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As a follow-up to the recap, here are some memorable lines from the Sports Night episode “Mary Pat Shelby.” Did I miss your favorites? Share them in the comments.

Dana: This is a coup, Isaac! We need it promoted.
Isaac: What, do I look like I just sailed in from Minskapinsk?
Dana: No, you don’t, but you’ve gotta stop using Yiddish expressions.
Isaac: They work for me!
Dana: Not as much as you think.

Dan: A lot of great and distinguished men have worn goatees.
Casey: I’ll give you $100 if you don’t start naming them for me.

Dana: No questions about Mary Pat Shelby. We’re just gonna talk about football.
Casey: How ’bout something like this: “Chris, what were you thinking when you punched your girlfriend in the face and threw her down that flight of stairs? I’m sorry, I meant, How the heck did you catch that pass against the Raiders?”

Dana: Something was better than nothing and we needed this.
Casey: Yeah, and Patrick’s people need to show their guy can still sell sneakers and soda. And when the whole thing’s over, we hop in the shower and they leave the money on the night table. Plus, we get to show Mary Pat Shelby that unless she can catch 80 passes in a season, the world could honestly give a damn about her concussion and broken jaw.

Casey: What happened to your values?
Dan: I find that maintaining them is a lot of work. I take a day off every now and then.
Casey: You take a vacation from doing the right thing?
Dan: Yeah. I don’t loot storefronts or anything. But once in a while, when I consider the effort it takes to diligently adhere to a moral compass, I take myself out of the lineup and I rest for the next game.

Dan: I have a hard time believing that my growing a goatee is gonna cause any kind of lighting problem, guys, all right?
Casey: Hey, these guys still haven’t figured out how to light your nose.

Dana: There happens to be an exclusive story sitting in the greenroom that’s gonna be wildfire whether we light the match or not. It happened. It’s news. I can’t decide not to pursue it just ’cause it happened to us. Not only that, I think Natalie deserves to have her story told.
Dan: Don’t use the last part.
Dana: What?
Dan: You had me ’til the last part.
Dana: What do you –
Dan: Of course it’s a legitimate news story and it would be embarrassing if we weren’t the ones to break it. But Natalie didn’t seem at all to me anxious to have her story told. And speaking as a friend — I think it’s wrong of you to use that.
Dana: I am not rationalizing, Danny. I am saying what I believe.
Dan: That’s fine, but in a minute you’re gonna have to float an argument by Isaac, and I’m just saying … you had me ’til the last part.

Jeremy: It wouldn’t be as bad as you think.
Natalie: Yes, it would.
Jeremy: Natalie –
Natalie: Yes it would! Private conversations in the corridor. Secret meetings in Isaac’s office. “We’ll have a car take you home”? I’m already out of the loop.
Jeremy: It’s just tonight.
Natalie: No, it’s not. This is a soundproof room, and I can still hear the phones ringing out there. They’re on the scent, and they’re all calling to talk to me. I have a journalism degree from Northwestern. I started out as a summer intern. I worked my way up to senior associate. Tomorrow, I’d be a cocktail-party joke. So, it’d actually be every bit as bad as I think.

Jeremy: (to Christian Patrick) You touch her again, I’m gonna have you killed. Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m gonna pay someone $50 to have you killed.

Dana: I sent her there on purpose. I sent her there instead of Jeremy ’cause I knew how Patrick felt about women in a locker room. And I thought I could … provoke a more — a better response to the questions. I sent her there on purpose.
Casey: I know.
Dana: Does she? Does Natalie know?
Casey: Of course she knows. She learned from you.

Dan: (to Natalie) The only reason I came in here was to tell you this: No matter what you decide … you’ve got friends. And this is what friends gear up for.

Evans: This is a third-place show on a fourth-rate network.
Dan: Yeah, but that’s all gonna change once I grow a goatee.
Casey: He’s just crazy enough to do it, too.

Natalie: Do you remember how much you wanted to play professional football when you were a kid?
Patrick: Yeah.
Natalie: That’s how much I wanted to be a sports reporter. I was just there doing my job. But tomorrow, the sky’s gonna fall down on both of us, ’cause as soon as my show comes down at midnight, I’m going over to the 23rd precinct, and I’m swearing out a warrant for your arrest. … Chris.
Patrick: Yeah.
Natalie: Right now, this second … how much do you love me?

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

Sports Night, ABC, Mary Pat Shelby, memorable lines

We’re taking a second look at “Mary Pat Shelby,” the fifth episode of Sports Night. Following up on the review, here’s a recap of the episode. Still to come: memorable lines from the episode.

Isaac’s got good news for Dana: Sports Night, their little #3 show, has scored a hit-making appearance by football player Christian Patrick. He’s coming to the studio, he’s sitting down for an interview, and if they promote the heck out of it, he’s going to bring tons of new viewers along with him. Dana breaks the good news to Dan, interrupting his musings on whether or not he should grow a goatee. Also getting word of the show’s big break is Natalie, who is Dana’s choice to go do a locker-room pre-interview with Patrick. Natalie’s pretty sure Jeremy, with his superior football knowledge, would be a better choice, but Dana wants Natalie and that’s that.

Of course, once they have promoted the heck out of it and there’s no turning back, Patrick’s lawyers issue some guidelines on what can and cannot be talked about. Foremost on the latter list is Mary Pat Shelby, the girlfriend Patrick is accused of beating up. No, no questions about that, not even the merest mention. Casey tells Dana she’s doing a big thing badly, and getting played, and Dana doesn’t disagree — but the fact is, the show needs the interview and the viewers and the producer will do anything to make it work. Casey tries to engage Dan in arguing the decision, but as it happens, this is Dan’s day off from caring about ethical violations.

When Natalie comes back from the Patrick pre-interview, she runs into Jeremy in an editing room and he notices a bruise on her wrist. She has some story about catching it in a car door and insists it’s nothing, but Jeremy points out that it looks exactly like the Indian burn his sister gave him when they were kids. Later, in a rundown meeting that has mostly to do with the lighting problems Dan’s goatee might cause, Isaac bursts in with news of reports from the Meadowlands that, in an empty locker room, Christian Patrick was seen exposing himself to a women. He might have done more, Isaac says, because the witness saw him grab the woman’s arm. Jeremy asks, frantically, whether it might have been her wrist, then runs out of the room. It only takes Casey a few seconds to realize what this means: The woman was Natalie.

The gang rallies around Natalie, who claims it was no big deal. Isaac says they’ll get a car to take her home so she doesn’t have to see Patrick in the studio, but she wants to stay and do her job, and Isaac reluctantly agrees. Dana, meanwhile, sees that what happened to Natalie makes this a whole new ballgame. First, she’s telling Casey and Dan that the show is going to be the first to report on what happened in the locker room, because it’s their story and because Natalie deserves to have her story told. Dan points out that, actually, Natalie doesn’t seem all that interested in having her story told, and that sets Dana off into another whole new ballgame: She makes a deal with Patrick’s lawyers that Natalie will not press charges if the interview is opened to include questions about Mary Pat Shelby. They agree, but Dana and Isaac start to look like maybe this isn’t such a victory.

Jeremy tries to comfort Natalie, but she’s noticed all the conversations going on outside the room she’s in, and all the phones ringing, and she knows just how bad it can get for a female journalist who complains about what goes on in a locker room. Afterward, Jeremy runs into Christian Patrick in the hallway, and tells him that if he ever touches Natalie again, Jeremy’s going to have him killed. Patrick just laughs it off, and says that judging by the look on Natalie’s face, she was pretty impressed with him.

Casey talks to an increasingly uncertain Dana, who admits that she sent Natalie into the locker room in the hope that it might provoke Patrick. Casey assures her that she’ll do the right thing. Meanwhile, Dan is saying something along the same lines to Natalie, assuring her that no matter what happens, she has friends, and this is what friends suit up for.

And so, it turns out to be a bad day for Christian Patrick, and a not-so-great day for Sports Night’s bottom line. Ethics, though, are on an upswing: Dana cancels the interview and kicks Patrick and his lawyers out of her studio, and Natalie tells Patrick that she’s going to press charges against him, turning both of their lives upside down.

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

Sports Night, ABC, Mary Pat Shelby, recap

I watched “Mary Pat Shelby,” the fifth episode of Sports Night, again last night, and I think this was probably the sportsiest Sports Night so far, with the various twists and turns involving the Christian Patrick interview dominating the episode.

Though there were some strong scenes with Natalie and Dana, and the other characters supporting them, my two favorite moments are ones involving Jeremy — his realization in the meeting that the woman Christian Patrick assaulted was Natalie, at which he bolts from the room, leading the others to realize it, too; and the confrontation in which Jeremy says that if Patrick touches Natalie again, he’ll pay somebody $50 to have the big guy killed.

I loved the way that even the usual running gags wound up getting woven into the Patrick story. Dan’s talking endlessly about getting a goatee paid off humorously when he used it as a threat to get Patrick and his lawyers out of the room. The allegations that Dana could not tell a joke paid off sweetly when Natalie, overwhelmed by the evening’s events and the ones sure to come her way when the story got out, asked Dana to tell her a joke. And of course, “How much do you love me?” went from a jubilant celebration of coming ratings victory to a bittersweet exchange between Natalie and Patrick as both their worlds were about to be turned upside down.

What did you think about this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Sports Night, ABC, Mary Pat Shelby, review

Our Sports Night marathon continues tonight with Episode 5, “Mary Pat Shelby,” which originally aired on October 20, 1998.

The synopsis, according to the DVD box: “A disreputable football star guests on the show, which is a big boost, but he ‘reveals’ too much and goes after Natalie in a pre-interview. She later struggles over legal options, and Dana decides to cancel the piece.” Wow, is that a dull and hoaky description for an episode that is one of the series’ most powerful. How much do I love whoever wrote that box copy right now? Not much.

Cue up your DVD and watch this episode with me tonight, and come back during the week for a review, recap, and memorable lines.

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

Sports Night, ABC, Mary Pat Shelby

As a follow-up to the recap, here are some memorable lines from the Sports Night episode “Intellectual Property.” Did I miss your favorites? Share them in the comments.

Dana: Isaac, I see you’re smiling and holding a ratings book both at the same time. What do we know?
Isaac: We’re not number one, we’re not number two, but we picked up a point-and-a-half with men 18 to 49, and we took it evenly from Fox and Bristol. Plus I’m always smiling this time of night. You know why?
Dana: Double Chivas on the rocks?
Isaac: That’s right.

Jeremy: The attendance at tonight’s game, 11,323, is exactly the same as the population of Hoisington, Kansas.
Dana: Okay, Dan, here’s the thing. You’re gonna be 15 seconds short on the Bucks/Pacers game. I have two options for you. Option one is that the attendance at the game, 11,323, turns out to be exactly the same as the population of …
Jeremy: Hoisington, Kansas.
Dana: Hoisington, Kansas.
Dan: And option two?
Dana: Talk slower.

Casey: I’ve known Dana for 15 years. She just does this thing from time to time.
Dan: You mean have a personal life?
Casey: Yeah. She does it to make me jealous.
Dan: I don’t think it’s gonna work, do you?
Casey: My behavior is not motivated by jealousy, Danny. This is not jealousy.
Dan: What is your behavior motivated by?
Casey: It’s an emotion I’m having a difficult time putting my finger on at the moment.

Dana: You know, from, like, the second Casey and Lisa split up, everyone in this office is convinced that I have a strategy for getting Casey to fall in love with me.
Natalie: You’re wrong. We knew you didn’t have a strategy, and we’re glad you’ve finally come up with something.

Natalie: You’re going to Vermont, for the weekend, with Gordon.
Dana: Yes, I am.
Natalie: And you bought new lingerie.
Dana: Yes, I did.
Natalie: And you went out of your way to make sure Casey knew you bought new lingerie.
Dana: I did not!
Natalie: Right. That was me.

Malory: Listen, I think it’s sweet that you and your partner sing to each other on television. Others may think it’s vaguely gay, but I disagree.

Dan: No one understands the value of a healthy hunch.
Isaac: Our lawyers understand the value of a healthy hunch. It’s $400 an hour plus court costs.

Casey: Listen to me. There is a fly in the studio, and this is not a normal-sized fly. It’s a jumbo fly. It has made a habit now of flying into my monitors at a great velocity. You would think that at this velocity it would blow apart on impact, but apparently this fly has some sort of protective coating that allows it to come right back at me.

Dan: I got the intellectual-property cops crawling up my butt.
Isaac: The intellectual property cops.
Dan: Yeah.
Isaac: Are crawling up your butt.
Dan: The heat’s all over me.
Isaac: What the hell are you talking about, Danny?
Dan: I sang “Happy Birthday” to Casey on the air.
Isaac: When?
Dan: Well … on his birthday, Isaac.
Isaac: Oh, sure.
Dan: The network’s being charged $2,500 by the copyright holder.
Isaac: Someone holds the copyright to “Happy Birthday”?
Dan: The representatives of Patty and Mildred Hill.
Isaac: It took two people to write that song?
Dan: The important thing is, I’m putting together a list of songs in the public domain, and I’m asking each person to pick a song they’d like to have sung to them on their birthday.
Isaac: Why are you talking to me?
Dan: For you, I’ve boiled it down to two choices — “Jammo, Jammo” by Giuseppe Verdi, or “Yo-Ho-Ho and a Bottle of Rum.”

Natalie: I am certain beyond any doubt that if Dana and Casey got together as a couple, they would both be very happy. I think that’s a good idea.
Jeremy: It’s a virtuous idea.
Natalie: You don’t think it’s a good idea?
Jeremy: Well, I’m not really one to …
Natalie: Tell me what you think!
Jeremy: It’s a bad idea.
Natalie: Look who’s talking. You want to spot-shadow the outside linebacker.
Jeremy: Inside linebacker!
Natalie: They are meant for each other!
Jeremy: The inside and outside linebacker?
Natalie: I meant Dana and Casey.
Jeremy: I think the inside and outside linebacker have a better chance.

Casey: Goodnight, have a good weekend.
Dana: I will!
Casey: (mumbling) Yeah, I bet you will.
Dana: What was that?
Casey: I said, I bet you will.
Dana: You bet I will?
Casey: Yeah.
Dana: What does that mean?
Casey: Well, it means that if someone were to offer money against the possibility of your having a good time this weekend, I would take that action.

Casey: I have not been following you. I’m not 10 years old … I looked at the calendar on your desk.

Dana: Every time your life starts to spin out of control, you come after me, and you make me feel like you feel a certain way when you really don’t.

Dana: I don’t think you’re cute. I don’t think you’re smart. I don’t think you’re funny. And sometimes I don’t think you’re very nice.
Casey: You don’t think I’m funny?

Casey: What do you want from me? I married Lisa.
Dana: Yes, you did.
Casey: Well, now I’m not married to Lisa.
Dana: Lisa was a friend of mine.
Casey: Lisa can’t stand you.
Dana: Lisa can’t stand you.
Casey: Lisa can’t stand Lisa.

Dana: Your life is changing faster than you can manage. You’re depressed, you’re angry, you’re lonely, and you’re frightened, but God, everything will be fine if I could just see Dana naked.
Casey: Oh, Dana, believe me, I have no desire to see you naked.
Dana: Excuse me?
Casey: That came out wrong.
Dana: Make it come out right!
Casey: Look, of course I want to see you naked.
Dana: Louder.
Casey: I want to see you naked.
Dana: I can’t hear you.
Casey: I want badly to see you naked!
Dana: Yeah, you better want to see me naked!
(Jeremy walks in, then sheepishly backs out.)

Dana: You know what I’m taking with me to Vermont?
Casey: A team of world-class psychiatrists?
Dana: Black lingerie — lots of it! I’m going to have a good time.
Casey: I bet you will.
Dana: Knock it off! (calmer) You know what I’m talking about, and it is not fair to me. It’s not good for you. It’s not good for me, and it’s not good for the show, so knock it off.

Sports Night, ABC, Intellectual Property, memorable lines

Well, this is exciting news, especially as we’ve just embarked on a re-viewing of all those old episodes: Shout! Factory, known for feature-packed sets of TV cult classics, is coming out with a 10th anniversary edition of Sports Night. It’s sure to be an improvement over the old set, which had zero special features. Here’s what we can expect, according to a press release on the TV Shows on DVD site:

“Marking 10 years after Sports Night’s initial premiere on network television, the multiple award-winning cast and creative team come together for the first time on DVD when Shout! Factory presents Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition DVD box set on September 30, 2008. Offering the first comprehensive Sports Night experience ever, the 8-DVD collector’s box set contains all 45 acclaimed episodes, a special 10th Anniversary book, and 2 full discs of exclusive bonus features that reveal the genesis, life and afterlife of the series with all-new interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes, gag reels, deleted scenes, and commentaries featuring the principal cast and creative team. You don’t have to know sports to enjoy Sports Night. The collectable 10th Anniversary Edition of Sport Night: The Complete Series DVD box set is priced to own at $69.99.”

Well, I’m excited about all the goodies. I’ve got to think those commentaries are going to be pretty hilarious, and there are some good deleted scenes that have never seen the light of a TV screen. I wish it didn’t cost so much, especially to essentially replace something we already own, but I suppose they know there’s no way we’re not going to want this regardless. I’ll be finding a way to justify the cost to myself. How ’bout you?

Sports Night, ABC, DVD

We’re taking a second look at “Intellectual Property,” the fourth episode of Sports Night. Following up on the review, here’s a recap of the episode. Still to come: memorable lines from the episode.

Casey’s been flinching, for a couple of nights. Or maybe it’s a tic. Casey says it’s a reaction to a fly the size of a bald eagle, but nobody else can see or hear the bug in question.

Soon, Casey’s also plagued by an ankle injury sustained when he kicked a fire hydrant while trying to kick Dan for knowing for some time that Dana was dating Gordon. Casey can’t quite pinpoint why it bothers him, but it was worth kicking a fire hydrant over.

Plaguing Dana, meanwhile, is Natalie, who’s pretty sure that Dana’s weekend trip to Vermont with Gordon and new lingerie is a sign that she finally has a strategy for “the Casey situation.” Dana disavows all interest in getting Casey to fall in love with her, and insists that going to Vermont with Gordon is about nothing other than going to Vermont with Gordon. Hard to get Natalie off the track when she’s got a good idea, though.

Dan thought it was a good idea to sing “Happy Birthday” to Casey on the air on his birthday, but a lawyer from business affairs breaks the news that it’s a copyright violation to do that, and the estate of the song’s writers are charging the network $2,500. That leaves Dan determined to sing only public domain songs for people’s birthdays, and he starts assigning them at once.

Casey’s looking for some help on the fly front from Jeremy, but watching the tape of himself flinching and waving, even Casey can’t see the insect. He’s starting to believe that it may have some sort of superpowers, which of course only makes people more certain he’s crazy.

Jeremy thinks Natalie’s crazy for trying so hard to get Dana and Casey together. But she prods Casey to say goodbye to Dana, and he does it in such a way as to open up old wounds from their past relationships. Apparently Casey has an old habit of taking up with Dana whenever his life falls apart, and dumping her when he gets it together. She’s not having it anymore, and is sure that his affection for her is as much in his head as that fly.

Except … after Gordon arrives, and Casey leaves, and she walks through the empty studio to grab her luggage, she flinches and bats at a fly that’s perfectly real. “Son of a gun.”

Sports Night, ABC, Intellectual Property, recap

I watched “Intellectual Property,” the fourth episode of Sports Night, again last night, and this seems like the first episode that didn’t really have a strong central storyline. For most of the episode, all the different strains of silliness seemed to have more or less equal weight.

There was a last-minute turn toward the serious, I supposed, but Dana and Casey squabbling over their dysfunctional relationship was a lot less weighty than Jeremy’s deer diatribe from last week or Dan’s apology to his brother the week before.

Who knew you couldn’t sing “Happy Birthday” on TV without paying up? I enjoyed Yeardley Smith (otherwise known as the voice of Lisa Simpson) as the lawyer whose job it was to set Dan straight; wouldn’t it have been more fun if she was one of the lawyers double-teaming Dan over his drug quote a couple of weeks ago instead of those two stuffed shirts they had?

Poor Casey, attacked by a phantom fly and a fire hydrant, unable to function effectively in a world with one extra Gordon. Natalie, the troublemaker, seems determined to bring him and Dana together regardless of whether they want to be or not, and the closing shouting match made it clear how very complicated that issue is. It’s a little bittersweet watching this now, knowing how not-smooth their romantic path runs in the future.

Loved that memorable closing moment, though, when Dana finally sees the fly, and has to wonder what else is not all in Casey’s head.

What did you think about this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Sports Night, ABC, Intellectual Property, review

Our Sports Night marathon continues tonight with Episode 4, “Intellectual Property,” which originally aired on October 13, 1998.

The synopsis, according to the DVD box: “While Dan painfully learns that ‘Happy Birthday’ is a copyright-protected song, Casey is vexed by Dana’s new romance, and the studio’s relentless resident fly.” Maybe an imaginary relentless resident fly. Or, maybe not.

Cue up your DVD and watch this episode with me tonight, and come back during the week for a review, recap, and memorable lines.

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

Sports Night, ABC, Intellectual Property

As a follow-up to the recap, here are some memorable lines from the Sports Night episode “The Hungry and the Hunted.” Did I miss your favorites? Share them in the comments.

Casey: He’s going to kick the field goal.
Isaac: No, he’s gonna go for the first down.
Casey: Well, they’ve got to score twice to win, why not just get the three right now? He’s got the wind at his back.
Isaac: He doesn’t have the leg.
Casey: He’s got the wind at his back.
Isaac: I don’t care if he’s got the wind at his back and a song in his heart, he doesn’t have the leg.
Casey: You’re a crazy man from St. Louis, you have no business being in sports.
Isaac: Jeremy?
Jeremy: Yes sir?
Isaac: Florida State, fourth and 2 on the Purdue 39 and down by 9. What’s Bowden gonna do, kick or play?
Jeremy: I really don’t know.
Isaac: I’m asking what you think.
Jeremy: It’d just be a guess.
Isaac: I want you to guess.
Jeremy: I don’t like to guess.
Isaac: Guess anyway.
Casey: C’mon, c’mon.
Jeremy: Why?
Isaac: Because this is fun. The job should be fun.
Jeremy: I’m having fun.
Isaac: You should have more.
Jeremy: I’m having a lot of fun.
Isaac: Jeremy!
Jeremy: I’m having tons of fun!
Isaac: Guess!
Jeremy: Alright, fine. He’s going to split three wide receivers and put a tight end in the backfield with the tailback in motion. A play-action fake will freeze the strong safety, and Kittis will find his primary receiver over the middle. It’s a play called Red Rocket right, slant 42, “Z” out. He’ll get the first down, probably a lot more.
Isaac: What are you, insane?
Casey: Hey, wait, wait, wait, they’re not kicking.
TV announcer: Kittis lines up under center with three wide receivers split and the tight end in the backfield. Tailback in motion, the play-action fake, and Kittis has Renfro over the middle for the first down and more! First and 10, Florida State on the 16! Incredible! That’s a play Coach Bowden’s got called Red Rocket right, slant 42, “Z” out.
Isaac: You take a lot of fun out of this, Jeremy.

Casey: Dan’s talking about the rough-and-tumble, livin’-the-razor’s-edge, run-till-you-drop, never-say-die world of offshore yacht racing.
Kim: Time for the America’s Cup?
Dan: We’re only a year-and-a-half away.
Dana: I don’t wanna get scooped, but we can probably postpone our coverage for I guess, like, a year-and-a-half, can’t we?
Dan: Greatest sport in the world, Dana, greatest sport, great for kids.
Natalie: All you need is $40 million and a dream.

Casey: “October the 8th, 1998, A.D.” A.D. They’re worried I might accidentally show up 2,000 years before the birth of Christ.

Jeremy: I don’t know anything about hunting. I’ve never hunted. I’ve got a deli on the corner and they deliver 24 hours, so …

Natalie: I want Casey to ride with Dana.
Dan: I get it.
Natalie: Do you?
Dan: I ride with Isaac, and Casey and Dana fall in love.
Natalie: Right!
Dan: Wow, is that a stupid plan.

(more…)

We’re taking a second look at “The Hungry and the Hunted,” the second episode of Sports Night. Following up on the review, here’s a recap of the episode. Still to come: memorable lines from the episode.

Jeremy’s getting the call. He doesn’t know what that means, whether it’s good or bad, and whether it’s some sort of punishment for guessing about a football play better than Isaac did, but he’s getting it.

The call is for him to produce a segment for a CSC hunting show — go to the Adirondacks with a professional guide and a guest hunter, shoot down some ducks and some deer, come back and cut together his segments, and knock Dana and Isaac’s socks off. Jeremy looks nervous about the hunting, and even more nervous about the fact that Isaac has talked to his old boss at USA Today, but he gamely takes the assignment.

Taking the assignment to go to some annoying late-night Luther Sachs reception are Dan, Casey, Isaac, and Dana. Natalie’s all over the limo seating planning, and tells Dan that he’s got to ride with Isaac so that Casey and Dana will ride together and fall in love. Dan thinks that’s a pretty stupid plan, but mentions to Casey that he should ride with Dana anyway. Casey rants a little about how, after a long day, he’s not in the mood to notice Dana’s clothes or her shoes or her hair … until he actually sees her in that dress, which literally knocks him off his feet. Before the limo seating actually begins, though, Isaac gets a call from the professional hunter — something’s happened with Jeremy.

We return to the studio the following night before the show, with Dan in an unaccustomed position — Casey’s driving him crazy, instead of the other way around. Seems Dana had a date for that cocktail party, Gordon, and Casey’s obsessed with him, with the very fact that there could be another Gordon in the world. Doesn’t seem right.

And hunting doesn’t seem right to Jeremy, who comes back claiming that the trip went great but is called to Isaac’s office to explain what went wrong. The call Isaac got the other night was about Jeremy fainting and being taken to the hospital. Jeremy’s description of what transpired — involving the killing a deer he inadvertently lured out into the open with a Twinkie Natalie had sent with him for a snack — makes it clear that he strongly disapproves of hunting for sport.

Isaac wonders why he didn’t tell them about that in the first place, and Jeremy explains that he’s lost other jobs, including the one at USA Today, because he didn’t fit in, and he didn’t want to take that chance again. Isaac lets him know that people who don’t fit in, and people who aren’t afraid to disagree, are the people he wants working for him. After Isaac and Dana leave, Jeremy uses Isaac’s phone to call his parents and tell them, proudly now, that he got the call.

Sports Night, ABC, The Hungry and the Hunted, recap

I watched “The Hungry and the Hunted,” the third episode of Sports Night, again last night, and saw again the emergence of the Jeremy I came to love over the course of the show. Of course, the character’s overwhelming love of sports — already well-established with his episode 1 meltdown and his episode 2 inability to cut even a second of a lengthy baseball-game recap — continued with his expert guess on what would happen next in the football game Isaac and Casey were watching. But with his horrible hunting story, more full of sarcasm and hurt than geek bravado, Jeremy took on some depth. That’s a great anti-hunting speech written by Aaron Sorkin there, and Joshua Malina totally sells it.

In addition to making Jeremy one of the team, this episode also launched the relationship triangle that would be tripping Casey and Dana up throughout the rest of the season. We didn’t learn anything more about Gordon but his name this time around, yet that alone was enough to send Casey into a tizzy, much less the fact that the guy got to spend a lot of time with Dana-in-the-hot-dress. Dan tries hard with his Inconsequential Subjects of the Day — the greatness of yachting, and the non-greatness of soccer — but he’s no match for jealous Casey.

The other important work of this episode was to establish Isaac as the single greatest boss in the world. Jeremy sure got lucky, even if that poor deer didn’t.

What did you think about this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Sports Night, ABC, The Hungry and the Hunted, review

Our Sports Night marathon continues tonight with Episode 3, “The Hungry and the Hunted,” which originally aired on October 6, 1998.

The synopsis, according to the DVD box: “Jeremy struggles with his principles when his first big break is a segment about hunting. Meanwhile, jealousy rules when Casey sees a stunning Dana on a date to a formal party.” Or, as I always think of it, “the one with the deer.”

Cue up your DVD and watch this episode with me tonight, and come back during the week for a review, recap, and memorable lines.

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

Sports Night, ABC, The Hungry and the Hunted

As a follow-up to the recap, here are some memorable lines from the Sports Night episode “The Apology.” Did I miss your favorites? Share them in the comments.

Dan: If I’m nervous about anything, it’s that I think I have a stalker.
Natalie: A stalker? Who?
Dan: One of the CSC morning aerobics women.
Natalie: Sandy?
Dan: Is her name Sandy?
Natalie: Randy?
Dan: Mandy.
Natalie: Mandy.
Dan: Madeline.
Casey: Natalie!

Casey: I’m concerned about this sense, this sense that everything that’s written about the two of us, that Dan is cool and I am … what is the word?
Kim: Not?

Casey: Dana, he belongs to a fly-by-night organization that supports the legalization of marijuana, and he said so in a magazine. Is the network going to be happy about it? No. Is Sachs going to order someone to order someone to slap him on the knuckles? Probably. In the scheme of things, a much larger issue is that I am cool, I’m completely cool, huh?
Dana: And you dress cool.
Casey: That’s right. Wait, that was a dig, wasn’t it.
Natalie: (from doorway) Casey!
Casey: What, you think it’s the clothes?
Dana: I think it’s the haircut.
Casey: Excuse me?
Natalie: She said she thinks it’s the haircut.

Natalie: I may have certain feelings for Jeremy. I think it’s possible that I have feelings. I think these feelings could interfere with my judgment as far as his work is concerned.
Casey: I admire your professionalism.
Natalie: These feelings have been growing inside of me like a rush or a surge –
Casey: I think that’s a little more than I need to know about this.

Casey: What’s up with me not being cool?
Dan: What is up with that?
Casey: I love music. I have a great appreciation of music.
Dan: Dude, I’ve been in your car. You’ve got the Starland Vocal Band singing “Afternoon Delight.”
Casey: That’s right. … Wait, I do not have the Starland Vocal Band. It’s not like I went out and bought the single. It’s on my “Time/Life Sounds of the Seventies.”
Dan: Well, there you have it.
Casey: (Sighs) How can I be cool again. I’m a newly divorced man, I’m young, I used to be cool, I need to be cool again. Help me be cool again.
Dan: Well, first I’d have to disabuse you of the notion that you were ever cool before.

Lawyer: This is a sports network. Our sponsors expect us to project an image of good health and clean living.
Dan: I’ll think about that next time I’m reporting on how the Miller Genuine Draft car did in the Winston Cup.

Dan: You think I should apologize?
Isaac: No, but you’re going to do it anyway.
Dan: Why?
Isaac: Because this is television, and this is how it’s done.
Dan: Well, sitting at the back of the bus was how it was done until a 42-year-old lady moved up front. I’m not very impressed with how things are done, Isaac.

Isaac: Danny?
Dan: Yeah.
Isaac: You know I love you, don’t you?
Dan: Yeah.
Isaac: And because I love you, I can say this. No rich young white guy has ever gotten anywhere with me comparing himself to Rosa Parks.

Dan: This network, the Continental Sports Channel, has asked me to clarify some remarks I made in a publication that hit your newstands this morning. It is possible that one could come away from this article with the impression that I don’t believe that drugs are a destructive and deadly force in our culture, our economy, and on the lives of our children. (long pause) I have a younger brother named Sam. Sam’s a genius, I mean literally. As a kid, he tested off the charts. The first computer I ever had, he built from a kit he bought with the money he earned tutoring other kids in math. He’s energetic and articulate, curious and funny, a great source of pride to our parents. And there’s no doubt that he’d be living a great life right now, except for that he’s dead. ‘Cause when you’re 14 years old, all you ever really want to be when you grow up is your 16-year-old brother. And in my case, that meant smoking a lot of dope. The day I went off to college was the day that Sam got his driver’s license. And he celebrated by taking a drive with some of his friends, drunk and high as a paper kite. He never saw the red light that he ran, and he probably never saw the 18-wheel truck that put him into the side of a brick bank either. That was 11 years ago tonight. And I just wanted to say I’m sorry, Sam. You deserved better in my hands, and I apologize.

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

Sports Night, ABC, the apology, memorable lines

We’re taking a second look at “The Apology,” the second episode of Sports Night. Following up on the review, here’s a recap of the episode. Still to come: memorable lines from the episode.

It’s another start of another show. Natalie thinks Dan is nervous about something — maybe the Esquire interview that’s about to come out? Dan claims he’s actually nervous because he has a stalker, one of the CSC morning aerobics women. Meanwhile, Casey’s doing some actual journalistic work, trying to get confirmation of a firing. Dana puts word of a no-hitter in progress in the tease for the show, which distresses Jeremy because it’s bad luck for the pitcher to talk about a no-hitter. Since Dana doesn’t work for the pitcher, she’s fine with that (even though the no-hitter is blown shortly thereafter).

The next day, the interview’s out, and there’s general agreement that Dan is going to be in some kind of trouble. What worries Casey most, though, is that the interview builds upon the popular perception that Dan is the cool one and Casey is … not. Dana thinks that perception is based on reality, possibly because of his haircut, or maybe his clothes. She’s more worried about Dan, though, and the fact that lawyers and Standards and Practices folk are already circling, because Dan belongs to a group that favors the legalization of marijuana, and he mentioned it in the magazine.

Casey’s got bigger problems than being uncool; Natalie wants him to help Jeremy cut his first highlight package. She’d do it herself, but she has certain feelings for Jeremy, which she goes on about at way more length than Casey wanted to hear. Dan and Casey discuss the interview for a bit, and Casey’s longterm lack of coolness for a bit, as Dan avoids going into a meeting in Isaac’s office. Isaac finally comes to get him, none too pleased.

In Isaac’s office, a network suit is accusing him of encouraging people to use marijuana. Actually, two network suits — the “reasonable” cop and the “shrill and obnoxious” cop — working at him to get him to acknowledge the badness of what he did and agree to make an apology. They threaten him with the wrath of network owner Luther Saks, they threaten him with the morals clause on his contract, and they threaten him with health-insurance fraud because he mentioned in the article that he stopped smoking marijuana eleven years ago today, and he must have been an addict to remember the date that precisely.

Dan gets up on a pretty high horse of free speech and the responsibility of celebrities to speak out and the need to challenge the status quo, but Isaac knocks him off of it, assuring the suits that Dan will make an apology that night, and telling Dan that rich white guys ought not to be comparing themselves to Rosa Parks. Dan isn’t sure what he’s supposed to say or who he’s supposed to be apologizing too, but Isaac assures him it doesn’t really matter as long as he does it.

Casey has some notes for Jeremy about his highlight reel: It’s a little long. About eight minutes long, to be exact. Jeremy can’t imagine what could be cut, as he appreciates every battle between pitcher and batter, every psychological nuance. Finally Dana breaks in to say they have to cut it even further, down to just three plays, and although Jeremy declares it a travesty, that’s that.

Natalie tells Dana that Casey needs a woman, and is reaching out to her. Natalie suggests offering kitchen supplies, and Dana chats with Casey over whether he has spoons, forks, and a whisk. He does, and doesn’t seem to be reaching out much now. Dana’s momentarily flustered, then flips back into work mode.

Because, the show is starting. And soon, it’s time for Danny to do his apology. He starts out with the basic corporate line, then freezes. Then he talks about his younger brother Sam, who was a genius and would be living a great life today if he hadn’t copied his big brother Dan, gotten high, ran a red light, and been hit by an 18-wheeler, eleven years ago today.

The studio is hushed as he finishes. Then, during the break, Casey quietly starts a discussion about the relative coolness of the Starland Vocal Band, and which artists are uncool that Casey thought were cool, as we go to credits.

Sports Night, ABC, The Apology, recap