Time to Retire

Okay, that's it. "Studio 60" just seems old to me, rehashed plots and characters from Sorkin's mental reportory company of a dozen or so. Last night they introduced their combo Jeremy ("Sports Night")/Charlie ("West Wing") character and tried for the "hallowed vet/wronged writer" hook (and failed). They also did the standard Sorkin "my father doesn't appreciate how talented I am but I still love him" secondary story. The only time the show has energy is when Steven Weber is on the screen. They said Gary Larson decided to stop doing "The Far Side" because people could start seeing how he was doing it. We're seeing how Sorkin does it, like those sentence games where they give you dice with nouns, verbs, and adjectives and have you roll out sentences. He's got about 5 of each type and the sentences are getting familiar. As I said in an earlier post, it's like watching "Ghostbusters II," entertaining but you've seen it before. Unless/until that changes, I don't think it will survive this season.

Speaking of forced retirements, noticed where the Cowboys finally benched Drew Bledsoe. This is a guy whose name is in the same record lists as Unitas, Namath, Fouts, and Marino. Notice any similarity? All were statues in the pocket (so is Manning, really, the Peyton one). The difference? Their teams protected them and gave them good, smart receivers (Berry, Maynard, et al.). Dallas has a chorus girl front line and receivers who improvise (T.O.) or don't adjust their patterns when the O-line is crumbling like crepe paper. I've seen 3 Bledsoe interceptions this year, all due to badly run routes, yet no one calls for receivers to be replaced. Well, now the idiot throng has gotten their QB of choice and maybe he'll be a dream come true. Or maybe he'll be J.P. Losman. But Bledsoe was treated by Dallas like a prize race horse pulling rickshaws and deserved better at the end of his career. I don't care if he's pissed and not taking it well. He shouldn't. Rabid football fans and owners are among the most mentally and socially retarded people on the planet, and Dallas leads the league in both (even with the Redskins in the league). Don't worry, Drew. You did what you could with what was given you and it was fine.

Maybe Sorkin could do a series on you and save both reputations.