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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.
June 4th, 2007 at 7:39 am
I think the Jordan not feeling the kicks of the baby got to me more than Tom’s brother in Iraq, that was crazy stuff to have both those things going on at once. I swear, when the show is on “Hiatus” again, they better not leave too many riddles unsolved! The wait for new episodes kill me.
Amusing thought at the end about Jack and his investment, didn’t even cross my mind the resemblance to the show itself.
June 4th, 2007 at 8:20 am
The “So, you are done?” referred to the pills, and Danny knew he was lying but was desperately wanting to believe him so he let it go. By the end of the show it is clearer that Matt is lying because he does not “crash” as he should, even with all of the terrible things that are happening around him. Suzanne’s interactions with Matt allowed the show to convey that contrast to the viewers, the contrast between what should be happening to him with this particular addiction and what is actually happening … thus cluing us in to the fact that he is lying, he is still not taking care of himself and he is still taking the pills.
This type of self-deception was, as always, a running theme of the show. Harriet claiming she is fine about Matt when clearly she is not, Simon claiming he is serious about women when clearly he is not, Danny and Jordan claiming they can date and work together when clearly they cannot do so without some major adjustments, etc. I am not sure if Tom’s proclamations about his devotion to Lucy were meant to contrast the other characters, or if we were supposed to think he is not as “crazy about her” as he insists he is. He could be using her as a distraction from the fact that he has not heard from his brother. Tom is one of the more self-aware people on the show, and it seems to me that he would be aware that he had not heard from his brother but perhaps blocking it out … I don’t know how he could get through that opening sketch about the roadside bombs any other way.
The Jack investment goes back to one of the running themes of the series, that the art and emotion of entertainment is being replaced by machines and ratings and focus groups.
June 5th, 2007 at 11:15 am
“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.”
More than ironic. More inside messages from Sorkin. The “5.7 high, 4.8 4-week average” ratings in the show sounded familiar. In late Nov. these were S60’s actual numbers. Probably when he penned this episode, since it was to air in Feb.
June 14th, 2007 at 11:56 am
[...] & Pam on Studio 60 June 14th, 2007 by Lira Cruz Who saw Studio 60 the other week, the episode that aired May 31? Well, if you did you may have noticed one teeny, [...]