Studio 60: Starter thread for Starter Wife Refugees

Have at it, folks!

Looking for something to read during the commercials or another one of Harriet's self-righteous lectures?

Craig Lindsey, movie critic for the Raleigh News & Observer, occasional visitor to this blog and sometime pseudonymous commenter, wrote a piece for Philadelphia Weekly in which he cheerfully declares Studio 60 the show he loves to hate.

And last week, Victoria, of imtalkinghere, left a long, thoughful comment here defending Studio 60 and Aaron Sorkin.  "I’ll miss Studio 60," Victoria says, "because I take this world seriously and these days that can burn a person out, and sometimes it’s a comfort to spend a diverting, well-played hour with characters who aren’t criminals, or emergency room doctors, or street thugs, or dumb-ass mafia types. Hold the adrenaline. A little style + rhythm is not a bad thing."

Comments

[SV]

"I can just have Halley" take care of it."
- JACK RUDOLPH, ACTION EXECUTIVE

The only reason left to watch.

[Jim Tourtelott]

I've missed the first half hour, yet apparently I've missed nothing.

Wasn't it clear that Matt was taking pills something like six months ago? If Danny is such a keenly aware drug addict, how did he fail to notice then?

[Jim Tourtelott]

Well, that ending was utterly contemptible, combining cheesy melodrama with fake high-mindedness. Some things are more important than ratings, so we'll get ratings by putting a frequently mentioned off-screen character into the Nick Berg beheading tape.

Suddenly I need to take a bath.

[SV]

So last week we get a story about how, hey, every show sucks sometimes, so stay off my back! And this week we get a story about how, hey, there are more important things than ratings, so stay off my back! In the process, he trashes the talents of his actors, pretends to put a baby in jeopardy, and pimps out people's grief over the wars. I am steadily loosing all respect for Sorkin.

Great writer of highly stylized dialog, no question.

Self-serving ghoul and self-absorbed schmuck...probably.

Keep this man away from plot development!

(But, PS: I've found another actor I'm in love with - Merritt Wever. This woman SO deserves a bigger role on a better series!)

[CJR]

Long-time lurker, first-time commenter.
Just thought I'd mention that C. Lindsey is the movie critic for the Raleigh News & Observer (the Charlotte paper is called the Observer, so I understand the confusion).

[travy]

not a bad episode, but don't ya think the war stuff was a little heavy handed? lil' cordry "leads with the war" only to have his brother kidnapped and beheaded by the end? wow, deep sorkin, very deep...

[Lance]

CJR, Thanks for de-lurking, thanks for reading, and thanks for the correction. I'm making the fix. And apologies to Craig. That was the result of a typing on autopilot while at work. I have good reason to know which paper Craig writes for, as you'll see when the post I'm working on now goes up this afternoon.

[Karen]

Wait, Harriet is supposed to be the consummate professional, but she decides--not once, but TWICE--that it's appropriate to tell someone in the MIDDLE OF A LIVE SHOW that his brother may--MAY!--have gone missing? Is she just a stone bitch or what?

I did like the scenes with Matt and Suzanne, although they got over the top in places. I liked that Suzanne went to Danny. Everything else? Crap.

And that ending was just reprehensible. Does Sorkin really not get that he's exploiting the war just like all those people he despises so much?

[Victoria]

Uh...I got nuthin'. Except to say (a) Suzanne was interesting; Merrit Wever played those scenes her very OWN way, (b) there should be a stable of first-rate writers churning out parts for Kari Matchett.

[Dan Coyle]

Kari Matchett.

Hair Dye

Marvel's the Black Widow.

License to print money, I tells ya.

Mr. Corddry, I know Richard Schiff, and you, sir, are no Richard Schiff.

Note: I do not actually know Richard Schiff.