room. Meanwhile Jordan slips away to find Wes and after introducing herself asks him what happens. Before he can answer Jack comes in and says “Wesley, you’re fired.” Wes’s response is “No kidding.”

Jack is determined to keep as much of a lid on the story as possible, but it’s already out there and every news story has a reference to Paddy Chayefsky’s movie Network. The company’s executives meet in their boardroom to figure out where they stand. They’re worried about possible fines or law suits from the FCC, and how the advertisers and the affiliates will react. Jordan laughs at the executives’ concerns which irritates Jack, but she points out that they’re worried about the wrong things. Nothing was said that would trigger FCC fines and any lawsuit would fail the “laugh test.” There’s no way that they can keep the cast quiet, particularly “the Big Three” (which prompts one of the executives – I think the one in charge of advertiser relations – to ask what Detroit has to do with this; Jack has to explain to him that in this case “the Big Three” refers to Simon Stiles, Tom Jeter, and Harriet Hayes, the leading members of the cast). Jordan points out that despite this they’re not over-reacting, they’re under-reacting because the real problem is that Wes’s tirade will be fodder for every cable show around with discussion on the state of television…unless they can defuse the problem by giving the media a better story. Jordan needs to talk to Jack privately on this. She wants to rehire Matt Albie and Danny Tripp who had been fired from the show five years ago…by Jack Rudolph. Jack is dubious but Jordan says that rehiring them will be seen as “a tacit admission of guilt and a quiet act of contrition,” and will make that the story, not Wes’s rant. Jack doesn’t think that Jordan will be able to get them but she knows something he doesn’t. She has to move fast on this, with an announcement on Monday morning. Jack tells her just one thing: screw this up and he’ll fire her faster than he did Wes Mandel.

At that moment Matt (Matthew Parry) and Danny (Bradley Whitford) are attending the Writers Guild Awards, where Matt is nominated for a movie that he wrote and Danny directed. Matt has had back surgery two days before and is one a mixture of Vicodin and Percoset and a steroid to deal with the pain, so he’s both talkative and a little out of it. The discussion soon turns to why Matt is at the ceremony alone. Matt had been involved with Harriet Hayes from Studio 60 but they broke up. He offered up a long and rambling explanation of why they broke up which had to do with her singing the National Anthem, but after telling the whole story he added, “but that’s not why we really broke up.” He continues talking even as his category is announced…and when the winner is announced. He’s so involved in his story (and the drugs aren’t helping) that even when Danny hugs him he doesn’t realise that he won. It takes Danny telling him that he’s won for it to sink in. As he goes to the stage an assistant comes up to Danny and whispers something to him. He responds by walking out and saying that he needs to see tape, so that when Matt cites him in his acceptance speech for always being there for him, Danny isn’t there.

We next see Harriett Hayes (Sarah Paulson) arriving at a club where the show’s wrap party is being held. The nature of the sketch that was cut had leaked out and she is mobbed by the press who are all asking two questions: as a Christian was she offended by the sketch, and what did Matt think of what happened. She doesn’t say anything to anybody. In the cub she takes a moment to talk to Cal who is sitting all by himself and looking depressed. She asks what happened in the control room and he tells her that he left Wes on the air for 53 seconds despite orders from the Standards and Practices representative on the set. According to Cal, “Guys I know who have done that feel lucky to get a job directing Good Morning El Paso.” Leaving Cal, she finds the rest of the cast and sits down with Simon Stiles and Tom Jeter (Nate Corddry). She tells her cast mates that she’s been asked whether the sketch offended her and what Matt had said (in that order) about fourteen times. So Tom naturally asks what “What did Matt say?” and gets a withering look from Harriett, who reminds him that they have broken up. She expects that Matt and Danny are laughing their asses off over what happened. Harriett then suggests that they go outside so she can watch Simon “smoke a cigarette.” As they’re leaving Dylan (Nate Torrence), the newest member of the cast (and who is thoroughly wasted) asks Harriett if she had prayed before this show as she usually does and if so why didn’t it work. Harriett quickly cuts him down to size: “You know what, rook? When you start making a contribution to this show, you can talk to me any way you want. But you had two lines tonight and you stepped on one of them. So until you either accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior or make somebody laugh, why don't you talk to somebody else?” Outside, Harriett answers the other question, about whether she was offended by the sketch; she wasn’t, she was offended that she wasn’t in the sketch because it was the best piece of writing that the show had seen in a long time. They all assume that Wes wrote it himself (and are surprised that he was capable of it) because it couldn’t possibly have come from Ricky and Ron. Almost immediately they are interrupted by an assistant from the show who tells them that they’ve all been call back to the studio immediately.

Jordan has arranged for Matt to be taken to Studio 60 by the network’s head of public relations Shelly Green (Wendy Phillips), but he refuses to go in, probably out of fear of running into Harriet. Meanwhile Jordan is meeting with Matt at the hotel where the Writers Guild Awards were being held. He’s just finishing watching the video of Wes’s meltdown. Jordan offers Danny the opportunity to take over the show. Danny immediately says no and adds that he’s uneasy even talking about this without Wes’s approval, which Jordan assures him that Wes is okay with this. Danny also informs Jordan that he and Matt are getting ready to do another movie, but Jordan knows differently. Thanks to an ex-boyfriend who works at a major insurance company and tells he things he shouldn’t in hopes of dropping the “ex” from “boyfriend” has let Jordan know that Danny has failed a drug test and can’t get a completion bond for the movie without 18 months of clean drug tests. Jordan needs him and Danny for two years, and is prepared to pay him more than he would make directing the movie…which he cant do for 18 months anyway. Danny wants to go see Matt before Jordan can tell him about the drug test, which he assumes is going to be her first move. She assures him that this information will stay between the two of them. Danny is doubtful. He tells Jordan, “I have no reason to trust you and every reason not to." When she asks why he says "You work in television."

Matt meets Danny outside of the studio and lets him know about the drug test and about Jordan’s offer. He wants Matt to do the movie without him, but Matt is determined to do it with Danny. He first suggests bonding Danny himself, except he’s basically broke. He suggests cutting corners, maybe shooting in Vancouver. Danny is adamant about that idea. According to him, "Vancouver doesn't look like anything. It doesn't even look like Vancouver. It looks like Boston California." Then Matt comes to the conclusion that the network is trying to blackmail Danny into taking the show. He runs into the building and finds Jordan, Jack and a number of other executives in Wes Mandel’s old office. Matt immediately accuses Jack of blackmailing Danny into taking the show. This is the first that Jack has heard of the drug test. Once that’s out of the way Jack asks Danny what he thought of Wes’s tirade. At first Danny gives a stock answer but Jack presses him about the content of what Wes said, and Danny says that it covered a lot of ground. Jack doesn’t take Danny’s answer very well and Danny storms out of the room.

Matt follows Danny, but stops outside where he gets a view of the stage. He goes back in and tell Jack that they’ll do it, and he’ll talk to Danny. Jack reminds Matt that he didn’t fire them, they quit. Matt says that it’s true but he knew which way the wind was blowing when the network slapped an American flag on the network bug, and suddenly his jokes weren’t so funny anymore. Jack responds that if he showed them the door it was their hero Wes who opened it. He then goes on to say that he trusts that Matt won’t say anything at the press conference on Monday that will embarrass the network. Matt responds angrily that it shouldn’t be too hard; if you pointed the camera at two people masturbating it would still be the least embarrassing thing on NBS.

Matt goes into the basement area of the theater where the dressing rooms are located. He’s looking for Danny but almost literally runs into Harriet, and we learn the real reason why they broke up. It wasn’t about her singing the anthem at the Dodger game, it was because while she was supportive while he was promoting his movie, he was absent when she was promoting her CD of spiritual songs. He responded that he was there for her right up to point where she put on a dress and sang for a bigot – that is she appeared on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club. She insists that she wasn’t singing for Robertson she was singing for; she was singing for Robertson’s audience, people who often had little except their faith. In spite of this she stood by the sketch that got cut, and the name of that sketch was “Crazy Christians.” Matt and Harriet come to the conclusion that they aren’t going to recover from this argument but they can work together.

Matt finds Danny sitting in one of the show’s sets, the back half of a taxi cab. First he tells Danny that they’re taking the show, then he finally asks Danny what happened. According to Danny, nothing happened it just happened, meaning that there was no real trigger. After eleven years of sobriety he just slipped. More to the point he asked why Danny didn’t tell him; when Matt screws up Danny knows, and not just because he reads about it in the papers but because Matt tells him. He also tells Danny that now that their doing the show only one of them can screw up at a time and they both know that most of the time it will be him so Danny has to have the big shoulders.

Jordan interrupts them as they leave the cab. She tells them that while they don’t know it yet, she’s going to be their dream come true. She gives Matt the script for the sketch that got cut. She thinks it’s inspired but she wants an expert opinion. He doesn’t need to read the script - he wrote it, four years ago just before he apparently quit. She already knew that, and tells Matt and Danny to lead with it next week. Danny asks Jordan how much leeway they’ll have in staffing and she tells him that there are a few people they have to keep, like the current writers and co-Executive Producers Ricky and Ron. Matt says he doesn’t want “Beevis and Hackboy,” but they’ve got a two year deal and the network isn’t going to eat their $30,000 per episode salary. As Jordan departs Danny sees Cal. He tells Cal that there are procedures that you follow because it’s live TV - they practice this stuff often enough – so he thinks that Cal deliberately let Wes go on for 53 seconds. Cal admits that he did and that the guys need to do what they need to do and no hard feelings. Danny immediately tells Cal that they need him to stay on. Just before they go out to meet the cast and announce what is happening to them Danny tells Matt, “We live here now.”

________________________________________________________________

I want to mention three things in this episode, and I want to keep Wes’s meltdown for last. First is Jordan’s actions. As we find out in later episodes Jordan didn’t just put out the possibility that the guy from the insurance company would get back together with her, she slept with him. Now I’m not sure how much of this was due to Amanda Peet’s real life pregnancy and the need to provide an identity for the biological father (since clearly Jordan and Danny aren’t at that stage yet, though it seems apparent that the attraction was there from just about the start) but I’m not sure that that matters. What matters is that Jordan has basically prostituted herself to get the information on Danny, using her sexuality to acquire a reward. And that leads to the question of why she did this. Clearly she didn’t know that Wes was going to go into a 53 second tirade on the state of television – at least I don’t think she did. So essentially this woman has this information and it has a time limit to it; in 18 months (and probably a lot less) it loses any value. So she must have some reason for taking this rather extreme action, having sex with a man she really didn’t care about except as a source of information. Is it a question of having knowledge for knowledge’s sake? Does she have another show for them? I don’t really think so. What other project would be worth it for her or  for them? No, what I think is that Jordan intended to ease Wes out of the show and replace him with Matt and Danny, sooner rather than later. Circumstances forced her hand but she’s too much of a player in this world not to have a reason for her actions.

The second thing – or rather person – I want to look at is Steven Weber who played Jack Rudolph. I always like it and am usually impressed when an actor that I associate primarily with comedy does drama and does it well. Most of my exposure to Steven Weber comes from seeing him in Wings, a show that I admittedly didn’t watch much. Watching Weber as Jack Rudolph is one of those great things, in much the same way that watching Matthew Perry in the handful of episodes he did on The West Wing was something of a revelation. Jack initially appears to be the show’s bad guy, the network executive that Matt and Danny and even Jordan are battling to revive Studio 60, but in later episodes it becomes increasingly clear that he’s not entirely the bad guy. He has to see the whole picture of which Studio 60 – our little corner of the network world – is just a small component. Arguably even Jordan’s part of network operations, the entertainment division, is a small component. Jack is someone who picks his fight. I can’t help but think of him as a “smiling cobra” type (the nickname given to James Aubrey who was the head of CBS TV in the early 1960s).

The way that Weber plays Jack is interesting to me and feels about right. He maintains a certain air of arrogance and is all business. It’s in the words of course but it’s also in the little things. When he and Jordan leave the boardroom and Jordan tells him that she doesn’t know where her office is his reaction is just a quick sucking sound through his teeth. It is the absolute perfect reaction, it says in an instant what you couldn’t say in ten seconds of dialog and it says it all about Jack. Jack almost never lets his vulnerability show. He owns any room that he’s in. Where it becomes scary/interesting is when he’s placed in a circumstance where he’s out of his environment as we see in the two Nevada Day episodes. When he’s facing John Goodman as the judge in Pahrump he yells and blusters and it’s at least in part because he’s in a situation where not only is he not the most important man in the room but he’s really powerless to affect the situation in any way.

So now we have to turn to Wes’s burnout moment. Here’s his speech, as taken from one of the TV sites (I’m cutting the stage direction – you’ll know where they fit):

It's not going to be a very good show tonight…. I think you should change the channel, change the channel right now or better yet turn off the TV, ok? No, no, I know it seems like this is supposed to be funny, but, uh, tomorrow, tomorrow you're gonna find out that it wasn't and by that time I'll have been fired…. No, this is not a sketch. This show used to be cutting edge political and social satire, but it's gotten lobotomized by a candy ass broadcast network, hellbent on doing absolutely nothing that might just challenge their audience. We're about to do a sketch that you've seen already about 500 times. Yeah, yeah, no one's gonna confuse George Bush and George Plimpton, now we get it. We're all being lobotomized by this country's most influential industry. It's just thrown in the towel on any endeavor to do anything that doesn't include the courting of 12 year-old boys. Not even the smart 12 year-olds, the stupid ones, the idiots. Which there are plenty thanks in no small measure to this network. So why don't you just, change the channel? Turn off the TVs do it right now…. The struggle between art and commerce. Well, there's always been a struggle between art and commerce and now I'm telling you art is getting it's ass kicked and it's making us mean and it's making us bitchy. It's making us cheap punks. That's not who we are! People are having contests to see how much they can be like Donald Trump…. We're eating worms for money. "Who wants to screw my sister?" Guys are getting killed in a war that's got theme music and a logo. That remote in your hand is a crack pipe. Oh yeah every once in a while we pretend to be appalled …. Pornographers! It's not even good pornography. They're just this side of snuff films, and friends that's what's next because that's all that's left. And the two things that make them scared gutless are the FCC and every psycho religious cult that gets positively horny at the very mention of a boycott. These are the people they're afraid of. This prissy, feckless, off-the-charts, greed-filled, whorehouse of a network. And you're watching this thoroughly unpatriotic mother-

The rant reads well, but when delivered by Judd Hirsch it really sings to the point that as the show went on, people (smartasses commenting on various blogs really) were harkening back to when the show was good… when Wes was on. It’s a really stupid statement of course. Wes Mandel was a beaten man. He was the reason why the fictional Studio 60 had slid the  way that it did. He compromised years before when Matt and Danny were forced out and from there on it was nothing but compromises – letting Ricky and Ron pretty much write the show despite their obvious lack of ability on that front, giving in to Standards and Practices without a real fight. Jerry had it right when he said that if he had the muscle left to put the sketch on he wouldn’t have asked. Wes had lost the war and his rant was a final kamikaze attack aimed at exposing all the problems with network TV. As to what it accomplished, well that’s harder to figure out beyond accelerating Jordan’s plan.

But of course this isn’t a real ad libbed rant delivered on the spur of the moment by someone who has finally reached his breaking point. It is the very least a plot device to create dramatic interest and to create the situation where these people who were insiders and are now outsiders are brought in. In comic book terms, this whole episode is an origin story and in a good origin story you need a reason why the hero or heroes gain their powers – in this case the power to run the show. That being said I think that Sorkin used Wes’s meltdown as a way to express his own disgust at the direction that TV is going down, and on the whole I think he’s absolutely right. Network television – and I think to that you can add a many of the basic cable networks – has largely given up on the new and innovative. They’re playing it safe to gain and hold the largest portion of the 18-49 demographic. They don’t innovative shows that challenge the established norm because they feel it won’t attract that mass audience. Even if you don’t consider the protests by organizations like the Parents Television Council (“every psycho religious cult that gets positively horny at the very mention of a boycott”) a show like that first season of NYPD Blue wouldn’t be made today – with or without the nudity – and neither would the original Defenders or a St. Elsewhere. And when you add in organizations like the PTC that demands that every show – not every show in the mythological “Family Hour” or in the first two hours of Prime Time, but every show – has to be fit for the children and the dumb children at that (dumbness being defined as the kids who do and say everything that they see and hear on TV; where the influence of the parents is less than the influence of a box of electronics) well then Mandel, and that really means Sorkin who put the words in Wes’s mouth, was right about things being lobotomized.

Of course I could be wrong about all of this.

My Summer Project – Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip

One of the things that I promised myself that I would do to try to get back in the swing of writing again was a summer recap project. I want to recap a single season of a show that I’m particularly fond of, and it would help if the show ran a single season, and that I had the boxed DVD set. Well actually there are a couple of series that I would have broken one of those rules for. I was tempted to do the first season of Life even though I don’t have the second season (I’m too cheap to buy it at the local HMV and I haven’t seen it anywhere else), and I would love to do the seventh season of The Amazing Race, and would have except that I’ve lost two of the DVDs (I do have the complete first season, and maybe next year I’ll write it up).

Realistically though the only show that I really wanted to do was Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. There are several reasons why I want to write about the show, besides the fact that I didn’t at the time and regret it. First up, I know that it has gotten a bad reputation in the years since it left the air and I don’t think that it is entirely deserved. It is a poor effort by Aaron Sorkin, but the fact that people usually won’t acknowledge is that a poor show by Sorkin is generally better than most of the stuff that’s on TV today, and I think that’s true of Studio 60. Some people regard the show as a ratings bomb, and to a degree that’s true, but if you look at the NBC ratings for dramas in that time slot (or indeed any time on Mondays) since the show left the air, most have not performed as well as Studio 60. Certainly the show did well with DVR users, with the highest gain in viewership on the “live plus seven” ratings of any network show. According to the Nielsen ratings at the time, “Studio 60 adds nearly 11%, or almost a million viewers, to its total every week as a result of these ‘live plus seven’ viewers.” But ratings at the time only included those who watched the show as it aired. Today, ratings are based on “Live plus Same Day” viewing figures. And this is despite the fact that I think that the network reached a point where it treated the show worse than what you’d scrape off your shoe after a run through a dog park.

Two other reasons why I wanted to revisit Studio 60 are that I think that a lot of the criticism of the show that I can remember was more about what people wanted the show to be than about what it was, and that it provided more than a bit of insight into the big picture of TV. Those are tied together, and I think they’re more than a bit important. The critics, or maybe just those who wanted to watch a show about a show like Saturday Night Live wanted to see the comedy and when they did they found it wanting. and to a degree they’re right, but a lot of the show isn’t about the comedy, it’s about the making of the comedy and about the bigger picture of network politics and control. The show talked about issues that are coming to the fore today: “incidental indecency,” product placement, and the bi-coastal nature of the medium just to name three (there are more). It maybe “inside Baseball” to a lot of people but it’s the sort of stuff that I find interesting.

So let’s start looking at Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip.

NBC’s 2011-12 Schedule

Although NBC’s official announcement of new shows won’t be official unveiled until Monday morning, the network made an announcement of their new schedule to the press on Sunday, and thanks to the network’s “new media strategies team” this blog was included in this.

The network announced a dozen new series, although not all of these will debut in the Fall season. In addition, several series have been moved, and there are some returning shows that as yet have not had an official release date.

Cancelled: Law & Order: LA, Outsourced, Outlaw, Friday Night Lights, The Event, Friends With Benefits, Love Bites, Perfect Couples, America’s Next Great Restaurant, The Paul Reiser Show, School Pride, The Cape, Chase.

Moved: Chuck, The Sing-Off, Parks & Recreation, Celebrity Apprentice, Harry’s Law.

Retained: Biggest Loser, Community, The Office, Parenthood, Dateline NBC.

New Series: Dramas – The Playboy Club, Prime Suspect, Grimm
Comedies – Up All Night, Free Agents, Whitney

Coming at Mid-Season or Not yet scheduled: Smash (Mondays after the Football Season replacing The Playboy Club), The Firm (Sunday night after the Football season, following Celebrity Apprentice), Awake, Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, Best Friends Forever, Bent. As well, returning series 30 Rock (on hiatus due to Tina Fey’s pregnancy), and Who Do You Think You Are? have been renewed but are not currently on the schedule. As well I have no official information on game show Minute To Win It. Or at least I’ve never seen anything official.

Complete Schedule: (New Shows in CAPITALS; All times are Eastern)

Monday
8:00-10:00 p.m.  The Sing-Off
10:00-11:00 p.m.  THE PLAYBOY CLUB/SMASH

Tuesday
8:00-10:00 p.m.  The Biggest Loser
10:00-11:00 p.m.  Parenthood

Wednesday
8:00-8:30 p.m.  UP ALL NIGHT
8:30-9:00 p.m.  FREE AGENTS
9:00-10:00 p.m.  Harry’s Law (New Day and Time)
10:00-11:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU 

Thursday
8:00-8:30 p.m.  Community
8:30-9:00 p.m.  Parks & Recreation (New Time)
9:00-9:30 p.m.  The Office
9:30-10:00 p.m.  WHITNEY
10:00-11:00 p.m.  PRIME SUSPECT

Friday
8:00-9:00 p.m.  Chuck (New Day and Time)
9:00-10:00 p.m.  GRIMM
10:00-11:00 p.m. Dateline NBC

Sunday (after the NFL season)
7:00-8:00 p.m.  Dateline NBC
8:00-10:00 p.m.  Celebrity Apprentice
10:00-11:00 p.m.  THE FIRM

The Playboy Club, from Oscar winning Executive Producer Brian Grazer and Image Entertainment, is a period piece in the style of Mad Men. The period is the early 1960s, and the place is the legendary Chicago Playboy Club where Chicago’s top movers and shakers – on both sides of the law – mingle for a good time. Eddie Cibrian plays Nick Dalton, one of the city’s top lawyers who has mysterious ties with The Mob. Nick comes to the aid of Maureen (Amber Heard), a stunning, if naive, new Bunny who accidentally kills the head of the Berlanti crime family. Nick is dating Carol-Lynne, “the first Bunny” who realizes that her time at the club is drawing to an end. She is in conflict with club manager Billy (David Krumholtz). Also in the cast are Wes Ramsay, Jenna Dewan Tatum, Naturi Naughton, and Leah Renee.

Up All Night is a new comedy created by Emily Spivey who also serves as Executive Producer along with Lorne Michaels from Saturday Night Live and Jon Pollack. The show stars Christina Applegate and Will Arnett as new parents Reagan and Chris. Chris is a stay at home father while Reagan is a successful PR Executive. The arrival of their baby has set them on a new path towards being responsible adults, although balancing work, marriage and parenthood is not without its share of pressures. Maya Rudolph co-stars as Reagan’s boss whose whirlwind social life is a reminder of how things were for Reagan before the baby. James Pumphrey plays Reagan’s “socially awkward hipster assistant.”

Free Agents is based on a British series of the same name. Hank Azaria plays Alex, a newly divorced advertising executive who can barely keep himself together, while Helen (Katherine Hahn) is his co-worker, a woman who thinks is obsessed with her dead fiancee. She may think that she has it all together but in fact she’s on the edge of falling apart. When, after a drunken night of partying, Alex and Helen wake up in bed together, they decide to reamins “just friends.” However when Alex’s friends (Mo Mandel, Al Madrigal, and Anthony Stewart Head) are able to persuade Alex to re-enter the dating scene, Helen becomes jealous. And when he ultimately gets cold feet about going out on a date, the two end up back where they were – in  a “casual intimate and beautifully awkward relationship.”

Whitney is a new multi-camera comedy starring Whitney Cummins as a woman who is in a happily unmarried relationship with her boyfriend Alex (Chris D’Elia). After attending yet another wedding of their friends Whitney starts to feel that their relationship is on the verge of becoming boring. After a few attempts to spice things up on the advice of a couple of her opinionated friends (Zoe Lister-Jones and Rhea Seehorne) that end up with her and Alex in hospital ER, Whitney realizes that their relationship might not be perfect but it works for them. Also features Maulik Pancholy and Dan O’Brien.

Prime Suspect is a remake of the classic British series of the same name. Maria Bello plays Jane Timoney (the role played by Helen Mirren in the British series with a differnt name) a tough as nails woman detective with her own vices and a questionable past, who has to buck “boy’s club” atmosphere of her new precinct. She’s forceful, rude and reckless but she’s also a brilliant detective. Also stars Aidan Quinn, Brian O’Byrne, Tim Griffin, Kirk Acevedo, Joe Nieves, Damon Gupton, and Peter Gerety.

Grimm is a detective series with a difference. David Guintoli plays Nick Burkhardt, a homicide detective who finds himself seeing things he can’t explain. When his ailing Aunt Marie arrives for a visit she reveals to him that they are descended from a legendary group of hunters known as “Grimms” whose mission is to keep humanity safe from the supernatural creatures of the world. As Nick digs deeper into his heritage he discovers that the mythology of the Brothers Grimm is all too real. Also stars Russell Hornsby, Bitsie Tulloch, Silas Weir Mitchell, Reggie Lee, and Sasha Roiz. Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt are the creators.

Smash is a musical drama centered on the schemers and dreamers who populate the world of the Broadway musical. Tom and Julia (Tony award nominee Christian Borle and Emmy winner Debra Messing) are a successful songwriting team who are given the opportunity to write another hit, based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. Vying for the lead role are an inexperienced Midwesterner played by Katherine McPhee trying to find fame against all odds, and a stage veteran determined to leave the chorus line played by Megan Hilty. Anjelica Huston plays Eileen, a determined producer who jumps all over the Marilyn Monroe project and brings along a brilliant but cunning and amoral director played by Jack Dvenport. The series is based on an idea by Steven Spielberg and features songs by Grammy and Tony award winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

The Firm is based on John Grisham’s novel and the movie of the same name. Young lawyer Mitchell McDeere brought down the Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke which had operated as a front for the Chicago Mob. Now, after ten years in Witness Protection Mitchell and his family have emerged to reclaim their lives. They soon come to realize that past dangers and new threats are lurking. No casting has been announced.

Awake stars Jason Isaac as a detective living a bizarre double life. After a car accident Michael Britten regains consciousness to discover that his wife has died but his son Rex (Dylan Minnette) has survived. Trying to put his life back together Michael awakes to find himself in an alternate reality in which his son died but his wife Hannah (Laura Allen) survived. To keep both of his loved ones in his life he tries to live in both realities, which to say the least is confusing. To try to regain a certain amount of “normalcy” he goes back to work as a detective in both realities… with two different partners played by Steve Harris and Wilmer Valderrama. He also has therapists in both realities, played by Cherry Jones and B.D. Wong.

Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea is a comedy based on Chelsea Handler’s book of the same name. Laura Prepon plays Chelsea, a twenty-something bartender who is a force of nature determined to live life to the fullest. Co-starring are Jo Koy as Mark, a charming bartender whose wit makes him a perfect foil for Chelsea; Angel Laketa Moore as Shoniqua, a smart and sassy waitress who looks out for Chelsea’s best interests; Mark Povinelli as fellow bartender Todd whose wry sense of humour keeps Chelsea in check; Natalie Morales as Ivory, Chelsea’s best friend; Lauren Lapkus as Dee Dee, Chelsea’s shy and sheltered roommate; Lenny Clarke as Chelsea’s father and Melvin Handler as Chelsea’s sister Sloan.

Best Friends Forever is a single camera  comedy starring Jessica St. Clair plays Jessica, a woman who decides to move back with her best friend Lennon (Lennon Parham) after her husband divorces her. Unfortunately Lennon’s boyfriend Joe (Adam Pally) has just moved into the apartment and turned Jessica’s old room into a perfect home office. The two women soon fall back into their old patterns of life, leaving Joe feeling like the odd man out. While Lennon tries to find a balance between her boyfriend and her best friend, Jessica has to deal with the unresolved feelings that her old friend Rav (Stephen Schneider) has for her. St. Clair and Parham are Executive Producers along with Scot Armstrong and Ravi Nandan.

Bent is a romantic comedy about two people who are suddenly attracted by qualities that usually repel them. Amanda Peet plays Alex, a tough and resilient lawyer who is now a single mother of an eight year old daughter (Charlie, played by Zoe King). Deciding to downsize she moves into a smaller house and hires Pete (David Walton) to redo her kitchen. David is a recovering gambling addict and an unapologetic womanizer for whom the remodelling job is one last chance to prove that he isn`t a screw-up. Pete doesn`t know what`s about to hit him when he encounters Alex, while for her part Alex isn`t ready for someon who isn`t afraid to call her out for her flaws. Jeffrey Tambor plays Pete`s father Walt, an out of work actor while Margo Harshman plays Alex`s wild younger sister Screwsie.

Comments:
As usual, I am giving an instant uniformed analysis based on the synopses given by the network in their press release. I`ve watched a couple of of the clips that NBC provided with their press release but I haven`t looked at them all yet, and while the NBC clips are available to me, clips from the other networks may not be.

First up, some thoughts on time slots. NBC will be running reality shows in the 8-10 p.m. time slot two nights in a row – Monday and Tuesday – for the first half of the year, and three nights in a row once Celebrity Apprentice returns (with or without Donald Trump, depending on whether or not he decides to run for the Republican nomination for the Presidency). In my opinion this is altogether too much. Worse, their reality competitions on Monday night will be running up against the established time slot domination of ABC`s Dancing With The Stars. I don`t think that bodes well for Sing-Off or The Voice. I’m also dubious as to whether Playboy Club will be able to carve out an audience up against the established competition of Castle. Even the highly touted Hawaii Five-0 had difficulty in the time slot this past season. One thing’s for sure; the Parent’s Television Council, which has a knee-jerk negative reaction to anything or anyone even tangentially related to Playboy, will be watching this show like a hawk to find something to protest (in fact they already are protesting a supposed nudity clause in the actors’ contracts) – which in an odd way will probably make long-time anti-censorship advocate Hugh Hefner rather pleased. No matter, I don’t hold out too much hope for this show.

Sadly, another show that I don’t hold out much hope for is the one that will replace Playboy Club on Monday nights at midseason, Smash. If Studio 60, a series about the television industry, was considered to be too much “inside baseball” by viewers, how are they expected to react to a show about the inner workings of Broadway musicals. I realize that NBC is trying to tap into the audience that has made FOX’s Glee a big success, but I just don’t see this show catching on, particularly against the established competition.

Of the remaining NBC dramas debuting at the beginning of the season, the one with the greatest chance of success is obviously Prime Suspect. The network has finally decided to stop fooling around with a full night of comedies, and is making a serious push for viewers in the 10-11 p.m. slot on Thursdays. I have a couple of reservations about the show however. They are again trying to establish a beachhead in a time slot with established competition, and while Private Practice might be ready to be pushed out, I think the best that NBC can hope for is a second place finish. I have to wonder if the show will deal with criminal cases in a multi-episode manner, in the way that the British original did, or whether it will be just another “one and done” procedural like most of the shows on TV. Finally, with all due respect to Maria Bello as an actress, she has some mighty big shoes to fill taking on a role originally played by Dame Helen Mirren, and even if Bello is brilliant in the part she will inevitably be compared – negatively – to Mirren’s performance in the part.

Grimm is probably doomed by the time slot alone. Conventional wisdom does suggest after all that Fridays are a dead night for TV viewership. There is at least one point in its favour, and that is that it is paired with an established series in Chuck. The problem is that while Chuck has an ardent following, it is a small ardent following, and by the description Grimm comes across as odder than the show that will lead into it. The same can probably be said for Awake, except of course that we don’t know the time slot that they show will occupy. In fact, if NBC holds to their stated intention of ending Chuck after thirteen episodes Awake might lead into Grimm which in my opinion would be a disaster.

Turning to the comedies, I will remind you that I am not a very good audience for comedies, so my opinions on those series is probably not worth much. The one that stands out for me is probably Free Agents. It is probably the comedy that I would have put into NBC’s Thursday night line-up instead of Whitney. To me – and to others – Whitney doesn’t seem like a good fit on the night. As to the rest of the comedies – and this is just a gross generalization – there is nothing that really gabs me as being original or ground-breaking. There seems to be a lot of romantic comedies and attempts to duplicate the success of Friends. Judged purely on the descriptions and with no reference to the star power attached to the projects, I’d have to say that there’s nothing in this list that reaches out and grabs me the way that I would need to be grabbed if I were going to watch a comedy.

On the  whole I think that NBC has some ambitious show ideas, but I’m doubtful as to how successful these ideas will be when placed before the public. NBC is trying stuff which is good, but I'm don’t think people will be watching in the numbers that the network is hoping to attract.

(Editted to complete the list of cancelled shows.)

NBC's 2010-11 Schedule

NBC has released its new line-up for the 2010 season. Some surprising cancellations (well not too surprising given the way that the networks have been announcing cancellations, renewals and pilots that have been picked up.

Cancelled: The Jay Leno Show, Heroes, Law & Order, Mercy, Trauma.

Retained: Chuck, Biggest Loser, Parenthood, Community, Who Do You Think You Are?, Dateline NBC, Minute To Win It, Celebrity Apprentice.

Moved: Law & Order: SVU, The Office, 30 Rock,.

New: The Event, Chase, Undercovers, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Outsourced, Love Bites, Outlaw.

In addition NBC has the following series for mid-season replacements: Dramas The Cape, and Harry's Law; Comedies Perfect Couples, The Paul Reiser Show, and Friends With Benefits; Reality series School Pride. Also available are returning shows The Marriage Ref, Parks & Recreation, and Friday Night Lights.

Complete Schedule: (New shows in Capitals)
Monday
8:00-9:00 p.m. Chuck
9:00-10:00 p.m. THE EVENT
10:00-11:00 p.m. CHASE

Tuesday
8:00-10:00 p.m. Biggest Loser
10:00-11:00 p.m. Parenthood

Wednesday
8:00-9:00 p.m. UNDERCOVERS
9:00-10:00 p.m. Law & Order: SVU (New Time)
10:00-11:00 p.m. LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES

Thursday
8:00-8:30 p.m. Community
8:30-9:00 p.m. The Office (New Time)
9:00-9:30 p.m. 30 Rock (New Time)
9:30-10:00 p.m. OUTSOURCED
10:00-11:00 p.m. LOVE BITES

Friday
8:00-9:00 p.m. SCHOOL PRIDE/Who Do You Think You Are?
9:00-10:00 p.m. Dateline NBC
10:00-11:00 p.m. OUTLAW

Saturday
8:00-11:00 p.m. Encore Programming

Sunday (beginning March 2010)
7:00-8:00 p.m. Dateline NBC
8:00-9:00 p.m. Minute To Win It
9:00-11:00 p.m. Celebrity Apprentice

The Event stars Jason Ritter as an average guy who becomes involved in the biggest cover-up in the history of the United States when he investigates the disappearance of his fiancée. In the course of events he becomes involved with a diverse group of people and uncovers a global conspiracy that could change the course of human history. Also stars Blair Underwood, Laura Innes, Scott Paterson, Ian Anthony Day, and Zeljko Ivanek.

Chase is a new series from Jerry Bruckheimer starring Kelli Giddish as the leader of a group of US Marshals hunting down America's most wanted fugitives. Also stars Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Rose Rollins and Jesse Metcalfe as members of her team.

Undercovers from J.J. Abrams is about two former spies who retired after falling in love and started a small catering company. When one of their former colleagues disappears on a mission they are reactivated by their former boss and discover that the excitement and danger is what their marriage has been missing. Stars Boris Kodjoe, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessica Parker-Kennedy, Carter McIntyre, Gerald McRaney, and Ben Schwartz.

Law & Order: Los Angeles is the latest in Dick Wolf's L&O franchise, substituting Los Angeles for New York. Casting has yet to be announced.

Outsourced is a comedy based on the 2006 movie of the same name. The series deals with the comedic situations that an American call center manager faces when his company fires all of its American workers and outsources the work to India. Todd Dempsy (played by Ben Rappaport) faces severe culture shock while trying to educate his new Indian team on things American so that they can sell American products that they have no real exposure to. Also stars, Rizwan Manji, Sacha Dhawan, Parvesh Cheena, Anisha Nagarashan, Rebecca Hazelwood, Diedrich Bader, and Jessica Gower.

Love Bites is an hour long comedy anthology. Beckie Newton and Jordana Spiro star as the last of their friends to remain single. Their stories serve as an anchor for the series while other characters have their stories told.

Outlaw is a legal drama starring Jimmy Smits as Supreme Court Justice Cyrus Garza who suddenly quits and returns to private practice to fight for "the little guy," while upsetting a lot of the "big guys." Also stars Jesse Bradford, Carly Pope, Ellen Woglom, and David Ramsay.

School Pride is a reality series in which a team of experts (SWAT commander Tom Stroup, interior designer Susie Castillo, former substitute teacher Kym Whitley and political correspondent Jacob Soboroff) help the students, parents and teachers of "aged and broken down" public schools to renovate their schools and at the same time restore a sense of value and pride in the community.

The Cape is a drama about Vince Faraday, an honest cop on a corrupt police department. Forced into hiding and presumed dead after being framed for a murder he takes on the identity of his son's favourite comic book character The Cape. As The Cape he battles crime including his nemesis Chess, a twisted killer who is also a multi-millionaire. He is trained by the leader of a circus gang of bank robbers, works with an investigative blogger who uncovers crime and corruption in Palm City, and has a former detective and friend as an ally. Stars David Lyons, Jennifer Ferrin, Ryan Wynot, James Frain, Keith David, Summer Glau, and Dorian Missick.

Harry's Law is a David E. Kelly series about three people looking for a fresh start. Harriet Korn (Oscar winner Kathy Bates) is a successful patent lawyer who has been fired from her cushy joband realises that she is disillusioned by her success. She meets Malcom (Aml Ameen), who is trying to figure out life, but right now needs a lawyer to help him in a criminal case, and Matt (as yet uncast – Ben Chaplin has been dropped from the project), who was Malcolm's former teacher but is now out of work. Together they for a new law firm operating out of a former shoe store. Also stars Brittany Snow and Beatrice Rosen.

Perfect Couples is a comedy about three couples who are interlinked by friendships. Dave and Julia (Kyle Howard, Christine Woods) are the "normal relatable" couple while Dave's best friend Vance and Amy (David Walton, Mary Elizabeth Ellis) are the "high-passion high-drama" couple. Rounding out the group are Rex and his wife Leigh (Hayes MacArthur, Olivia Munn) who consider themselves the "perfect couple" and relationship experts since they've attended every class and seminar on relationships and are there to share their "expertise" with their friends.

Friends with Benefits is a comedy about Ben (Ryan Hansen) and Sara (Danneel Harris) a pair of twenty-somethings who offer each other "moral and physical support" as they try to find Mr. and Ms. Right. Each has their own definitions of the right person. Also in the mix are their friends Aaron (Fran Kranz), Hoon (Ian Reed Kessler) and Riley (Jessica Lucas) who all have their own dating issues.

The Paul Reiser Show stars Paul Reiser in a fictionalized version of his day to day life. Since his successful show left the air, Paul has settled into a comfortable life with his wife and kids, but increasingly he's felt the need to do something new and meaningful – he just doesn't know what that is yet. In his search for what that is he is helped and hindered by his "friends" who are mostly the husband's of his wife's friends or the fathers of the kids his children go to school with. Co-stars include Ben Shenkman, Omid Djalili, Duane Martin, Andrew Daly, and Amy Landecker.

Comments:
Bear in mind when I write about these shows here, I am giving instant uninformed analysis based entirely on the descriptions given in the network press release. While clips from the shows are out there on the Internet and quite easily available, I haven't looked at them yet. It's all based on gut instinct and what I think people will like. I like to think that for this sort of stuff at least I've got a pretty good gut.

First I want to look at a couple of time slot choices; one which could make a lot of sense, the other that may make sense in programming terms but which kind of robs me the wrong way. The first of these is the decision to place Outlaw with Jimmy Smits in the third hour of Friday slot. Initially I wondered about the thinking behind this move, given that for the most part the networks have, of late, treated Fridays as a sort of dumping ground. However the more I think of it the more the move makes a certain amount of sense. ABC will almost certainly rely on their long list of reality shows and anchor the third hour with newsmagazine 20/20 which means that the only dramatic competition will come from CBS. It seems pretty clear that CBS won't be bringing Numb3rs back given the reduced order this season and the way that the season finale played out. It seems equally unlikely that they'll keep current time slot incumbent Miami Medical which is a serviceable enough show that lacks the magic spark of an ER... and the ratings that ER got too. It seems likely then that Outlaw will go up against another freshman show, and in that case it's a bit of a crap shoot. I still give the edge – sight unseen – to CBS though.

The other timeslot situation is more of a problem for me. NBC has Parenthood on in the third hour following Biggest Loser while Law & Order: SVU is hammocked between new shows Undercovers and Law & Order: Los Angeles. The problem for me is that it doesn't seem like the appropriate time for SVU to air, given the nature of the cases that the show deals with. Certainly the Parents Television Council, which objects to SVU regardless of what time the show airs, would agree. Meanwhile Parenthood is the sort of show that could easily run in any time slot. Indeed the original plan for the series last season (before Maura Tierney's illness forced her replacement with Lauren Graham and delayed the launch to midseason) had been to run the show in the first hour of Wednesday, while SVU's placement in the second hour was necessitated by the presence of The Jay Leno Show. It would seem more logical to me to put Law & Order: Los Angeles on Tuesday night after Biggest Loser and make the Wednesday line-up Parenthood, Undercovers, Law & Order: SVU. But what do I know?

As for the shows, of the dramas that will debut in September, I think that Undercovers and perhaps Chase are the ones with a chance of success. Undercovers has the benefit of being a J.J. Abrams series and depending on how they play it, it could have something of a Hart To Hart or even the aftermath of True Lies to it. Chase immediately seems like the rather unsuccessful sequel to the movie The Fugitive, which focused on Gerard and his team of Marshals. Against a weakening CSI: Miami it might make some headway. The Event comes across like some of those attempts to recapture the magic of Lost or 24 like Kidnapped and Vanished that popped up a few years ago and disappeared almost as quickly. I'm not sure I'd get too attached to it. And I just can't get excited about Dick Wolf's latest trip to the Law & Order well. What can you do differently in Los Angeles than you could do in New York... beyond saving money with a new cast? I halfway wish they'd have tried to bring the UK version of Law & Order to an American audience.

Turning to the comedies that will be debuting in September, Love Bites really doesn't do anything for me. It reminds me of The Love Boat minus the boat. The real tricky one however is going to be Outsourced. I think that Marc Berman has made a fair point in his Programming Insider podcast that in these economic times Americans aren't really in the mood to embrace a show about American jobs being outsourced to India. I think that the potential is there for funny stuff about conflicting cultures, but I just don't know if people are going to be willing to give it a chance.

As far as the replacement dramas are concerned, Harry's Law interests me not at all. I am rather intrigued by the concept behind The Cape which reminds a lot of the classic 1940s style "mystery men" comic book characters who for whatever reason put on a costume and fought crime armed with nothing more than determination and a good right cross. Characters of this sort included the original Mr. Terrific, the original Atom, Wildcat, and yes even Batman. If they do this right it could pick up a following.

Of the comedies for mid-season, I suppose the one that interests me most is The Paul Reiser Show, which is suspect is also the one least likely to succeed. While Friends With Benefits and Perfect Couples look like shows that we've seen before (with the base model being Friends) The idea behind The Paul Reiser Show seems to be of a slightly higher quality, reminiscent of the way Larry David "plays" a version of himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm. It has probably been tried before, at least as far back as the Dick van Dyke Show but it still seems like a new idea for network TV. So of course it probably won't last.

Next up, FOX (just as soon as I write it).