The long awaited return of Studio 60 was, quite frankly, a disapointment. In my mind the stars of the show are Matt and Danny and it is their rapport, wit and dialogue that make the show entertaining. They didn’t appear last night! There were references to them aplenty, but they never showed up - never gave us their witty dialogue, never graced the screen with their presence - so Verdict: Disapppointing!
Having said that - I was glad to see the show back and I thought Alison Janney did a great job. She is one of the best actresses out there and I miss her on the small screen.
So the show was called The Disaster Show and it begins with the Prop and Cue Card people calling a Wild Cat Strike, because Danny has told them, during contract negotiations, that they are replaceable. Cal then distroys the already prepared prop table, and of course the scene is set for some great sight gags - such as Alison Janney thinking she was about to be shot, so acting accordingly, only to have no gun sounds and no “blood” appear on her shirt. Then in another scene with James Bond, we get the gun sounds and the blood, when she wasn’t supposed to be shot. Alison reacts brilliantly to both events, and the show goes on.
Simon loses the girl, finds the girl, finds the first girl, loses the second girl, then loses the first girl again. His girlfriend of 2 months, Stephanie, breaks up with him just before they are due to go to Hawaii with Tom and Lucy for a long weekend. So Simon finds a girl in the green room that he dated once, and asks her to go to Hawaii with him. She accepts, then Stephanie comes back and says she’s changed her mind, so Simon un-invites the second lady, only to have Lucy spill the beans to Stephanie, who, of course, walks off again. Both ladies manage to slap Simon across the face during the episode, and he ends up not only red faced but date-less for Hawaii!
The Matt and Harriet soap opera gets some airing too, albeit in the third party. Harriet tells Jeannie that Luke has broken up with her and in the ensuing conversation, Harriet tells Jeannie that she is free to date Matt if she wants to. However, she flip flops back and forth until finally Jeannie and the rest of the crew sit down and tell Harriet that they don’t undestnd why she and Matt are not together. This causes some soul searching, and I believe it is laying the ground work for a big reunion at the end of the show.
We have some wonderful scenes with Jack, who is as drunk as a skunk, leading the FBI agents with their bomb sniffing dogs around the Studio. It seems that someone has called in a Bomb Threat, and because The Show Must Go On, they decide not to evacuate the Studio but to let the dogs sniff their way around the place. It turns out that the threat was a hoax, played by a couple of teenagers, both called, Robby/Robbie, who were so stupid that they left the phone they used to call in the threat in reception. THe FBI guys were able to determine, by using the Last Number Called feature, that this was the phone used to call in the threat, and of course, arrested the boys when they returned to collect their phone. The only value this actually added to the show was to showcase Jack as a drunk. And he did a great job.
And we have 5 more episodes to go before we have to bid a fond farewell. I will keep this blog updated for the next six weeks, so Have a Great Weekend and I’ll catch you Monday.
