Watching Studio60

Five questions that popped into my head while re-viewing Nevada Day Part II:

1. How great would it have been to have a face-off between Wilson White and Judge Bebe? When the scene in which Ed Asner’s White intimidates Jordan was immediately followed by the scene in which John Goodman’s Bebe made Jack melt down, I couldn’t help but wish these two great actors could have chewed some scenery together — whether butting heads or chatting over pie at the diner.

2. Did Jack take Danny’s advice to heart? Certainly he rushed to Jordan’s defense after being softened somewhat by their airplane conversations. But I’m thinking about Danny’s advice that he should “be a broadcaster now.” Not too long after this, is it, when Jack decides to take on the FCC over the soldier’s battlefield expletive? They don’t call Danny the puppetmaster for nothing.

3. Is some of Danny’s master manipulativeness rubbing off on Matt? He did a fine job of getting Dylan to want to take that News 60 seat, if only for a short while. Of course, as long as Matt’s pulling the strings, Harriet’s never going to get to be the sexy shill.

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As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from “Nevada Day Part II.”

Jeannie: Is Tom in jail in a Marx Brothers movie?
Matt: That’s good. That’s funny. Keep that sense of humor, Jeannie, you’re going to need it waiting tables at the Hooters in Santa Monica.

Matt: I can’t believe I really get a chance to say this … the show must go on.

Matt: I don’t need any reminding that my party is full to brimming with pandering and mediocrity.

Matt: There’s no way to get to the end of that sentence without saying that homosexual love is something less than heterosexual love, and watching you trip all over it makes me wanna hit you in the head with Liberace.

Harriet: Ow.
Jordan: Did you just punch the wall?
Harriet: Yes.
Jordan: Did the wall have it coming?
Harriet: The wall was a victim of displaced anger. If you examine the wall, you’ll see it’s a veritable hieroglyphic of meetings in Matt’s office.

Harriet: I’m in a position to show them that Christianity has a nicer voice than Ann Coulter’s.
Jordan: Carol Channing has a nicer voice than Ann Coulter’s.

Jordan: You have more doors open to you than anybody, and they’ll all close if what you’re most famous for is being a gay-basher.
Harriet: I’m not.
Jordan: I know. So please, sit down for six weeks.
Harriet: My career will be fine.
Jordan: I’m sure you’re right, but just for a second opinion, let’s go ask Anita Bryant.
Harriet: She was a gay basher, and she had to be something, ’cause she sure wasn’t talented. I’m not Anita Bryant.
Jordan: Like I don’t know that. Harry, really. Friend to friend, okay? You trust the media and the American public to make the distinction?

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We’re taking a second look at “Nevada Day Part II,” the eighth episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which originally aired on November 13, 2006. Following up on yesterday’s review, here’s a recap of the episode. Tune in over the next couple of days for memorable lines and five questions.

We start where we ended, with Matt summing up the situation for the cast, who needs to write a new show. There’s some bantering about what a funny name Pahrump is, the throwing out of names of sketches that need to have Tom’s part reassigned, and the reassignment of News 60 to Dylan in case Simon doesn’t get back in time. Dylan’s not comfortable with that — it’s Simon’s chair — but as Matt says, the show must go on. Another thing that must go on: Matt and Harriet’s debate over Harriet’s quote about gay marriage, and whether Harriet is a homophobe, and whether Matt has to end every argument with a blast of righteous indignation that leaves Harriet frustrated and speechless. This time, at least, she punches a wall afterward. And gets bleeding knuckles for her trouble.

Jordan’s sympathetic to her pain, both physical and psychological. If anybody’s in a position to understand how the press can spin things, it’s Jordan. And as an understanding and compassionate boss, she makes a suggestion: Harriet should stay out of the public eye for six weeks, and especially out of the spotlight of a group called Women United Through Faith, for whom she is performing concerts on the next six Mondays. It’s a group close to Harriet’s heart, a group that helped raise her when her mother died, a group through which she can reach out to other young girls. It’s also a group that opposes gay marriage, and Jordan is pretty sure that performing for them now will cause harm to the show and to Harriet’s long-term career. In the kindest way, and without raising her voice, Jordan makes it pretty clear that this is something Harriet needs to do. Then advises her not to hit a wall about it.

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I watched “Nevada Day Part II” this week, and was surprised to remember that Jack was showing signs of a working conscience way back here in episode eight. How inconvenient for him! He talks about Jordan’s screw-ups, but really, if you’re going to represent your network to a small-town judge and a conservative Chinese businessman, man, you’ve got to get a little better hold on your temper. His outbursts were pretty delightful, but I’d hate to think what kind of blood pressure problems he may be having.

It’s clear, though, as it hasn’t been before, that he likes Jordan and wants her to succeed. And it’s clearer than ever that Danny likes her, too. One of my missions in watching the shows again this time through has been to trace the origins of the Danny-Jordan relationship and see if it’s credible that it was brewing well before Danny made his Christmas declaration, and “Nevada Day Part II” continued to support that cause.

The Matt-Harriet love boat keeps sailing, too, even as they bicker. I felt sorry for Harriet in her arguments with Matt, since she seems to be less able to spit out spontaneous arguments than her beau. It seemed like she was thinking between their conversations, and coming up with new things to say next time they spoke — a normal human arguing style, I think. Whereas Matt can come up with righteous indignation right off the top of his head. It was sweet, though, to find out that what was annoying him most of all was that he didn’t get to be the guy to protect her. So, what, he thought he’d beat up on her verbally all day instead? At least he got beat up a little, too, by Lucy.

Also sweet, I thought, was the way Jordan gently told Harriet to sit out her concerts. The very model of an executive who does not raise her voice. Though she’s clearly someone who’s become chummy with the talent, she was able to be a boss at the same time. I liked the friendship that developed between the two of them over the course of the season. Harriet certainly seems like someone who could use a friend.

John Goodman won an Emmy for this pair of episodes, as a judge who flipped from redneck to jurist to smartass to benefactor and back as it suited his needs. As Danny said later, they have a judge there who really knows what he’s doing. Also impressive, though, was Ed Asner as Wilson White. He’s always seemed a figure of sort of benign menace, but that menace flashed for real in a really almost scary scene in Jordan’s office. Jack showed in this episode that he’s not as much of a shark as he makes himself out to be, but Wilson? He’s the real deal. Too bad Asner’s complex work across the season couldn’t have gotten some Emmy attention, too.

Come back again throughout the week for a recap of the episode, memorable lines, and five questions.

Studio 60, NBC, Nevada Day Part II, review

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

If you’re watching along in my Studio 60 Revisited Monday night marathon, tonight we’re viewing episode eight, “Nevada Day Part II,” which originally aired on November 13, 2006. But first, five questions that popped into my head while re-viewing Part I:

1. Was this the unofficial start of the Tom and Lucy romance subplot? She was the only one who remembered that he wore the same shepherd’s costume once before, and shot him a few looks not all that far removed from Kim’s. It sure looks like, if she was watching the show in general before she started writing for it, she was watching Tom in particular.

2. Should Jack have sent Jordan to Pahrump? I’m thinking her sexual shenanigans with the ex-husband would have been met with a lot more tolerance in a town that was built on brothels. Maybe the judge would have been judgmental over the latest gossip-column digs about her dislike of children and dogs. Or maybe Jordan would have done more with charm and self-deprecating humor than Jack could with his black American Express card.

3. Where was Cal? Timothy Busfield co-directed the episode, so I guess we couldn’t see Cal behind the show-within-a-show’s cameras because he was behind the show’s cameras. Still, I miss that guy when he’s not around — and with Danny Nevada-bound, it was particularly odd not to have Cal taking up the technical slack.

4. Why is Jordan still dressing like a co-ed? If Jack’s right and the top brass doesn’t like this girl, maybe it’s because she dresses like a girl and not an executive. Or maybe she just dresses like the talent. At any rate, her get-ups aren’t even up to business casual standards. I guess it’s all part of her real-ness, but despite what Danny said many episodes ago, she still doesn’t look like “one of them.” Shouldn’t she, just a little?

5. Did nobody think to bring poor Tom a change of clothes? If they were going to bother to fly all the way to Pahrump without much of a rescue plan, the least Danny or Simon could have done was bring their friend a pair of pants and a sweatshirt or something.

Studio 60, NBC, Nevada Day Part I, commentary

As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from Studio 60’s seventh episode, “Nevada Day Part I.”

Bebe: I had these guys going, did you see that? You’re idiots, did you know that? I’m a judge. Do you really think I go around calling people Japs and ordering deputies to shoot lawyers? You think I’m some sort of backwater red-state moron who hasn’t heard of NBS? I own a television, I know how to work it. I also know the law, counselor, and I’m not easily impressed. So shove your motions up your ass. There’s only one person in the room I want to hear from, and that’s the shepherd in the handcuffs.

Bebe: You are having a very bad day, son. I, on the other hand, am giddy as a schoolgirl. Start talking.

Bebe: This has gotta be a hell of a story not to start with why you’re dressed as a shepherd.

Bebe: Sammy! Is it Sammy?
Simon: Simon. Simon Stiles.
Bebe: Simon, let me be your lawyer for a second.
Simon: Okay.
Bebe: Shut the hell up.

Harriet: I said, the Bible says it’s a sin. It also says, “Judge not lest ye be judged,” and that it was something for smarter people than me to decide.
Matt: “Ye” is a word you don’t hear a lot.

Matt: Can I ask you something, does your ass hurt from straddling the fence like that all the time?
Harriet: Oh, please.
Matt: Are you concerned that a significant portion of your fan base in both music and television is gay, and that any number of people who work with you here are gay?
Harriet: Hang on, you don’t mean to say that there are homosexuals and lesbians in show business, do you? ‘Cause I’ll walk right out this building.

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We’re taking a second look at “Nevada Day Part I,” the seventh episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which originally aired on November 6, 2006. Following up on yesterday’s review, here’s a recap of the episode. Tune in over the next couple of days for memorable lines and five questions.

Twangy guitars let us know right away that we’re not in L.A. anymore. Nope, we’re hanging around a police station in Pahrump, Nevada, with an unlikely gang of outlaws. There’s Tom, in a shepherd outfit and handcuffs. Simon, looking agitated. Jack Rudolph, looking like a shark being restrained in a very small tank. Danny, killing time. And a father and daughter who we will later learn are a bigwig from Macau and his daughter, who’s a viola player at Juillard, a translater for her father, and, like, a total Tom Jeter fan.

What are they all doing on this dusty byway? Waiting for John Goodman, or rather, the authority he’s playing, Judge Bebe, a guy who knows how to tweak out-of-staters who feel like they’re better than everybody else. He toys with the gang for a bit, makes them think he’s a stupid redneck, then a guy who’s going to throw the book at the lot of them. The judge is not interested in the NBS lawyer’s motions or Simon’s declarations that the jacket Tom was wearing is his and so is the joint in the pocket. No, what the judge really wants is to hear Tom’s story. And so, Tom begins to tell it, and we flash back …

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I finally watched “Nevada Day Part I,” as I was supposed to have done on Monday. It’s just been one of those weeks, you know? Just like Tom’s having one of those days. How adorable is Tom Jeter, really. Somebody needs to give Nate Corddry another TV show immediately, please.

What a shaggy dog story this episode is. I remember the first time I watched it, assuming that we’d get the whole story in one episode, and being really stunned when all of a sudden the hour was over, and it was going to be a two-parter. The time flew, just like Jack Rudolph and his motley crew, winging to Nevada to make a bad situation worse.

This time, obviously, I knew I was only going to get half of the story. But there were plenty of things to enjoy on second viewing, foremost among them Danny’s delightful manipulativeness. It makes me wonder if you can ever take anything he says at face value. After maneouvering Matt into writing the standards and practices sketch, he’s now maneouvering Jack into insisting they do it. He’s also the only one who seems to be able to talk straight to the judge.

And what’s with Jack suddenly liking Jordan? I don’t know, maybe all his antagonism until now has been the same sort of mislead that Danny trades in. But it sure hasn’t seemed that he’s her champion. I guess he feels responsible for looking at the big picture, and she keeps wilfully messing it up. It was nice to see him have a little appreciation for her, anyway.

He has no appreciation for the justice system in Nevada, though, and the feeling appears to be mutual. It’s yet another situation in which Jack can’t seem to win one, and his blustering is only making it worse for the guy he needs to get released. That’s bad enough for Tom; worse, is having to go through all of it in a shepherd costume. Looking on the bright side, though, at least it’s not that lobster suit from the other week.

Come back again throughout the weekend for a recap of the episode, memorable lines, and five questions.

Studio 60, NBC, Nevada Day Part I, review

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}