Studio 60: Determined to see this thing through to the bitter end, Pen-Elayne takes to the keyboard once again to live blog on the Sunset Strip

Welcome back, folks, for another edition of live-blogging Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip with guest host Pen-Elayne and special musical guest, Glenn Campbell!

Before we bring Elayne out here, the management would like to remind you that the management isn't here again tonight.  Management has other things to do.  Management says those other things are none of your beeswax.  But Management wishes it could be here.  Management promises it will be here in spirit.  So don't get any ideas just because Management isn't here you're free to go wild.  Management will know.  Management will always know.  You can't escape the watchful eye of Management.  Management is a lot like God that way, except that God dresses better and doesn't need to take a crummy job like the one Management has.  Management thinks God thinks he's all that and a bag of chips.  Management has a few words it'd like to say to God.  Management, however, is a coward and won't say boo to God, if you want the truth.  Management won't say boo to Pen-Elayne either.  Management warns you not to say boo to her either.  Management requires you all now to put your hands together and say Yay for Pen-Elayne!

Ladies and gentlemen...Pen-Elayne!

AAAAAH!

Oh sorry, I tbought someone said "boo" and I had that automatic fright response.  Which is, I hope, not to be my reaction to this evening's Studio 60.  I do have a lot of trepidation, though.  On the one hand, it's kind of entertaining to see Sorkin write about something with which he's obviously comfortable (people shooting the breeze -- but seriously -- about geopolitical minutiae) rather than something about which he has shown us he doesn't really care all that much (the ostensible subject matter of Studio 60).  On the other hand... yee-ick, that's a hell of a one-two pathos punch, y'know?  Will the baby need to be ransomed before Jordan marries Rob Corddry (that's Nate's brother, right?)?  Confused?  You will be!

Live blogging will start around 9:50 PM Eastern.  Thanks again to the absentee Management, which I'm really used to by now in my own day jobm, about which never you mind.  See you later...

9:50 - Okay, it's later.  When last we left our intrepid cast, they were doubtless wondering what roles, if any, they're going to play in Sorkin's next project, rumored to be about a misunderstood television writer with Something To Say (Brad Whitford and Steven Weber are both up for that one, I hear) and his wacky but supportive sycophants who spend their time laboriously explaining why it's important to have Something To Say while they walk real fast down corrid-- oh, you've heard that one already.

Okay fine, for reals: Jordan's scheduled for a C-section to alleviate the sudden convenient symptoms she wasn't feeling until late last episode, and Jack Rudolph, Action Executive Transvestite (that's ™ and © Ken Houghton) was attempting to get Tom's captured brother and his airmen buddies D&C'ed... no wait, PDQ'ed... oh yeah, K&R'ed.  Which nobody's ever heard of except millions of liberal bloggers, but never mind all that now.  When in doubt, Action Executive goes where governments fear to tread; take that, Jeb Bartlett!  (This would have been over in like 15 minutes on West Wing, wouldn't it?)  Harriett and Matt are bantering and arguing through the years (props to Sorkin for being a little more deft in his time-jumps last week), and we'll probably never know what's up with D.L. Hughley's character's love life.

9:55 - JD's mental voice isn't as funny on the rerun.

9:58 - Although I still like "Mousse! And a twist!"

10:00 - That's a damn strange Wendy's ad.  "Hot juicy burger" indeed.  It doesn't even look appetizing.

10:01 - I wish these musicians wouldn't listen to their XM radios with their eyes closed whilst sitting in the driver's seat of their Lexim.

10:03 - Okay, here we go.  "Doesn't have to be good, just has to be on."  Way to CYA, Sorkin!

10:04 - Yikes, my friend Randy's wife just had this attached-placenta thing.  Fortunately mom and newborn son are doing fine now.

10:05 -  "These are the calming influences" made me chuckle, I'll admit it.

10:07 - "Things are moving fast tonight."  My husband's response: "About bloody time too."  I dunno, I think I'll reserve judgement.  He's led us down this primrose path before.

10:09 - Yes yes, iPhone.  "This is your email.  This is your music. This is your iPhone on drugs.  This will cost you 500 bucks and that's not even including your monthly charges."

10:11 - Wow, The 4400 is still on?

10:12 - Aaand we're back.  Oh excellent, Danny meltdown.  Hot juicy burger!

10:13 - "Is there anything you need from me?"  Five thousand comeback lines struggling to get out...

10:15 - Nate Corddry is danged impressive.  I like the other actor in the scene too.  Very good gallows-type humor.

10:16 - Lucy, you really don't want to read any more.  Those darned blogs!

10:17 - Second major chuckle of the night, on the baby's weight...

10:17 - Lucy should really not have read Pajamas Media.  I mean really.  I can't even believe liberal bloggers read that, even if it's just to make fun of it.

10:18 - He walked in, with matted down hair!  Oh no he di'int!  Oh yes he did!

10:20 - Now see, that 6-years-ago writers' room was actually interesting.  Maybe because they were reading papers and not surfing Pajamas Media?

10:23 - I'm already sick of Princes William and Harry.

10:25 - Alas, there's never any news on J. Lo, I could have told him that.  It's all crap anyway.

10:26 - "I hate being irrelevant."  Oh, you'll get used to it, Aaron...

10:27 - I like the nurse's "Isn't that like a man" bit.  Third chuckle.

10:28 - Why doesn't he just ask her how to get an ID bracelet?

10:29 - It occurs to me we haven't actually seen a lot of Harriet-and-Danny one-on-one.  Or, like, any.  This was interesting.

10:31 - Ooh, what does Jeannie know about the pajama people?

10:33 - Oh dear.  I'm scared about Jordan too.  And I have absolutely no emotional investment.

10:35 - It all "sounds scarier than it is."  It's just a TV show.  Hey wait, didn't they sort of promise things would be moving fast tonight?

10:40 - Okay, the time travel transitions are a little worse tonight than they were last week.  And give Harriet a break, she does a cute Holly Hunter.

10:42 - A sketch mocking Karl Rove is about as pro-American as it gets.

10:43 - I don't like the Absent Wes storyline in the past scenes.  We've never been shown this guy is all that and a bag of chips, and I don't feel like taking that at face value.

10:45 - He's got her back?  Whose got his back?  (Wow, I didn't think I'd be able to use a line from Superman.  Thank you, weird brain!)  I dunno, the parallels here are dangerous -- just as Danny ought to be warned not to care about this newborn girl, we have to push ourselves to care about the characters.  And it's getting more difficult, because we know they won't be around much longer.  Only... well, only 15 or so more minutes, in my case.

10:49 - Ah, that's better.  Der Hasselhoff!  And Dame Osborne?  Oh dear.

10:50 - Good scene, with Tom wanting the "estranged" speculation corrected.  There's as little chance of fixing that as getting the Pajama People a brain, or a heart, or courage.

10:52 - Another backwards time-jump.  This is not making me nostalgic for a time before some people thought Bush wasn't stupid, you know.  Although it is making me nostalgic for West Wing.

10:54 - It's 10:54, there's obviously going to be a Part III.  At this point I can't differentiate between mullahs, muftis and Muslims, so I'm glad someone else is going to do this next week.

10:56 - Ouch, that's a great Simon scene.  And rang very true, the paparazzi finding his little hiding place...

10:57 - And one mention of Jack Rudolph, Action Executive... but who cares, Simon's ON, baby!

10:58 - "Now we have a whole new story."  Oh good, because it's not like they were moving forward with the current one or anything.

Okay, I'm out of here for now.  Pray for Jordan, pray for Tom and his brother, pray for Simon's wonderful mouth, pray for or with Harriet, because even if you believe prayer is fictional, well, so are they all.  Back to you, Lance!

Comments

[Jim Tourtelott]

At least the Doogie Howser reference was only a dozen years out of date. Sorkin is working his way toward the contemporary.

[Culture of Truth]

"You ad libbed?"

I'll say this: the best thing about the show is the interaction between Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford.

[Culture of Truth]

oh I'd like to see him do Trump

[Culture of Truth]

baby weight joke did make me laugh. HIPAA reference!

[Elayne Riggs]

HIPAA hits too close to home for me, or at least too close to business, as I have to deal with those regs daily... so sometimes it just glosses over me.

[Jim Tourtelott]

He couldn't just ask for a bracelet. If he had, Doogie wouldn't have been the deus ex machina.

[Culture of Truth]

this standards guy looks like a young charlie chaplin

[Culture of Truth]

as I have to deal with those regs daily...

So do I...

[Jim Tourtelott]

I have forgotten. Is he the same standards guy whose insistence on cutting Crazy Christians caused Wes to go all Howard Beale in the premiere?

[Jim Tourtelott]

So, is Simon's last speech Sorkin's considered judgment of his audience?

[Ken Houghton]

Did he say, "You'd have to be an idiot to lose money with Studio 60?"

[Ken Houghton]

BY the way, what happened to Donovan??

[Ken Houghton]

And the perfect Glen Campbell encore (since there doesn't seem to be a video of him doing "The Moon's a Harsh Mistress" on YouTube).

[john]

That last scene really was a "West Wing" scene.

Poor Aaron. He misses Jeb!

I do too, but probably not as much.

[Ellie]

Jeb? JEB? Ahem, it's Jed.

The show? Seriously, this was one of the worst episodes of the series. There were a few cute lines, but just about everything was off. Bleh.

[john]

Whoops -- you're right -- it's Jed.

Yeah, I miss him!

[Ken "Pajama Person" Houghton]

I thought it was Jebediah.

"Your recent episodes of Studio 60 are so clearly a do-over for The West Wing's completely lame attempt to deal with September 11." More here.