Watching Studio60

As a follow-up to the recap of “The Friday Night Slaughter,” here are some memorable lines from the episode.

Did I miss your favorites? Share them in the comments.

Jordan: Hi, this is Jordan McDeere. I’m the president of NBS West Coast Entertainment.
Danny: Yes, ma’am.
Jordan: I’m concerned that not enough of your cameras are aimed at her chest.
Danny: Well, I got all four of them working, but this is just dress. If you want, I can bring in some IMAX equipment for tonight.
Jordan: This is what you like, huh?
Danny: Me? No. I’ll tell you why. She’s too sexy.
Jordan: My hormones are like the Los Alamos experiment right now.
Danny: What does that mean?
Jordan: Get the cameras off her chest!

Andy: You know, I don’t really like anything or anyone, but if you ever wanted to talk about anything …

Matt: Are ya senile?
Cal: Me?
Matt: Yeah.
Cal: I hope so, ’cause if I’ve got further to fall, then I …

Harriet: You’ve never seen me perform. How do you know what I’d be good at?
Matt: I watched your audition tape.
Harriet: When?
Matt: After I saw you Monday morning. Then again after I came down here. Tuesday a few times, and this morning.
Harriet: Really?
Matt: And again last night. I made a dub.

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We’re taking a second look at “The Friday Night Slaughter,” the fifteenth episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Following up on yesterday’s review, here’s a recap of the episode. Tune in later this week for memorable lines from the episode, and five questions about it.

Some chick I absolutely do not recognize is singing, and Matt is watching from his office. We move about through the studio, hear Cal make some technical adjustments, then go downstage for a close-up with the singer, then over to Danny, who’s getting a call from Jordan. She’s watching, too, on monitors, and wants to know why all the cameras are aiming at the singer’s chest.

And then we’re back up with Matt, who gets a visit from Andy, commenting on how the dress rehearsal is going. He mentions that Matt’s office is a big improvement over his first office, years ago; and when Matt continues to be kind of out of it, wonders if there’s anything Matt would like to talk about. That’s a pretty big step for Andy, but Matt’s too far gone to notice.

Besides, Andy’s office comment has launched Matt into a flashback, and we know it’s to 1999 because Y2K is in the news. Also because Matt is sitting on the floor, wearing a backwards baseball cap that’s supposed to make Matthew Perry look seven years younger. Not so much, but let’s just play along.

Young Matt’s talking to some guy named Tim, who just got fired by Wes for using drugs, leaving behind an office for Matt to share with Luke. Matt seems more broken up about it than “Tim” does.

Then we’re back in the present, in his new-and-improved office, with the chesty singer still singing. Matt seems surprised to find himself alone there. It’s a good opportunity, though, to take a bottle of pills out of his pocket and pop a few.

The dress rehearsal is over now, and Harriet’s onstage thanking the audience and expositioning a bit about what happens now. Her face fills a monitor in Matt’s office, launching him back into flashback mode to the first time they met. That was back when the writers room was full to overflowing, Luke had a big ol’ beard, and Stephen Tobolowsky was in charge of yelling at writers. And at new cast members like Harriet who come in late for their first meeting. Matt’s nice to her, earning a snipe from Tobolowsky’s character about not getting a sketch on the air this year, either. Doesn’t matter, though, cause Matt’s on Cloud Nine just looking at her.

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I watched “The Friday Night Slaughter” again last night, and two things are clear: Matt and Harriet have always been ideologically ill-suited, and Luke has always been insufferably sure of himself.

Watching Matt and Harriet’s theological debates previously, it’s been possible to think that they’re the result of intolerance built up over time and proximity. But nope, Matt was pretty much attacking Harriet’s faith from the first day he knew her, accidentally at first, but sticking with it. If she’s been able to overlook that and be in this on-and-off relationship, and he’s been nuts about her despite the fact that she’s a honey-crusted nut bar, then there’s got to be some sort of destiny about their relationship. They were made for each other, and somewhere angels are having a good laugh.

Luke’s been in the way from the first day, too, and although there’s nothing so specific to dislike about the guy in the early days, he’s just so “the anti-Matt,” even then, that I can’t stand him. He shouldn’t be the one getting the girl, then or now. Too bad he couldn’t be a figment of Matt’s imagination, the embodiment of his jealousy, maybe, at the thought of Harriet being with anyone else.

As for Tim, Matt’s actual phantom self, I was surprised how affected I was by that final scene, where Tim’s wearing the baseball cap and Matt’s starting to realize that something’s not right. Nice twist there, with Matt suddenly looking more like present-day Matt, and then present-day Matt looking at the picture and realizing who he’d been thinking of all that time. I’m not sure if this is supposed to mean that Matt was having drug problems back then, or that he’s losing his grip now, but the latter is certainly true.

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If you’ve been following along with my Studio 60 Revisited Monday night marathon, tonight’s the night for “The Friday Night Slaughter,” which originally aired on February 12, 2007. This is the one in which Matt flashes back to his early days of writing for Studio 60, meeting and falling for Harriet, vying with Luke for her attention, and talking with some writer who nobody in the present-day Studio remembers. Maybe that has something to do with the pills Matt’s popping.

I’ll admit, I flipped around through this episode last week after watching “The Harriet Dinner Part 2,” mostly because I needed some more Jordan-Danny cuteness Right That Very Minute. There’s some in this episode, not a lot, but enough to tide me over to the fake-baby shenanigans in next week’s “4 A.M. Miracle.” I had to fast-forward through the Matt flashbacks, though, because I found the Harriet Dinner episodes to be just brutal on the Matt-Harriet front, and I’m not looking forward to the coming breakdown.

Still, tonight, for the purposes of writing about it here, I’ll keep my finger off the fast-forward. First time watching this, about a year ago, I was slow in picking up who Matt’s mystery colleague was. Now that I’ve had that particular anagram unscrambled for me, it will be interesting to re-view and see how well it all works. And heck, I can always rewind the Jordan-Danny scenes and replay a few times to cheer myself up.

Watch with me tonight, and come back throughout the week for a review, recap, memorable lines, and five questions.

Studio 60, NBC, The Friday Night Slaughter

Five questions that popped into my head while re-viewing “The Harriet Dinner Part 2″:

1. Is Wendy the anti-Harriet? That is, somebody with a bad-girl image, but who knows how to be nice to Matt, even when he’s being a jerk? She’s certainly got an unquestioningly patient way with the guy, putting up with the stiletto boot nonsense, and then letting him down gently when he reacts to being eviscerated by his true love by asking Wendy to be his girlfriend again. She’s a good friend, anyway. (A bit of trivia that I may be the last person to have figured out: While I knew that Wendy’s group, the Bombshell Babies, was supposed to be a takeoff on the Pussycat Dolls, I didn’t know that the actress who plays Wendy, Cyia Batten, actually was a Pussycat Doll. So she’s got some experience with the slutty costumes.)

2. Was Harriet purposely talking about wanting to sleep with Luke to hurt Matt? Talk about your acts of cruelty. She had to know that was the deadliest weapon in her arsenal, and the way she deployed it just before he went onstage was pretty brutal. Maybe she just got carried away; maybe she wanted to see if it would affect him, or thought it would not. But if it was at all deliberate, then I think he gets to take the victim high ground now for a little bit.

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As a follow-up to the recap of “The Harriet Dinner Part 2,” here are some memorable lines from the episode.

Did I miss your favorites? Share them in the comments.

Matt: Can we calm down a second …
Harriet: I’m calm.
Matt: … or go back in time?
Harriet: This is it.
Matt: Not far back, just ten minutes, ’cause that’s when the ground cracked open.
Harriet: No, let’s not go back ten minutes, let’s go back four days, when you decided you didn’t want me, but didn’t want anyone else to have me either.
Matt: Are you kidding?
Harriet: Or two years, when you denied in the press that we were a couple.
Matt: I didn’t deny –
Harriet: Or four weeks, when you kissed me at the show because Luke was there, or any month of any year …
Matt: Alright, stop it, stop it now. There should be some kind of standard of due process in these things, some damn 14th amendment …
Harriet: Shut up.
Matt: I didn’t deny anything to the press. I can’t believe you still … some gossip guy calls my publicist and says, “Is he dating Harriet Hayes?” I don’t comment. No one in their right mother-freaking mind does.
Harriet: I did. I did, you didn’t. You know how stupid that made me look?
Matt: I really don’t have a whole lot of control as to how smart or stupid you look, Harriet. Except for the TV show that I write that made you a star.
Harriet: You made me a star?
Matt: I made you look stupid? … I don’t participate in gossip columns. I know you know that, because you’re not borderline retarded. So why are you trying to set us on fire.
Harriet: Because your being her tonight, your kissing me at Christmas, your feigning jealousy over Darren Wells, these are acts of cruelty disguised as cuteness. Let me ask you something: You think Luke Scott wants to date me again?
Matt: Yes.
Harriet: You’re right. He told me he did. How is it you say you can’t be with me if we’re working together, but Luke has no problem with it?
Matt: Harriet, I don’t say we can’t be together if we’re working together. We can’t be together if we’re working together!
Harriet: Well, doesn’t that work out nicely for you?
Matt: (after she’s walked away) No, it doesn’t.

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If you’re a West Wing fan and have lots of time to blow on Internet reading today, check out “The Page About the Thing” on the Bartlet4America site. They’ve gone through five seasons so far of locating every script reference to the word “thing” and defining just what the thing was. Included is my personal favorite, Toby’s “What, you want to tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing?” from Season 4.

The West Wing, NBC, Aaron Sorkin, quotes

We’re taking a second look at “The Harriet Dinner Part 2,” the fourteenth episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Following up on yesterday’s review, here’s a recap of the episode. Tune in later this week for memorable lines and questions.

We’re back at the dinner, and Harriet is still laying all sorts of grief on Matt, dredging up every flirty thing he’s done and calling it cruel. The guy’s flailing to stay in the game, but she’s merciless. Maybe being done with her wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Back on the roof, Jordan and Danny are trying to get a sleeping bum … er, employment and housing challenged person to see them and help. Jordan throws a rock to hit a dumpster to wake the man, only to realize that it was a Hide-a-Key rock and probably their last good chance to get inside. Because the bum didn’t wake up, and nobody seems to be looking for them.

Cal, for one, is too busy looking for the ferret that ate the snake. Bevo’s brought a coyote to get the ferret, but the American Humane Society’s going to be here soon — since they’re needed when an animal is working — and Cal’s guessing they’re going to have a problem with the wildlife control scheme he’s got going here.

Tom’s got some wildlife control problems of his own, because Kim’s on her fifth tequila. Tom tries the truth thing he should have used with Lucy earlier, and levels with Kim that since Jack needs a favor from her father, she should just pretend to go back to Juillard for, like, a week. She responds by passing out, and Tom goes to find out from Jack where her hotel is while Simon takes her to a secluded spot, “Weekend at Bernie’s” style.

Harriet is at least looking for Jordan, mostly because Jordan is supposed to introduce her and, if she’s not there, Matt is going to have to do it. Matt and Harriet argue some more, about the same old things — Jeannie, baseball bat, Luke, why Matt never proposed, why Harriet doesn’t take responsibility for her own passive aggression. But Jordan never shows up, and Matt has to think of something nice to say about Harriet in front of people.

Fortunately, Natalie Cole is singing first, which gives Matt time to jot down some notes while Harriet slashes his heart out. They’re arguing so loudly I expect Natalie to yell, “Hey, you two! I’m saying a little prayer for you up here! Shut up!” Just before they’re called to the stage, Harriet agrees with Matt about a couple of things: that she can’t walk away so she’s burning down the house, and that she thinks he lied all those times he said “I love you.”

Tom is not successful in finding Jack, but Simon does manage to get Kim off to an unoccupied area, where she floats in and out of consciousness but never quite enough to say where her hotel is. Her phone rings and Tom answers, but when he hears Kim’s father’s voice, he hangs up quick. Things are not looking good for Western civilization.

(more…)

I watched the episode “The Harriet Dinner Part 2″ again last night, and you know, for a so-called “good girl,” Harriet Hayes sure fights dirty, doesn’t she? Watching that ongoing argument was like witnessing a knife fight and being powerless to stop it.

And yet, there were so many delightful moments in this episode. I loved every second of Jordan and Danny’s rooftop exile, as they again bounced from banter to discussion of the state of Danny’s affections to silly efforts at rescue. I loved Jordan’s little magic trick, even though this time I knew it was coming, and I loved Danny’s race through the theater and into the parking garage to find her. It’s nice to see that one couple here knows how to communicate — in their own quirky way, sure, but in something like real time.

The scene in Tom’s dressing room between Jack and Zhang was pretty funny, too, with the revelation that Kim’s dad has known English all along. The way Jack talked back to him then, and the way Zhang went along with Jack’s FCC plan anyway, really enhanced my appreciation for both characters. And how nice to have Tom get off the hook, both with Jack and with Lucy. He really is a gentleman, but not exactly your go-to guy for high-pressure assignments.

Cal’s trouble with the dangerous critters was probably not a story that needed two episodes to tell, but it was worth it for his moments of exasperation and agony — lying to the cast about mold, sniping at the Humane Society lady, confessing all to Danny. And the breaking up of the stage paid off in the way Matt watched it, from his office, having already been torn apart himself.

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If you’ve been following along with my Studio 60 Revisited Monday night marathon, tonight’s the night for “The Harriet Dinner Part 2,” which originally aired on February 5, 2007. When we stepped away from the table at the end of Part 1, things were not looking good for three couples, Cal’s blood pressure, and the fate of Western civilization. To recap:

Matt and Harriet: Harriet didn’t think it was so sweet that Matt bid big bucks to be her date at a dinner in her honor when she found out that he thought he was bidding against Luke. She starts thinking that Luke might be right about her being stuck in a semi-relationship with Matt, and deserving of more. Her last words to Matt as the episode ended: “We’re going to be finished tonight. Don’t be scared.”

Danny and Jordan: Danny took his boss up on the roof to apologize for his amorous pursuit, but wound up locking them out of the theater. The pair bantered about whether Danny was really in love, when that happened, whether he was just feeling sorry for her, and all manner of other items of varying importance. Although it seems as though she may be softening toward him, among Jordan’s last words to Danny as the episode ended were: “You tremendous doofus!”

Tom and Lucy: Because Tom unaccountably took Matt’s advice and lied to Lucy about why he had to re-schedule their first date, she caught him with Kim and jumped to the obvious conclusion: that he’s just another no-good guy, and not a gentleman after all. Didn’t help that Kim was all over Tom and almost out of her dress.

(more…)

Five questions that popped into my head while re-viewing “The Harriet Dinner Part 1″:

1. So what damn Harriet crime did Matt commit? These two have been playing games since the show began, and it’s hardly been a one-way street (hello, Harriet? You didn’t know you were giving Matt a bat with another man’s phone number on it? Mm-hmm). While this prank was probably the most expensive, it’s certainly smarter than the stiletto boot incident, and it had a pretty good chance of being successful had Women United Through Faith not called a tie. She’s cried “breakup!” too many times and then slid back into mutual bantering to be able to unilaterally blame him for the state of their relationship. (Of course, having seen the end of the series, we know this one’s not going to hold, either.)

2. Was Jordan softening toward Danny before he locked her on that roof? The way she responded to his statement that he was going to stop pursuing her — a “Well … ” followed by a lengthy pause before “okay” — indicates that maybe she wasn’t quite as upset and determined to end things as she was in their last encounter. At least, unlike Harriet, Jordan was able to clearly articulate what damn Jordan crime Danny committed, and he was not tongue-tied like Matt in responding to it. (Speaking of which: Have we ever seen Matt that tongue-tied before?)

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As a follow-up to the recap of “The Harriet Dinner Part 1,” here are some memorable lines from the episode.

Did I miss your favorites? Share them in the comments.

Jack: There comes a time in every great man’s life when he needs a favor from … someone like you.
Tom: What does someone like me usually say?
Jack: Well, they’re usually too scared to say anything but yes.
Tom: I hear that.

Jack: I need a favor from Zhiang.
Tom: You should ask him, just the way you’re asking me.
Jack: No, because he’s a person of considerable importance.
Tom: Sure.

Jack: I’m going to keep talking until I’m done, and then if you feel like there’s something you need to say, I’ll give you a moment.
Tom: Have I done something wrong?
Jack: Probably, but that’s not what this is about. Kim is a viola prodigy.
Tom: I know.
Jack: That is a huge source of pride for her father.
Tom: I’m sure.
Jack: She wants to give up the viola to take up doing what you do. Comedy. That would be a huge source of shame for her father.
Tom: Mm-hm.
Jack: I’m going to say something now, and when I do, I want you to look at me. ‘Cause when you look at me, you’re going to know that I’m not employing hyperbole. The fate of Western civilization rests on you talking her out of it.

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You know, for a show that was only on one season, and whose two main couples spent much of that time apart and bantering, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has inspired an awful lot of romantic YouTube music montages. The Marriet shippers seem to be outdoing the Jordanny crew by a bit, but both pairings have worked up quite a bit of creative enthusiasm.

Below, for your Valentine’s Day enjoyment, is a list of tunes to which devotional YouTube videos to one of our S60 couples have been set. There’s Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” of course, a tune by Studio 60 musical guest Corinne Bailey Rae, the obligatory Snow Patrol tracks, and a surprising number of teen-idol tunes. Pick a song you like and revel in the complicated affection and romantic longing, set to pop music. It’s Valentine’s Day, Studio 60 style.

Harriet and Matt

• Corinne Bailey Rae, “Just Like a Star”
• Dave Matthews Band, “The Space Between”
• Disney’s Hercules, “I Won’t Say I’m in Love”
• Hepburn, “I Quit”
• James Blunt, “Goodbye My Lover”
• Jesse McCartney, “Just So You Know”
• Jesse McCartney, “Why Don’t You Kiss Her”
• Jet, “Look What You’ve Done”
• John Hiatt, “Have a Little Faith in Me”
• Jonas Brothers, “Please Be Mine”
• Lifehouse, “Everything”
• Michael Buble, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
• Natalie Cole, “Miss You Like Crazy”
• Nick Lachey, “What’s Left of Me”
• Regina Spektor, “Samson”
• REM, “At My Most Beautiful”
• Rihanna, “Unfaithful”
• Ryan Cabrera, “On the Way Down”
• Sammy Davis Jr., “We Could Have Been the Closest of Friends”
• Snow Patrol, “Chasing Cars”
• Snow Patrol, “You Could Be Happy”
• Sting, “Fields of Gold”
• Tiziano Ferro, “E Fuori e Buio”
• XTC, “I’m the Man Who Murdered Love”

Jordan and Danny

• Amos Lee, “Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight”
• Blue October, “You Make Me Smile”
• Ella Fitzgerald, “You Do Something to Me”
• Disney’s Hercules, “I Won’t Say I’m In Love”
• Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, “Elephant Love Medley” from Moulin Rouge
• Laura Pausini, “Surrender”
• Nick Lachey, “What’s Left of Me”
• Skye, “Love Show”
• Something Corporate, “Down”
• Stars, “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
• The Fray, “Look After You”
• The Wish, “Faith Alive”

Studio 60, NBC, fan videos, YouTube

We’re taking a second look at “The Harriet Dinner Part 1,” the thirteenth episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which originally aired on January 29, 2007. Following up on yesterday’s review, here’s a recap of the episode. Tune in later this week for memorable lines and questions.

Jack’s in the Studio to talk to Tom — who, unfortunately, is dressed as a bunch of grapes for Simon’s Fruit of the Loom sketch, and accutely aware of what an idiot this makes him look to Jack. They go into Tom’s dressing room, and with a little help from Jack and a lot of awkward tugging, Tom’s down to his own Fruit of the Looms. As he dresses, Jack explains his dilemma, being sure to exert his own importance and Tom’s unimportance at every opportunity. Turns out, though, that the fate of the Western world rests on Tom’s shoulders — because in order to fend off the FCC’s demand to time-delay the news, Jack has to get Kim’s father to owe him a favor, and for that to happen, Tom has to talk Kim out of being a comedian on their date to Harriet’s dinner Thursday night. What’s that? Tom has a date with Lucy Thursday night? Not anymore.

And, not anymore is Jordan even pretending to be respectful of Hallie and her show, but it doesn’t matter, ’cause for the moment, Hallie’s got the upper hand. Jordan can make all the sarcastic cracks she wants during a meeting about the show in Jack’s office, and Jack can pretend it’s her call, but obviously, they have a sweeps spot to fill, and this is going to fill it. After the meeting, Jordan and Jack talk seriously about the FCC situation, and have a nice moment of solidarity. But when Jordan asks Jack to tell her sometime why he brought Hallie here, he pauses a beat too long before saying — why, to do alternative programming, of course. Jordan says okay, but now she knows she’s really in trouble.

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I watched the episode “The Harriet Dinner Part 1″ again last night, and though it’s never going to be one of my favorite outings, it was less painful than I anticipated.

I was booing when Tom lied to Lucy, especially since it was otherwise such an adorable scene. The Rolling Stones movie Harriet’s shooting with Luke looks pretty insufferable to me, as does the reality show that weasel Hallie is pitching so self-satisfiedly (though I’m glad to see Jordan has her snark back). Drunk Kim was cute, but I felt so sorry for Tom it was hard to enjoy it. And that Luke-inspired argument between Harriet and Matt was kinda brutal, especially since Matt was more or less blindsided. Not that he didn’t deserve it, necessarily, but this evening’s string-her-along behavior wasn’t significantly worse than the many examples of string-her-along behavior we’ve seen before, and I think he was rightly surprised that this made her go ballistic.

Still, I’ll put up with all of that for those scenes with Danny and Jordan up on the roof. I love those scenes. Danny apologized and said he’d stop bothering Jordan, and Jordan’s “Well … ” let slip that she’d maybe really rather he didn’t. She finally told him why she was rejecting his advances — believing he was only interested in her out of sympathy over her condition — and he told her she was wrong. They had a necessary discussion of their relationship at the same time Danny was seeking out silly ways to get them out of there, and beating up on an electrical cord he thought was a snake. They’re mostly back to bantering, after Jordan’s very serious conversation in the previous episode. I’m a sucker for banter, and I have a feeling Jordan is, too.

The other main plot in this two-parter is like an extended joke involving dangerous animals. And it does seem fairly unlikely that, in a situation like this, they would use poisonous snakes, and lose one, and send a ferret after it, and a coyote. But I’ll suspend disbelief because Timothy Busfield’s involved. Cal’s getting to be quite the comic relief, between this and the coconuts on the Christmas show.

All they needed to do to make that plot perfect would be to send Luke and Hallie under the stage with all the other predators.

Come back later this week for a recap, memorable lines, and five questions about “The Harriet Dinner Part 1.”

Studio 60, NBC, The Harriet Dinner Part 1, review