Post by Noah on Sept 29, 2006 2:10:23 GMT -5
I really don't like television very much, and one of the reasons I don't like it is that it sucks me in. Sure, the vast majority of TV fare is atrocious, but there's also some good stuff there, and whenever I accidentally stumble upon it, it eats at my time like a parasite. So I've adopted, and admirably (I think) maintained, a strict rule that I will only watch one show regularly at a time. It used to be The West Wing, an easy choice if you're only going to watch one show. But when The West Wing ended, I kind of decided not to replace it with a new show. I thought, this is great, I'll save an hour a week!
Right up until the day it premiered, I was pretty determined not to watch (and thereby get sucked into) Studio 60 (from Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing, who wrote almost every episode of that show's first four seasons, which is when it was a great show). Then I gave in and watched the pilot, and of course I had to see the second episode this week.
I think it's great. There are obviously kinks to be worked out, but watch the first two episodes of The West Wing, keeping in mind what the show became, even during that first season. Aaron Sorkin's writing is just beautiful. It's not just that he writes better dialogue than just about anyone else in the world; it's that the dialogue he writes is the whole point of the show. There's always plenty of action, and sex -- but these are never shown; they're just talked about, by people who inhabit our reality, and are hyperintelligent and hyperfunny. It's people in a room, speaking. It's theatre.
Studio 60 is like having The West Wing back again -- and it's the Sorkin West Wing, not the uneven meanderings of the last three seasons. Originally I thought there was no way Studio 60 could move me as much, because its milleu is comparatively pedestrian. The West Wing was automatically profound because of the gravity of its subject matter. But as it turns out, of course, Studio 60 is about one of the few things I care about more than politics -- putting on a comedy show with your friends.
Of course, the new show hasn't touched the old one yet; we're only two episodes in. But those two episodes are so promising, I know I'm going to lose that extra hour a week.
Right up until the day it premiered, I was pretty determined not to watch (and thereby get sucked into) Studio 60 (from Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing, who wrote almost every episode of that show's first four seasons, which is when it was a great show). Then I gave in and watched the pilot, and of course I had to see the second episode this week.
I think it's great. There are obviously kinks to be worked out, but watch the first two episodes of The West Wing, keeping in mind what the show became, even during that first season. Aaron Sorkin's writing is just beautiful. It's not just that he writes better dialogue than just about anyone else in the world; it's that the dialogue he writes is the whole point of the show. There's always plenty of action, and sex -- but these are never shown; they're just talked about, by people who inhabit our reality, and are hyperintelligent and hyperfunny. It's people in a room, speaking. It's theatre.
Studio 60 is like having The West Wing back again -- and it's the Sorkin West Wing, not the uneven meanderings of the last three seasons. Originally I thought there was no way Studio 60 could move me as much, because its milleu is comparatively pedestrian. The West Wing was automatically profound because of the gravity of its subject matter. But as it turns out, of course, Studio 60 is about one of the few things I care about more than politics -- putting on a comedy show with your friends.
Of course, the new show hasn't touched the old one yet; we're only two episodes in. But those two episodes are so promising, I know I'm going to lose that extra hour a week.
