Watching Studio60

Well - it’s over. Tonight was the final episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and it went out on a Happy Note. All the story lines came to smiling conclusions and everybody went home happy. So lets recap:
Jordan recovers and finally meets her daughter, whmo she names Rebecca after her Grandmother. Danny is there with the papers that lawyer Mary has drawn up, which give Danny guardianship over Rebecca, but before he can ask Jordan to sign them, she pulls her own set of papers out of the hat - Adoption papers, that she had brought with her to the hopsital for Danny to sign. Very touching - lots of love and happiness.
Tom’s brother - after a false alarm and much drama about setting the Trask Security option in motion - is rescued by the army who swoop down in the modern equivalent of a white horse - the Black Hawk helicopter - and we see Tom talking to his brother on the phone - so again, happiness and love all around. And we see that Tom and Lucy are indeed a couple, which begs the question Why hasn’t Lucy been more in evidence at Tom’s side through all of this?
Simon and Jack - This is the most confusing story line as far as I’m concerned. Jack has been trying to get Simon to apologize for his rant at the media and Simon has been refusing. Flashbacks show us the parallel to 6 years ago, when Jack wanted Matt to apologize for The Sketch, and Matt refused. That issue was brought to conclusion by finally showing us why Matt and Danny left the show 6 years ago. Wes agreed to articluate the apology on behalf of the studio, and Matt quit out of principle. Danny quit out of friendship and loyalty. Back to today - after imbibing much whiskey, Jack finally agress that Simon has nothing to apologize for - and Simon then says OK Now I will apologize. Go figure! I didn’t understand the about turn, but at the end of the day Who really Cares. No apologies, because as Simon was on his way out we hear that there is news about Tom’s brother and we switch to that story line and never revisit Simon and Jack.
And that leaves us with Matt and Harriet. We see Harriet admitting to Danny in the hopsital that Matt is the only man she has ever loved. Danny tells her that Matt has always loved her and that their differences of opinion about religion shouldn’t be insurmountable. He also spills the beans about Matt writing the show high on pills. Switch to Matt back at the studio, happy that all is resolved favourably for Tom and his family, taking a moment to himself - enter Harriet - she tells him that he should have told her about the pills, that she is always the one who will be there for him, they kiss, admit their mutual love and - Happy Happy Joy Joy. They do take the time to ask the cast, who mysteriously appear from the woodwork, if their relationship will cause issues, and of course everybody says No. Danny distibutes cigars, Tom flies to Germany, and the show goes on - or not in our case!
The final scene between Matt and Danny was quite touching. Danny tells Matt that he loves him - Matt’s come back is the usualy witty retort we have come to expect - I take that as you are Gay and Want me! But I really appreciate the writer who knows that two guys can express mutual love and admiration out of friendship and a long history together and it comes across as genuine and heartfelt.
So - we are done until the show goes into reruns on cable. Wouldn’t it be ironic if it got the kudos it deserved from the audiences who catch it on the reruns. Oh Well - idle speculation will get us nowhere. And so, my job is done and I bid you farewell. It’s been fun while it lasted.

Well - wherever I got the information that the final episode of Studio 60 was next week, July 5th, it appears I was mistaken. According to the listing for tonight, we will finally get the conclusion of all those story lines and put the show to rest forever tonight at 10.00pm. I can hardly wait to see what happens to Tom and his brother and whether all the story lines will come to happy endings or will there be some tears to be shed, apart from those that mourn the end of this series. I realise that all hope is gone, but it still pains me that NBC didn’t give this show more time to mature and develop and find a direction. With the cast and the pedigree of the production team, this should have been a hit and I am still at a loss to explain it’s fialure to attract the required numbers to ensure survival. Oh Well! As I sit and watch Wimbledon, and know that there are still some of the major summer sporting events coming down the pike, I will take heart in the fact that I have a few alternatives to reality TV and idiot game shows, at lesat for a couple of months.
Watch tonight and I’ll be back in the morning with my final review.

Well another very “samey samey” episode where most of the story lines got moved along about an inch and we are left for the next two weeks waiting for what has to be an “action packed” hour which will answer all questions and bring all stories to a close.
Let’s begin with Tom’s brother. Still missing but alive as far as we know. Tom is still with James Lesure (Wow that man is so sssexyyy!) and they are still not getting on very well. As Tom said - You are the most uncomforting person I know!. Well lawyer Mary lets Matt know that her firm Trask Industries - No wait that was Working Girl - just Trask, has very cryptically “Found a way to move forward”. This information gets relayed to Tom, who decides he doesn’t want to interfer with whatever the military may be doing. Then Captain Boyle actually does some counselling - Yeah. He tells Tom not to even entertain the notion of using Trask. A story about how a similar exercise last year in Columbia has now raised the going rate for executive extractions to $11 million. But later in the show, Captain Boyle gets a phone call that changes Tom’s mind. We learn that the kidnappers are about to show a tape of them excuting one of the three hostages, which is in fact a killing from four months ago, but the mere suggestion that it could be real is enough to send Tom running back to Matt and Jack and Lawyer. No resolution yet, but Tom is off talking to his parents and then promises to start the process of the “R” part.
Danny spend the entire episode at the hospital without ever seeing Jordan. We do see the baby - cute! Jordan stops bleeding but then gets a post op infection. We learn that she is classified as “critical”. Hariett is with Danny trying to cheer him up, although why she thinks her insane impressions of Holly Hunter or Juliette Lewis would be appropriate is way beyond sanity. Finally she tries to teach Danny to pray and I think the conversation they had in the chapel was the highlight of the show for me. Being raised Catholic, I found that scene very poignant and thought provoking. I was also tearing up when atching Danny watch his daughter. We know that if Jordan dies without signing the papers that Mary was trying to push on Matt, then Danny will have no standing with the baby and lose both his fiance and daughter in one moment. He doesn’t know this yet, which makes it all the more heartrenching. Again - left with no resolution and this story line could go either way.
The major part of this episode was dedicated to the interplay between Jack and Simon, with flashbacks to 6 years ago leading up to the firing of Danny and Matt. Jack is trying to insist that Simon apologies to the press for his outburst at the end of last week’s show, Simon is adament that he will not apologise. The flasbacks show us that 6 years ago, Danny and Matt had the option to apologise for the sketch about patriotism, but refused to do so and eventually Jack got Wes to fire them. We didn’t actually get to that point last night, just to the phone call from Jack to Wes, but we have to imagine that that is what is coming - next show. There was a lot of interplay and witty conversation between Jack and Simon, and then again between Jack, Matt and Danny in the flashbacks, a lot of which is very typical Aaron Sorkin but none the less enjoyable.
The best thing about this episode was that it was not longer a show about putting on a show but more about a bunch of people who work together who really care about each other. It is a shame that it not only took this long to get to this point but that it is happening with only 1 show left is really sad. I also believe that this episode was good because there was a lot less of Matt and Hariett and that has to be a good thing.
No show next week - Series Finale - July 5th. Stay Tuned and lets send it out with a bang.

Don’t forget to tune in tonight when NBC is promising to finally show us why Danny and Matt got fired the first time from the show. They have been promising this for 2 weeks now, but as there is only one more episode left, I guess they will have to come through for us soon, or risk leaving the whole issue up in the air.
Other story lines to follow - Tom’s brother, Jordan’s health and the baby. And of course the whole Matt and Hariett story line. Because the show has been cancelled and we are in wind down mode Aaron could decide to take the story to a happy conclusion or he could go in entirely the opposite direction. So stay tuned - watch tonight and I will be back tomorrow morning to summarize, and give thoughts.

Well it seems reality shows and sports ar ethe hot shows in the USA. With USA Today publishing the Prime Time Ratings for weeks ending May 20th through June 17th, CBS is the clear winner and NBC brings up the rear of the four networks. However top rated show is NBC’s America’s Got Talent, but then they don’t have another show in the ratings until Number 13 which is that old favourite Law and Order: SVU. On down to 18 and we find Deal or No Deal, and that is the only three NBC shows to make the charts. In the top 4 shows, 3 are reality TV - or what used to be called Talent Shows and Quiz shows, and 1 is a sports program. 4 CBS dramas, another sports show and 1 half hour comedy round out the top 10.
I have said it before and no doubt will say it again, there seems to be little or no room on TV for quality programs that entertain without insult, challenge the intellect without being condescending and allow a little escapism without guilt. Is that really too much to ask for? I can only hope that the talented actors and actresses that abound out there rise up as a body and declare war on the insane proliferation of so called reality TV and mind blowing stupid quiz shows or game shows and demand some vehicles worthy of their talents.
We can but hope - but then of course the general masses wouldn’t watch those shows so they would get cancelled and replaced by more stupidity and we are left with movie rentals and The Discovery Channel!
Don’t forget to watch the penultimate episode tomorrow of Studio 60. We continue to follow Tom’s brother’s situation, and of course Matt and Hariett and Danny and Jordan. Only 2 more hours to resolve all major crises and relationships.

Well - when it comes to writing reviews it helps to have shows that actually give you content and moving story lines. Unfortuneatly, I don’t think Studio 60 delivered that last night. There was the usual clever witty interchanges between the players but not much plot development.
Let’s start with Jordan, baby and Danny. Danny is seen in the waiting room, enter young doctor, who tells Danny that Jordon is in surgery because the placenta is still attached. He forgets to tell Danny that the baby has been born or that Jordan is apparently in more serious condition then he is letting on. It isn’t until Matt is told that two hours is too long for Jordon to be in surgery and calls Danny at the hospital much later, that we learn that Jordon has a clotting issue. That is how we leave her! Jordan never actually appeared in this episode despite many mentions of both her and the baby.
Matt and Harriet get to the hospital, talk with Danny, who tells them about the engagement and the birth, then Matt returns to base to take control and keep the information about Tom flowing to Danny. Somewhere in all of the to-ing anf fro-ing, Danny manages to find a moment to tell Harriet that she won’t find a better man then Matt - portends for the future? Funny interaction with danny and the head nurse. Danny wants to see the baby, Nurse says Not without ID band. Not sure what Aaron was thinking with this interaction - maybe he has been scarred by interaction with hospital beauocracy, but it resulted in a very funny exchange of wit and banter, although somewhat acerbic.
Back at the ranch - Matt starts to conduct the weekly postmortem and in the midst of all that we have flashbacks to 6 years ago, when the situation was similar - Danny and Matt had been told to put the show on the air, 9-11 had just happened and America had just gone to war with Afghanistan. They had been told not to poke fun at America or Bush, and ideas for sketches were not coming too fast. Until an article in the New York Times gave Matt and idea. It centered around a politician visiting Hollywood to talk about making movies that reflected American patriotism. Matt finds it amusing that making movies about patriotism is seen to be a money making idea. He develops a sketch on that premise but runs into trouble with the Network censor. Both he and Danny go to Wes and get permission to keep the sketch in the line up, on the understanding that when reviewed at dress rehearsal if the critics dont like it they will pull it. All this seems to be leading up to the reason why Danny and Matt got fired but we never actually got there last night.
A small side plot - lawyer Mary telling Matt that the kidnappers may be heroin growers looking for funding for their drug business. This is good news as it means they will deal for money! Thats as far as we got with that one. Mary also tells Matt that Danny shouldn’t see the baby because if something happens to Jordan, Danny has no legal standing with the baby - so message - Dont get emotionally bonded at this point.
And finally - Tom and his brother. Many scenes with Tom being “comforted” by his military minder, Captain Boyle. I realised that the actor was James LeSure of Mike Cannon, Las Vegas fame. I really like him and I liked the interaction between him and Tom, although the subject matter was very serious. He mostly spent the time telling Tom that he couldn’t tell him anything. When a news show shows an ex_employee, Russell, telling the world that Tom was estranged from his brother, Tom looses it and insists that Simon do damage control and get the story rescinded. Somehow, Simon manages to get ambushed by the paperazzi in the alley outside the studio and when asked if the studio had engineered the hostage situation for publicity, reacts by ranting and raving at them, telling them they are the problem etc etc etc. This of course is televised and the final scene Is Matt saying - “Well now we have another story”

It seems that Matthew Perry is dating every lady in Hollywood, if the gossip on SFGate.com is to be believed. Unfortuneately, I think this is an incredibly badly designed web site as there is not a date in sight, so we cannot see what is current and what is historical. What is obvious is that Matthew cannot possibly be as busy as they would make it appear - or else he has multiple clones running around Hollywood, each with a different lady on his arm. Ladies being suggested as his latest squeeze - Meg Ryan, Kristin Davis and Laurne Graham. And there is even a reference ot the fact that he has just broken up with Lizzy Caplan. Busy Busy Boy!!!

K&R stands for Kidnap and Rescue - as revealed in last night’s episode of Studio 60. I know I am biased but I thought it was one of the best yet.
It conctraented on two main themes but also managed to weave in the history of Matt and Hariett brilliantly. No one can argue that Aaron Sorkin is not a very clever writer.
So - let’s start with Tom and his brother. Tom has been taken to NBS headquarters to await the arrival of the military who are going to help him through the ordeal. The general concensus is that it will be better if the news about the celebrity connection should be kept quiet but almost immediately it was on the network news despite all Jack’s attempts to get it off the air. It was also obvious that Tom was getting preferential treament over the families of the other two hostages. The lawyer, Mary, is still working out of Matt’s office and reveals that they have a private company whom they have used in the past to retrieve hostages. The company is called Trask - and Mary has statistics as to how much more successful they have been in the past then the military. Obviously this story line has 2 more epsiodes to run its course if the titles of the next two weeks mean anything.
Meanwhile Jordan is in hospital, remember she hasn’t felt the baby move for 6 hours, despite copious drinks of orange juice. It turns out that the cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck, not apparantly any great cause for concern, but along with that Jordan’s blood pressure has sky rocketed and she shows signs of pre-eclempsia, which is far more life threatening then the cord situation. Danny gets called to her bed side, where his interaction with the very youthful (29) doctor is highly amusing in a very serious story line. This ends with Jordan being wheeled into surgery for an emergency C section, and a phone call to Matt and Hariett who immediately take off for the hospital. However, Danny manages to propose to Jordan before she gets wheeled in, and it just happens that he has a rock in his pocket which he has been carrying around for two weeks. Jordan accepts and is wheeled away as an engaged woman. Great scenes and dialogue between Jordan and Danny.
Back to Matt and Hariett. Hariett’s first reaction to the hostage crisis is to get down on her knees and pray. Matt is worrying about the show - How can he write anything funny in these circumstances. Which takes us back to 2001, 9-11 to be precise. We are watching the preperations for the postponed Emmy awards, postponed due to 9-11, and Hariett is dating Luke, when we learn that the war has started, the Emmy’s are postponed again and Matt and Hariett start their argument. It is about religion, Christianity, Judaism etc etc etc. And it has been going on for years - as very cleverly portrayed through numerous flashbacks, showing Matt and Hariett having the same argument over and over again in many different situations and haircuts and costumes. But - final touching moment, just before they get the Jordan phone call and rush to the hospital, Hariett invites Matt to pray with her - she will teach him how, and by the look on his face, he is about to accept.. and then…. the phone rings. I thought that was a great moment!
What I did not understand however, was the reference in the previews to why Matt and Danny got fired from the show the first time around. This episode was supposed to explain this and I must have missed that part. The flasback scene between them and Jack, when they try to get the opening in 2001 postponed because they claim it will be hard to be funny in the face of 9-11 and the war, but Jack commands them to go write the show as long as they don’t make fun of Americans or George Bush (isn’t that a national pastime?) stating that the war will be over before dinner time… Well they were both still employed at the end of the episode so maybe we are just being set up for next week.
And on that note - what happened to the previews for next week? I was glued to the screen and - Nothing!! except the next stupid reality show The Age of Love - What will they come up with next? - But No Studio 60. Is it a big secret or are they trying to milk the suspense. Whatever the reason, Stay tuned for next week. Only 4 left!
Check out this review on TV Squad.

As you can imagine there is a word left out of that title. I was doing my daily internet surfing, mostly with my head shaking in disbelief at the shock of reading that Paris Hilton has been let out of jail after a whopping 3 days, and I came across that wonderful title to a blog site. It seems that some undisclosed medical condition manifested itself and Paris is now under house - make that mansion - arrest for the remainder of her sentence.
If there was ever any doubt that money talks in the American justice system - this has to dispell it for ever. It speaks volumes that prisons even have special cells for celebrities so that they don’t have to mix with the ‘Hoi polloi’ but when we see celebrities buying their way out of murder convictions it has to give us pause for thought.
And what has this to do with Studio 60 - well not a lot, but it does feel good to vent. So tonight’s epsidoe is titled K&R I and I can’t wait to see if we get an explanation for the title.
Catch you tomorrow

Yahoo TV is leading with the story that NBC, although 4th in the ratings throughout the season, are leading with 13 nominations from the Television Critics Association. 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights and Heroes all get a nod and winners will be announced in July.
I see that Amanda Peet is in a Movie called The Ex, release date May 11th 2007. I have seen no trailers or advance publicity for this movie, but I will certainly try and catch it in the theatres. The movie should touch home for all those Mothers out there, as it deals with a young couple and their first baby. Let me know if you have seen it - feedback welcome.

It seems Amanda Peet has her own take on why Studio 60 failed: Check it out.She also has her next gig lined up which looks interesting.
Another interesting review of the last episode can be found on ign.com.
General concensus is that Matthew Perry will be missed and we all hope to see him back at work on our TV’s soon.
Matthew has the movie Numb out now having previewed at the Tribeca Festival and he also stars with Hilary Swank in Laws of Motion. Keeping busy.
Seems Bradley has also been keeping busy. There are so many sites out there dedicated to that talented actor.
Have to fly - catch you tomorrow

OK - I admit, I am confused. The titles for the next three episodes of Studio 60 are K&R I, II and III. So, in my ignorance and in the spirit of learning, I “Googled” K&R and the major reference was to Kernighan and Ritchie, or C programming. Forgive my skepticsm but I cannot believe that this is what the title refers to, so I can only hypothesize that they are trying another ploy to get people to tune in. Just what does the title mean?
The synopsis for this week’s show:
“Jordan is rushed into surgery as the situation with Tom’s brother grows more grim.”
Doesn’t tell us much except that they are carrying the two main serious themes through to this week. Jordan obviously in crisis with her pregnancy and Tom with his brother. Again, back to my comment of last week - Not a Comedy!! No mention of Matt’s little problem, but I was happy to read the comment posted after last Friday, that gave voice to the theory that Danny’s comment “So you are Done?” was a reference to Matt quiting the pills, rather then being fired from the show. Not knowing anything about drug usage, having happily avoided that scene during my growing years, I would be happy to believe that Matt has quit, rather than the alternative. But, as they say, Time will Tell, I am sure.
So, another week, another episode to look foward to. I wil be back tomorrow with any and all updates, comments etc that I can find.

My apologies for being tardy - blame Doctor’s appointments and work comittments but I’m here now.
Last night’s show should have finally convinced everybody that Studio 60 is not a comedy. The sketches were as bad as always, but I am beginning to think that that is by design, but the main theme of last night was Tom and his brother in Iraq. Apparantly, Tom’s brother always emails him before a show, but Tom’s parents had called Simon to say that they hadn’t heard from him for three days. The major topic between Harriet and Simon was whether or not to tell Tom. They decided to wait until after the show and just before the wrap party we see Tom talking to Lucy, and admitting that he is crazy about her. This persuades Simon to delay again, but then Jack tells everyone that there is a breaking sotry about three soldiers taken hostage in Iraq and the network is going on air with the news. Tom finally gets to hear the news and everyone runs up to the office where there are images of three American soldiers, with sacks over their heads, kneeling in front of Iraqi soldiers who are holding an axe. Tom’s brother is the middle soldier. Tom gets taken away by helicopter, curtesy of the network, and told that his parents are also being picked up.
No one who saw the show could fail to be moved by the writing, the acting, the passion nor the story line. It was incredibly moving, heartbreaking and I am sure many viewers were moved to tears. I know I was.
Other then that, we had Jordan drinking orange juice because she hadn’t felt the baby kick. Danny insists that she goes to hospital. Suzanne confronts Matt about his pill popping and has some personal insights thanks to her Mother’s use. Including her Mother’s suicide when Suzanne was 10. Suzanne tells Danny, but by the time Danny runs to confront Matt, Matt has taken the last of the pills and swears he is has quit. I am not sure what Danny’s comment “So, you are done” actually referred to. Is Matt fired, or was it a reference to the fact that he has stopped popping the pills. Ambiguous, to say the least.
And the other major story line last night, was the return of the female lawyer, who has the serious hots for Matt, and is still trying to represent the network in the law suit being filed by Karen Salisburg. It seems that Matt has unwittingly added fuel to the fire by telling a potential empoyer that Karen was fired because she wasn’t good enough. This has resulted in a retaliatory claim.
The other less interesting story was that Jack has bought a software company that has invented a program that can analysis a movie scrpit and predict was will be required to make it a hit. The inventors seem to think that it can be used on a comedy program. This tied in to the conversation about the ratings. It was hard to be sure that they were talking about the fictional show on TV or the actual TV show, as we all know it has been cancelled due to bad rating numbers. Pretty ironic.