Sunday, November 19, 2006

Aaron Sorkin's next show...

Ken Levine has an exclusive excerpt from Aaron Sorkin's next show (via LG&M)! I really do want to like Studio 60, and I continue to watch it, but it's unbelievably frustrating. The characters are mostly good, and about 70% of the dialogue is very entertaining, but the plots and the other 30% of the dialogue are horribly forced (the ongoing debate about gay marriage sprinkled throughout last week's episode was completely and totally out of place). And, as has been documented many times in many places, the skits are awful. Cheeses of Nazareth? Ugh. I do remember that there were moments square-peg-round-hole dialogue in Season 1 of West Wing, and I realize that sometimes that's necessary for character development. And I realize that there's a chance this show hits its rhythm once the characters are fully established and the show pretty much writes itself (like at least the last half of WW season 1 and most of the next 2-3 seasons). But...hurry up already. I keep defending this show against the complaints of The Butterfly, and it gets harder to do so every week.

And another thing...you're talking about a late-night comedy show, and the only references to drugs or out-of-control behavior are in-passing dialogue? No plots based on this? Come on.