Watching Studio60

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.

Cal: A poisonous viper escaped during a shoot and slithered through a grate to an inaccessible area under the stage, and the animal handler suggested sending a ferret down to eat it, and then a coyote down to eat the ferret. Cal’s stuck, because 1) he dare not tell the snake-phobic Danny there’s a viper loose, and 2) he did the shoot in-house to save money, and that money is quickly going down the grate.

Western civilization: The reason Tom’s out with Kim and not Lucy in the first place, of course, is that Jack’s made it painfully clear that the fate of Western civilization rests on him talking Kim into abandoning comedy and returning to the viola. If that happens, Kim’s dad will go along with Jack’s plan and threaten to end the Macao deal if NBS bows to the FCC and time-delays the news, opening the door to censorship and general decline and fall. That’s a lotta pressure to put on a guy who makes his living dressing like a bunch of grapes. As Jack said to Tom near the end of the episode: “Your best isn’t going to do it, Tom. You need to do somebody else’s best.”

That sets the stage for tonight’s continuation of the dinner and the rooftop dialog and the under-stage disaster. Watch with me, then return throughout the week for a review, recap, memorable lines, and five questions.

Studio 60, NBC, The Harriet Dinner Part 2