I rather liked the doctor at the end
Posted by Maggie
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:04am
In Studio 60
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip wrapped things up last Thursday. Everyone’s fine: Jordan, her baby, her weird relationship with Danny, Tom’s brother, Tom, Simon, Matt and Harriet, Matt’s magical non-withdrawal, and even drunk Jack, who finally admitted that his personal beliefs conflict with the job he’s supposed to be doing. In the spirit of forgiveness and thankfulness for the occasional good times, here’s a list of things that were good about this show.
- I’m grateful we never had to see Jack’s ugly descent into alcoholism. Jack remained my favorite character throughout and it was killing me that they were clearly setting him up for a huge drunken downfall.
- Sorkin has a remarkable ability to make tiny peripheral guest characters immediately charming. I think Jordan’s young, sarcastic doctor in the last few episodes was hilarious, and his sense of entitlement and condescension (shared by all the characters) makes sense because he’s, you know, saving lives.
- Even though I never understood Jordan and Danny’s relationship and definitely did not believe her for a second when she said she knew she wanted him to be the father of her baby the very first time they ever met, I found myself buying into the whole “we both have baby papers for the other person to sign!” plot. Jordan is definitely the type of person to plan for disaster, to make sure that her baby ended up with someone she trusted. I also liked that Danny was going to ask her to sign those papers even though he didn’t want to. That worked, even if they probably could’ve used seven seasons to develop the characters to the point where the lead-up made more sense.
On the other hand, I did not like that Tom was going to use Trask but was saved from his own stupidity at the last minute. That struck me as a little cheap. Since that is not a positive point, so I’ll just add: Nate Corddry was great in this show. He should get something good again soon.- That was a seriously amazing set.
- When Matthew Perry leans in to kiss somebody, he leans in like he really means it. My stars, that was something!
- So why did I watch every single episode, even though Studio 60 is known colloquially in my apartment as “that show we hate so damn much”? It’s fun to see what Sorkin’s writing. He’s got enormous neuroses and hang-ups about all sorts of things, but he’s also got a point of view. It can be (occasionally) funny and insightful as well as frustrating and pedantic. Even in failure, he’s interesting.
So long, Studio 60! You were a strange bag, but you always provided plenty to gab about. I can’t say I’ll miss you, but I will look back on this whole thing with at least a tiny bit of fondness.
Sorkin has a remarkable ability to make tiny peripheral guest characters immediately charming
That’s because almost every one of Sorkin’s characters speaks exactly the same way–the way I imagine Sorkin talking. I imagine that when he writes a script, the world looks to him the way Davy Jones’ locker looked to Jack Sparrow, where there are a hundred different multiples of him running around performing every role.
YES! Also, and I didn’t say this because I was trying to be positive, I think that is one of the main reason the show didn’t work: The characters are all superficially charming and funny and interesting, but once you get to know them, they’re actually self-important obnoxious jerks. Every single one of them. I’m sure if the doctor had become a regular, I would’ve gotten mad at him, too.
On great shows, the more you get to know characters (even the despicable ones), the more you come to love and understand them. It’s why the Cylons can’t stay evil and why we all fell for Logan Echolls. The opposite force seemed to be working here.
I can see that I’m uncool her, but I found the scripts intelligent and the characters engaging. I’ve been hearing about individual character “voices” lately, but I remain unconvinced. Sure Lorilei made references that mistified most eople and thoroughly annoyed Emily but that sort of thing is behavior not individual speech patterns. Don’t all of Mamet’s character’s speak with one voice, with his characteristic rhythm?
i can see that i am uncool here, but i came to care about these characters and was moved by the finale. Sure they spoke Sorkinese, ju
Maggie had a special fondness fot Nate C. Was his character infected with self importance? Was the british gal writer? The director? Wouldn’t a network star or senior executive exude that quality? Maybe it was a bad subject for a show but st least AS followed the first rule and wrote about something he knew: producing a weekly tv show.
I think this show will be remembered in same light as SportsNight - mourned for it’s premature demise.
Taylor Doose: (To
Rory wearing a cat on her wrist) You don’t have to explain a thing to me. I l know that there’s no way that you would be involved with something like that if it weren’t for that Sal Mineo wannabe. Believe me Chachi and Chachi alone will be held responsible for that incident.”
Oh that adorable Taylor, always with his hip and incomprehensible pop culture references.
- Paladinospeak -
I loved Studio 60, I’m a huge Matthew Perry fan.
However I agree that the characters are quite stuck up.
But I still LOVE it.
Perry and Whitford have an excellent chemistry, they should be together more.
Also I think Perry has really grown into his looks as he ages. Yummy!!
Also, did we ever see the set that was supposed to be designed with all the bilboards so that they could advertise things?
Just a thought.