7 posts tagged “studio 60”

As I previously announced, Studio 60 is dead to me (and may be dead to everyone else - after tonight it's going on hiatus to make room for The Black Donnellys which is a series from Paul Haggis writer of Oscar winners and nominees Million Dollar Baby, Crash, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima).  My friend Kimley suggested that I replace it with No Reservations on the Travel Channel from the hilariously acerbic top chef, Anthony Bourdain.  Excellent suggestion and a good show.  I however' for now, will be watching the remainder of The White Rapper Show at it's original time rather than trying to catch a repeat over the weekend.  All the cool kids (Tiffany, Jason, Lynne, ...who else?) are watching it! 

The Wire Watch: Bubbles (Andre Royo) had a small part on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) stars in Tyler Perry's latest film, Daddy's Little Girls and the previously mentioned event Evening with "The Wire" is indeed open to the public so if you are in LA on February 22 don't miss this event.

America's Ballroom Challenge continues to delight with it's sheer wackiness.  Last week was International Standard which are the super formal ballroom dances like Fox Trot and Waltz.  Well Igor Litvinov and Julia Ivleva fox trotted, quick stepped and pogoed to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to win the show dance portion of last week's competition.  There are only two more episodes.  Don't miss it and, as they say, check your local listings.

And tomorrow, set your DVRs for Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes on PBS.  A bit of the description of the film:

Filmmaker Byron Hurt, a life-long hip-hop fan, was watching rap music videos on BET when he realized that each video was nearly identical. Guys in fancy cars threw money at the camera while scantily clad women danced in the background. As he discovered how stereotypical rap videos had become, Hurt, a former college quarterback turned activist, decided to make a film about the gender politics of hip-hop, the music and the culture that he grew up with. “The more I grew and the more I learned about sexism and violence and homophobia, the more those lyrics became unacceptable to me,” he says. “And I began to become more conflicted about the music that I loved.” The result is HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, a riveting documentary that tackles issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture.

Although I'm more familiar with feminist perspectives on hip-hop, I'm looking forward to seeing some discussion around the problematic issues of masculinity.  I worry for my nephews not just for for my niece.

Saturday Night Live was actually pretty funny for a change.  This season has been particularly weak with key departures and budget cutting dismissals leaving a lean cast.  This week with Alec Baldwin as host was both cameo and laugh packed.  The Carpool, Platinum Lounge and Tony Bennett sketches were highlights.  The very rude punchline about Bobby McFerrin in the carpool sketch was hilarious and worked only because of Baldwin's pitch-perfect deadpan.

And speaking of Alec Baldwin, he who is en fuego this year (he was also awesome in The Departed) elevates 30 Rock from just enjoyable to must see.  30 Rock moves to Thursday in NBC's schedule shuffle in yet another attempt to recapture Thursday night comedy block glory.

Studio 60 is another story altogether.  I am a fan of NBC for giving full-season orders for Studio 60 and Friday Night Lights even though I don't watch FNL and may give up on Studio 60.  It's great that NBC is giving both these shows time to find their audiences instead of dumping them at the first sign of weak ratings for two more hours of Deal or No Deal.  I wanted to like FNL after the constant critical praise it's received but it just didn't click with me and I barely made it through the first episode.  Studio 60 had enough in the pilot to keep me coming back to see if I could get into it.  But after last night's episode (part 2 of "Nevada Day") I just don't know that I can keep watching.  I didn't laugh, chuckle or even crack a smile for the entire hour.  Some argue that it's a drama and therefore doesn't have to make you laugh.  But given that it's about a comedy show and that they show pieces from the fictional show-within-the-show, there should be some humor.  And for the drama part, I have to at least care about the characters.  There is little to invest me in the characters other than the dialogue that tells me how I should perceive the characters (e.g. Matt and Harriet have chemistry because they used to be a couple when there is no chemistry on screen).

I still think there is hope but I'll join the chorus of viewers giving notes to Aaron Sorkin: 1. Matt and Danny have chemistry, Matt and Harriet do not.  Shift the focus.  2. Even when trying to be fair and balanced your discussion of issues is too heavy handed - I felt beaten about the head and ears with the whole gay marriage thing.  Bringing up topical, sensitive and thorny issues is a good thing - preaching, especially to the choir, is not so good.  3. Show some action to make us care about the characters rather than taking it as a given.  Regardless of the debate over the context of his introduction, the character Darius (the black comic newly hired as a writer) was shown as vulnerable (bombing on stage with his too-literate, not-base-enough comedy) so I buy his nervous unsure efforts in the writing room and care about him and can root for him.  You just telling me that Tom is one of the "big three" and that he has groupies means I don't buy it and nor do I care about him getting out of jail in time to get back and do the show.  Make me care, Sorkin!  I want to like your show not just admire it intellectually.

So if you have room in your life for only one SNL or SNL-inspired show, I'd say pick the shortest and funniest one: 30 Rock.

Wow - this is quite the week for Whedon alumni!  Last night Tom Lenk (Andrew from Buffy) and Morena Baccarin (Inara from Firefly and Serenity) guested as Baristas on Alyson Hannigan's (Willow from Buffy) series, How I Met Your Mother.  And tomorrow night Nathan Fillion (Mal from Firefly and Serenity) will guest on Lost (as Kate's husband in a flashback).  Joss Whedon, in addition to being a genius, is apparently an ABC soap fan as Buffy was Bianca on All My Children and Mal was Joey on One Life to Live.

HIMYM was awesome as Swarley would say.  Swarley is the nickname that name-challenged crazy-eyes Chloe gave Barney, much to his dismay.  Oh, and, Marshall and Lily got back together.  That's how great this show is, that what would be the most important plot point in most other shows was almost an afterthought.

Everybody Hates Chris was a weak outing with Jason Alexander as the new principal and wanna-be guru who tries to get Chris and the racist Caruso to resolve their differences by making them field trip buddies.  The big lesson?  The experiment mostly fails and the principal is wrong.

Studio 60 continues along with strong acting, snappy dialogue and little heart for me.  For instance, while Nate Corddry was very good as the focus of this episode, I had a very hard time believing that, in addition to him being one of the "big three" stars of the fictional show that Tom is so popular that a teenage girl would rope her business executive father into flying halfway around the world so she could meet him.

Tonight is mostly election coverage but I'll watch the all-boy Dancing With The Stars final three and record Gilmore Girls and Law & Order: CI.

The best laid plans... so done in by work, migraines, drama and several hours fussing with my TV and DVR setup...

Anyhoo - on to the TV!

Wednesday: 30 Rock once again featured no "girlies" past or present which is a mixed blessing but, hey, more Alec Baldwin, yay! ... Lost - darn it, I was right about who got died - memo to ABC - don't promo that someone is going to die on Lost and then promo by name that an actor from Lost will be making the talk show rounds the day after that episode!  The Nine continues on its maddening pace but I'm intrigued enough to keep watching... Top Chef picked up a bit after the lackluster first couple of episodes but it still seems like the "characters" are edited a little too closely to match last season's cast.

Thursday had another fun Ugly Betty, but no Justin!  What up with that?  After his fabulous Halloween Gene Kelley dance break how could you leave his energy out of an episode?  And focusing on the story about the Dad being a killer illegal immigrant is a downer.  More Justin and less immigration drama, please.  However, Debi Mazar guesting as an immigration lawyer was a kick so maybe a little more immigration drama... Roseanne Barr was enjoyable as a guest item on Earl's karma list... The Office was my favorite episode I've seen.  I haven't drunk the kool-aid on this show and I generally find it amusing though sometimes repetitive in the jokes.  At times the humor in Michael's cluelessness wears thin.  However, this "Diwali" episode written by Mindy Kaling (who plays Kelly) was freakin' genius.  And Jim and Andy, drunk and rolling around on the floor singing "Closer to Fine" by the Indigo Girls... I'm still giggling... ER continues to benefit from John Stamos' injection of Clooney-esque bad boy rebelliousness.

Skipping to Friday (saving the best for last) - I got hipped to Battlestar Gallactica too late and now I want to play catch-up before getting into it.  Someday I'll rent it all and learn what I'm missing.

Saturday is a complete wasteland now that NBC isn't even burning off the remaining episodes of Kidnapped.

Sunday is, of course, all about The Wire.  And, just a spoiler alert note, HBO has started offering the next week's episode of some shows, including The Wire, a week prior to when it runs in its scheduled time slot.  So, if you visit some sites that cover the show they will have recaps of the On Demand episode up several days before it runs on Sunday.  Just be careful with your clicking if you hate spoilers.

Today is Monday and that means watching How I Met Your Mother and it should be interesting to appreciate anew the awesomeness of Neil Patrick Harris' acting abilities and his portrayal of womanizing Barney and, even playing "himself" in the hilarious Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle now that he's outed himself.  Recording Everybody Hates Chris and Girlfriends, and Studio 60 which I appreciate more intellectually than emotionally.  I'm hoping it will grip me more but if, as rumors persist, it goes away, I don't think I'll be too sad except for the fact that it means NBC will give us more game shows.

OK - the best thing in the past week (other than The Wire) was the return of The OC.  Seriously, wonderfully, awesome.  And the music was perfect.  "A Bad Dream" by Keane came at the end, but bookending the show was Placebo's cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill."

"If I only could, make a deal with God, and get him to swap our places..." 

The perfect soundtrack to this episode which showed the ways in which those Marissa left behind were continuing to mourn her 5 months after her tragic demise.  The show benefits from the absence of Mischa Barton's sulky, slouchy Marissa.  It gives Ryan's brooding the appropriate weight in the show's balance and keeps his Fight Club life from going too over the top.  We got Luke's younger twin brothers as Kaitlin's lap dogs - hopefully this means that somehow Luke will make his way back to be Ryan's pal once Seth goes off to RISD.

Unfortunately, the viewership for this airing was abismally low.  So Fox is playing around with the schedule and will run the next two on Wednesday and Thursday.  The show is up against too much fire power either way but perhaps, if it can survive this week, Fox can run it against Day Break once it subs in for Lost.  I just hope that Fox doesn't give up and dump the show before even finishing off the shortened final season.  And, hopefully, Josh Schwartz will spare us any more Olivers or Johnnys to disrupt the flow now that Marissa is gone.

Right now, Sunday nights are all about The Wire.  This is the best show on television these days and one of the best ever.  Yes, I belong to the cult.  Bear in mind that this is coming from someone who considers Homicide: Life on the Streets (also created by David Simon)  and, in particular the episode, "Three Men and Adena" to possibly be the finest single hour of television I've ever seen.

If you are interested in fabulous in-depth coverage and analysis of this show, Heaven and Here is your guide.  And for one of the best pieces of analysis that I've ever seen, certainly about television, check out Andrew Dignan's piece on The House Next Door titled The Wire and the Art of the Credit Sequence and read through the comments for further inside illumination.

Add me to the chorus of viewers missing McNulty but that's the bargain you make with The Wire - you'll go where the story takes you not where you want to go as a viewer.  Regardless, I was glued to my screen trying to remember to breathe the whole time like every Sunday.  The "golden rule" theme was interesting with little illustrations peppered throughout.  Like when Crutchfield tosses out the message from Carver about Randy who could help Bunk with his investigation into the zombiefied murder of Lex after Bunk messes with Crutchfield's case against Omar by raising doubts.  And when it turns out that Carcetti was elected in part by bogus assumptions about the witness murder which might not have been made if the police weren't forced to sit on the case by Royce and his brass in pocket.  More classic Wire action where things don't always go as you think or hope they should because the reality that petty jealousies and behind-the-scenes bureaucratic bungling derail things.  On another note, the beating, robbing and distress because Sherrod did not return home that Bubbles suffered were heartbreaking to watch.

So that's Sunday.  I would watch Dexter if I subscribed to Showtime and I'm sure I would be a big fan, but I already spend a ridiculous amount of money on my television habit.

Monday preview: not much - schedules still seem to be in the reruns in the face of the World series mode.  How I Met Your Mother is a repeat from last season.  Everybody Hates Chris is new.  I sheepishly admit that I still record Girlfriends even though, seriously, how many years can you watch a group of women express their friendship by calling each other "heifer"?  I have a very hard time giving shows up.  At least I've managed to ignore The Game.  I've  tried but can't get into fan favorite Heroes.  And, NBC is giving Friday Night Lights a trial run in Studio 60's slot but I also couldn't fall in love with this critical favorite. 

Regularly on Monday's, I like Studio 60 but there is much that bugs and bores.  I'm with the other bloggers who wished they had more Lauren Graham last week.  In her one minute with Matthew Perry they had more chemistry than he's had with "Harriet" all season so far.

And, again, I would watch Weeds if I had Showtime, especially since my friend Gary Calamar is the music supervisor (he previously worked on Six Feet Under) and Mary Louise Parker is one of my favorite actors.

So I'm hanging through the lean times awaiting the return of 24 and The OC  Yes, The OC - read here for some explanation.  I agree completely with Jonathan Toomey's assesment: "Let me go on record as saying that the first season of The OC is one of the best seasons of television I've ever watched. That first season? Yeah, it's that good. Then came the sophomore slump. Not bad but not great. Then last season? A stinker? A bomb? I could be harsher, but the general consensus seemed to be that season three wasn't all that good."  But Toomey got a sneek preview of the first 4 episodes of the new season and he reports that it's looking good, so yay!