Watching Studio60

A few updates on the current jobs of some former stars of Studio 60:

Bradley Whitford (Danny) is appearing on Broadway as a man engaged to three stewardesses in Boeing-Boeing, a sex farce that won the Tony for Best Revival of a Play last night. A couple of pieces of West Wing trivia: Mary McCormack, who played Kate Harper, co-stars in Boeing-Boeing as the German stewardess; and Mary Louise Parker, who played Amy Gardner, sometime girlfriend of Whitford’s Josh, gave out the Tony for Leading Actor in a Play that went to his Boeing-Boeing co-star, Mark Rylance (Brad wasn’t nominated, alas). Also sadly not nominated: Aaron Sorkin or anybody or anything associated with his play The Farnsworth Invention.

Sarah Paulson (Harriet) will be in ABC’s remake of Cupid, which ran for one season in 1998 and starred Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall in the roles now to be played by Bobby Cannavale and Paulson. If you missed it the first time, here’s the story, according to The Hollywood Reporter: “Cupid centers on the manic Trevor Hale (Cannavale), who thinks he is the Roman god of love, Cupid, banished to Earth until he can match 100 couples. Paulson will play Dr. Claire Allen, a psychiatrist specializing in affairs of the heart.”

Steven Weber (Jack), having completed a guest-starring stint on Brothers & Sisters, is lined up for another one on Psych, the USA detective comedy that co-stars Dule Hill, who was Charlie on The West Wing. Weber will play the brother of Corbin Bernsen’s character and uncle of screwball pseudo-psychic Shawn Spencer. According to TV Guide, “Weber’s Uncle Jack hits town claiming he has a map to hidden Spanish treasure. A race to beat raiders to the loot ensues, with James Roday [Shawn] presumably doing his best Shia LaBeouf.”

Ayda Field (Jeannie), who bounced right from the single-season Studio 60 to the single-season Back to You, has been cast in yet another show for next season, an untitled comedy by the creators of Will & Grace. According to TV Guide, “The pilot centers on two men — one gay (Alan Tudyk), one straight (Josh Cooke) — who are best buds and business partners. Field will play Cooke’s girlfriend.” Maybe the third time will be the charm.

Studio 60, NBC, Bradley Whitford, Steven Weber, Sarah Paulson, Ayda Field

What with all the Sports Night recapping, I’ve been letting down on my birthday observations here. Totally missed Aaron Sorkin’s 47th on June 9, and now I see that Timothy Busfield turned 51 yesterday. As a way to honor both of them, here’s a selection of memorable lines that Sorkin wrote and Busfield spoke as Cal Shanley on Studio 60.

From “Pilot”

Tell the writer’s room they’re going to have to stretch it another 25 seconds, and I’m sure that making it longer was the missing ingredient to making it funny.

No, there are strict rules or procedures for this kind of thing. I just didn’t follow any of them.

I faced off with Standards during a live broadcast, Harry. The guys I know who’ve done that feel lucky if they get a job directing Good Morning El Paso.

From “The Long Lead Story”

I’m getting a little tired of the lute players getting all the great women.

Jack Rudolph’s wandering the streets, so no one in L.A.’s safe tonight.

From “The Wrap Party”

I’m a real World War II buff. I used to set up little scenes with toy soldiers that I’d paint myself, and then I’d shoot it in Super 8. Which would help explain why I didn’t kiss a girl till I was 19.

From “The Option Period”

We got to the goodnights 37 seconds early. Danny had to ask Jessica Simpson to fill. Nice girl, nice performer, don’t want her to extemporize on our air. She had time to thank her pets, and then she asked us all to pray for peace in the Midwest.

From “The Harriet Dinner Part 2″

I’ve got the animal kingdom Axis of Evil down there.

Studio 60, NBC, Timothy Busfield, Cal Shanley, quotes

With the Studio 60 episodes all recapped, it’s time to broaden this blog to All Things Sorkin (see the change to the banner above?) and consider other shows by the Studio 60 creator. First up is Sports Night, which ran for two seasons from 1998-2000.

I’ll be doing the same review, recap, and memorable lines for the Sports Night episodes as I was doing for Studio 60, and if you’re out there reading this and watching along, I hope you’ll share your thoughts on revisiting these episodes, too. This show was somewhat spiritually related to Studio 60 since they both involved putting on a show (and a bantering couple who never could quite seem to get it together, although at least they didn’t argue about religion). It will interesting now to pick out familiar plot threads and dialog, since Aaron Sorkin is pretty well-known for stealing from himself.

This week I’ll be watching and writing about Episode 1, creatively named “Pilot,” which first aired on September 22, 1998. The synopsis, according to the DVD box: “Casey ponders leaving Sports Night as his divorce woes start showing through on air, while Dana hires Natalie’s favorite choice for an associate producer job — a good-looking candidate named Jeremy.”

You know, I love Joshua Malina, but would you describe Jeremy as a “good-looking candidate”? I’d have said “endearingly dorky,” especially since this episode had that absolutely over-the-top sports-geek meltdown.

There was also the weirdness of a laugh track in these early episodes. The producers didn’t want laughter, the network did, and so, according to an Entertainment Weekly article, they went with a studio audience, to be sweetened by laugh track. Sorkin is quoted as saying, ”Once you do shoot in front of a live audience, you have no choice but to use the laugh track. Oftentimes [enhancing the laughs] is the right thing to do. Sometimes you do need a cymbal crash. Other times, it alienates me.”

Me, too. But as I recall and Wikipedia confirms, the laugh track eventually faded away as the show become more of a dramedy.

I’m getting ahead of myself here, though. Let’s watch that old pilot tonight and discuss tomorrow.

Happy 58th birthday today to Christine Lahti, who was born on this day in 1950 in Birmingham, Michigan.

In honor of the actress who played reporter Martha O’Dell on Studio 60 (and is married to the show’s producer/director Thomas Schlamme), here are some quotes and exchanges between Martha and the S60 regulars, drawn from memorable line recaps for The West Coast Delay and The Long Lead Story.

To Jordan: You can be a woman, look like you do, have the power you do, but not all at the same time.

Martha: Google me, and you’ll find a lot worse than a DUI in Sag Harbor.
Jordan: I know.
Martha: Trust me, it’s like seasickness. You think you’re gonna die, and everybody else just thinks it’s funny.

It’s a 10,000 word piece. They’re not all going to be winners.

Matt: You’ve covered presidential campaigns. You’ve covered presidents. You’ve covered wars. What are you writing about a TV show for?

Martha: What are you writing a TV show for?

Matt: I’m not. I’m watching you dust my office for prints.

Martha: I’m writing about it because what’s happened here is important. I think what’s happening here is important. I think popular culture in general and this show in particular are important. (And … Tom walks in wearing a lobster costume.)

Martha: Matt, you know, we don’t know each other very well, but …

Matt: You’ve spent every hour with me for five days in a row. At this point, you know me better than my parents.

Martha: I don’t know your parents at all.

Matt: I meant …

Martha: I know what you meant. I was doing a dangling modifier joke.

Matt: Yeah, I stopped doing that to people in high school after the fourth time I got stuffed in my locker.

To Matt: Is the fear of failure on such a massive scale a helpful motivation?

Martha: I’ll be covering some of the House races.

Harriet: Which ones?

Martha: A couple where there are stories. A couple where there are just good jokes.

Martha: How would I be referred to in your parents’ house?

Harriet: The devil’s whore from Washington.

Martha: Yeah. I’m actually the devil’s whore from Bethesda.

I’ll say this about you guys, you look out for each other. You’re not very good at doing it, but it’s nice to see the effort.

Studio 60, NBC, Christine Lahti, Martha O’Dell

If you’ve been following along with my Studio 60 Revisited Monday night marathon, tonight’s the night for “4 A.M. Miracle,” which originally aired on February 19, 2007. The episode has its fair share of Matt-Harriet psychodrama, but it will, to me, always be known as The One With The Exploding Baby. Ha! Pretty sure they’re never going to ask Tom, Simon, or Cal to babysit now.

I’ll have more to say about “4 A.M. Miracle” tomorrow after re-watching it tonight. Right now, though, I’m thinking about “Nevada Day Part II,” and a question I wrote at the time we re-watched that one:

“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.”

Of course, we never got any sort of meeting between John Goodman’s character and Ed Asner’s in Studio 60’s single season. But some movie news I saw today made me think about that wish: The two actors are appearing in the same film, Gigantic, an indie romance starring Paul Dano and Zooey Deschanel as characters named Brian and Happy.

According to an item in The Hollywood Reporter, “Asner will play Brian’s pot-smoking, gangsta rap-loving father,” and “Goodman will play Happy’s brilliant, domineering dad.”

Don’t suppose those two characters will be meeting at the diner for a slice of pie. But it’s nice to see them working, and working together.

Watch “4 A.M. Miracle” with me tonight, and come back throughout the week for a review, recap, memorable lines, and five questions.

Studio 60, NBC, Ed Asner, John Goodman, 4 A.M. Miracle

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

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

If you’ve been following along with my Studio 60 Revisited Monday night marathon, tonight’s the night for “The Christmas Show,” which originally aired on December 4, 2006.

I’ve written about that episode here before, a couple of times, and will be writing about it throughout the week with a review, recap, memorable lines, and five questions. So today, instead of caroling about it some more, here are a few pieces of news that have been rattling around my files, looking for an opportunity to be shared here.

Aaron Sorkin above the Sunset Strip: If you enjoy those real estate shows on TV, or like learning about the abodes of the rich and famous, the blog The Real Estalker is one you’ll enjoy. Recently, there was a post about Aaron Sorkin’s new residence high above that street his show was named for. The blog features eight photos of the house’s interiors and exteriors, as well as a description and design critique. The selling for the 3,700 square feet, four bedroom, five bathroom home? $6,100,000.

Aaron Sorkin off the red carpet: It’s good that Sorkin has a new house to occupy him, because the awards ceremonies are not being kind. Charlie Wilson’s War hasn’t won anything for its stars or its writer, and has but one chance at the Oscars, for Philip Seymour Hoffman as Best Supporting Actor (a race likely to be dominated by Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men). I sure would have liked to see Sorkin get a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay, but it’s not to be.

(more…)

It’s a mixed-up, messed-up holiday week, but I’m going to forge right on ahead with my Studio 60 Revisited Monday night marathon, with a few delays here and there (cause tomorrow? we have to recall the great Christmas episode). Tonight we’re viewing episode six, “The Wrap Party,” which originally aired on October 23, 2006. It continues straight on from “The Long Lead Story,” as we follow the cast from the show to the after-party, where Jordan gets drunk, Danny tries to fix Matt up with anybody other than Harriet, and Simon has an addition to the writing staff on his mind. Meanwhile, Cal is dealing with an elderly gentleman who provides a link to the studio’s past. Eli Wallach got an Emmy nomination for the part.

In other Sorkin news, his new film Charlie Wilson’s War is getting some good reviews. A few of the accolades:

“Nichols and Sorkin turn the wonkish jargon of politics into light comedy by staying absolutely true to it. There’s so much lying going on that each time someone actually comes out with something he believes, it’s like the jabbiest of punchlines.” — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

“‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ is that rare Hollywood commodity these days: a smart, sophisticated entertainment for grownups.” — Todd McCarthy, Variety

“Fun is this movie’s unlikely and persuasive motto. If it’s the best politically themed movie to come around in a while, that may be because the director, Mike Nichols, and the screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, grasp that politics, for all its seriousness, is an essentially comic undertaking. Their film is never glib or flippant, but instead shows a lightness of touch and a swiftness of attack — 96 minutes to drink some cocktails, make some deals and send the Russians packing — that stand in welcome contrast to the plodding, somber earnestness of some recent movies I will tactfully refrain from naming.” — A.O. Scott, New York Times

“What is remarkable about the collaboration of Nichols and Sorkin is that they make this labyrinthine scheme not only comprehensible but wickedly funny, as Charlie Wilson uses his own flaws and those of others to do a noble deed.” — Roger Ebert

The film made $9.62 million at the box office on its opening weekend, putting it in fourth place behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets, I Am Legend, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Wouldn’t you just love to hear some Sorkin character rant about Alvin and the Chipmunks coming in ahead of a smart film about politics and war?

If you’re watching along in my Studio 60 Revisited Monday night marathon, tonight we’re viewing episode five, “The Long Lead Story,” which originally aired on October 16, 2006. It’s the one in which live-in journalist Martha O’Dell tries to get to the bottom of the Matt-Harriet situation, as if there was a bottom to get to. The staff is, predictably, spectacularly unhelpful in keeping any secrets about the twosome.

Join me, too, in congratulating Studio 60 creator Aaron Sorkin on his Golden Globe nomination for the screenplay of Charlie Wilson’s War, which finally hits theaters this Friday. Competing with Sorkin for Best Screenplay are Christopher Hampton for Atonement, Ronald Harwood for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Diablo Cody for Juno, and Ethan and Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men.

Also nominated for Charlie Wilson’s War are:

+ Tom Hanks for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (competing against Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd; Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl; Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages; and John C. Reilly, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

+ Julia Roberts for Best Supporting Actress (competing against Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There; Saoirse Ronan, Atonement; Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone; and Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

+ Philip Seymour Hoffman for Best Supporting Actor (competing against Casey Affleck, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford; Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men; John Travolta, Hairspray; Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

+ The movie itself as Best Picture - Musical or Comedy (competing against Across the Universe, Hairspray, Juno and Sweeney Todd).

You can get more information on the movie from its website.

Studio 60, NBC, Charlie Wilson’s War, Aaron Sorkin

It’s about half an hour away from 10 p.m. on the U.S. East Coast, at which time I’ll be continuing my trip through the Studio 60 DVD with a replay of “The West Coast Delay.” Watch it with me, or at whatever delay suits you, and come back throughout the week for a review, recap, memorable lines, and five questions.

To kill these few minutes ’til showtime, here are some excerpts from reviews of The Farnsworth Invention. Sounds like the standard-issue Sorkin complaints, the kind of pans that make it sound like I’d kinda like it. If you’ve seen the play, share your review in the comments.

“You’re likely to leave ‘The Farnsworth Invention’ feeling that you have just watched an animated Wikipedia entry, fleshed out with the sort of anecdotal scenes that figure in ‘re-enactments’ on E! channel documentaries and true-crime shows. This two-hour play is a fast-moving sequence of reflex-stimulating information- and emotion-bites. It never pauses long enough to find depth in any of them.” — New York Times

“Breezy and shrewd, smart-alecky and idealistic, the quick-moving drama presents two sides to the still-contentious story behind the invention of television. Sorkin is positively gooey-eyed about the scientific and entrepreneurial buccaneers in America between the world wars. As the creator of ‘West Wing,’ arguably the best expository political fiction on popular TV, he manages to relate both to the purity of the little guy and the corrupting happenstance of big-foot corporate power.” — Newsday

“Chronicling the birth of television and the ensuing patent war through the clash between an enterprising scientific genius from Utah and a Russian immigrant turned hard-nosed corporate honcho, ‘The Farnsworth Invention’ tells a fascinating story. But despite Des McAnuff’s stylish production, tells is the key word here, not dramatizes. Aaron Sorkin’s first new play since ‘A Few Good Men’ in 1989 was originally conceived as a screenplay. The plot-heavy drama is light on fully fleshed-out characters or subtext, making it likely to play more satisfyingly when it inevitably reverts to being a film or cable project.” — Variety

“The Farnsworth Invention, Aaron Sorkin’s new Broadway play about the genesis of television, is propulsive, pedantic, occasionally gimmicky (and always unashamed when it is), very clever (though a crucial 5 percent less clever than it thinks it is), hokily grandiose, and blaringly self-aware. The drama, with its bits of verbal brilliance and its throbbing narcissistic flaws, is of a piece with Sports Night and The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the series that have made Sorkin a household name in certain demographically desirable households.” — Slate

“Fans of The West Wing are familiar with Aaron Sorkin’s fondness for smooth talkers, rat-a-tat dialogue, and trivia from the margins of history. And Sorkin’s new play The Farnsworth Invention — his first on Broadway since his explosive 1989 debut, A Few Good Men — seems to be built entirely from the sort of anecdotal aside that Josh or Toby might have relished: A mostly self-educated Utah boy named Philo T. Farnsworth (Jimmi Simpson, resembling a younger Christian Slater) invented most of the technology behind modern television, but then lost the credit — and the fortune — in legal wrangling over his patents and died a broken man. His story is told in counterpoint to that of the budding telegraph-radio-television mogul David Sarnoff (an engaging Hank Azaria). — Entertainment Weekly

Amanda Peet, who played network honcho Jordan McDeere on Studio 60, is set to appear as a different sort of suit in the new X-Files movie, due out some time next year. She and rapper Xzibit will team up as FBI agents working with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, in their well-worn roles as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

According to an E! Online report, not much is known of the new film except that it will focus more on solving a specific case of unexplainable activity as opposed to extending the mythology of the series, as the first film from the franchise did. The only other cast member announced thus far is Billy Connolly, in a role that has not been announced.

Peet was seen recently in Martian Child, which sounds like it could be a case for the X-Files, come to think of it. The domestic drama with John Cusack didn’t exactly burn up the box office or make a big impression critics. I’ll admit that, though I was very interested in seeing it, I didn’t make it to the multiplex. I’m hoping now to catch it on cable.

Also on Peet’s upcoming movie slate, according to IMDb, are Five Dollars a Day with Christopher Walken and Sharon Stone; Safety Glass with Hillary Duff; Defunct with Shannen Doherty; and Real Men Cry with Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo. Making movies with Hillary Duff and Shannen Doherty doesn’t sound to me like a real strong career move — but then, taking a series with Sorkin should have meant longtime employment, so there’s apparently no accounting for what will make a hit.

Studio 60, NBC, Amanda Peet, X Files

If Matthew Perry was suddenly a teenager again, would he look like Zac Efron?

That’s what the makers of the movie 17 would have us believe. Efron’s been attached for a while to the role of an adult who — through a reversal of the kind of movie-magic familiar from films like Big and 13 Going on 30 — wakes up one morning to find himself 17 again.

So if Efron’s the guy post-youngification, who was he originally? A recent casting announcement reveals, he was Matthew Perry. Perry’s signed on to the presumably bookending role of Efron’s character in middle age.

And … okay. Happy to see Perry getting movie work. Efron’s presence is likely to make this one a hit, which is always good. Get known by a new demographic. But, do you think there’s any resemblance between the two of them that makes this at all plausible?

I’m thinking of how much that little kid in Big looked like he could conceivably grow up into that movie’s version of Tom Hanks. Easier finding a little-kid doppleganger than a grown-up one, I guess. But, Zac to Matthew? Really?

I’ve had plentiful exposure to the Efron Phenomenon through my daughter’s obsessive viewings of the High School Musical movies and decoration of her bedroom with Zac posters. He’s awfully pretty, for sure. I thought he acquitted himself decently in the Hairspray movie. But at this point, I haven’t seen any depth of personality in either his portrayals or his off-camera persona.

So even more than physical looks, I’m trying to think of what kind of … soul Efron would have to impersonate to look like someone who would grow up to be a Matthew Perry character, or how indescribably bland Perry will have to play it to look like he started out as Troy Bolton.

It makes me more interested in seeing the movie, anyway. Like I’m going to have a choice.

Kim is back, and instead of playing the viola, she’s fixing computers at a big-box electronics store. Boy, is her dad going to be steamed about that.

I don’t watch NBC’s Chuck as a rule, but my husband does and I happened to be in the room recently when he had it on. And, why, there was Kim! Or, rather, Julia Ling, the actress who played Kim Tao, viola prodigy and Tom Jeter admirer on Studio 60, and now plays Anna Wu, sardonic computer tech on the accidental spy series. It’s always nice to see S60 vets finding continuing work in showbiz. According to IMDb, she’s also on the episode of Grey’s Anatomy that aired November 15 and is still hanging out unwatched on my DVR. (I refuse to watch anything that may involve George + Izzie romance without the power of fast-forward.)

IMDb also informs that Ling has three movies coming out in the next year or so: Silvergun Samurai, Dead Reckoning and Love Sick Diaries. If you’re a fan of the actress and want to find out more about her, or just want to see a cute clip of her being questioned by Ed Asner in a Studio 60 walk-and-talk, check out her fan site, JuliaLing.com.

Speaking of Kim, I’m wondering if somebody on the creative team of Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zach and Cody was a Studio 60 fan. There’s a new recurring character on there this season, Barbara, a string player who’s hot for the somewhat nerdish Cody, and the voice and body language give off a seriously Kim-ish vibe, it seems to me. Then again, maybe I’m just missing that show.

As feared, the Broadway stagehands strike has indeed postponed the official opening of The Farnsworth Invention, Aaron Sorkin’s new play about the origins of television. The show has been in previews for weeks, and was supposed to have its big opening night last night, Wednesday, November 14.

Now? Who knows. The fact that Broadway producers feel the effects of closed theaters much faster than TV and movie producers do with downed shows may help move things along. At issue is the number of stagehands that must be hired for any play or musical. Currently, the union sets that number at four, whether the production needs them or not. Producers would like to have the flexibility to hire however many stagehands they darn well please. The union also wants a raise.

Doesn’t this sound like the sort of thing that would have made a great Cal subplot on Studio 60 — having to explain to Danny that the stagehands union requires them to hire a bunch of guys they don’t need? I can hear Timothy Busfield rattling off the rules right now, with that sort of resigned sarcasm.

Their theater may be dark, but the Farnsworth cast (that’s the whole enormous bunch above) seems to be taking things in stride. A cute item in New York Magazine tells of cast members walking the picket line on their in support of their stagehands Wednesday, and swigging champagne in honor of their not-happening opening. “Because what do you do when your show’s not running? You drink.”

And do lunch. In a New York Times profile, Alexandra Wilson, a young actress who was to have made (and surely will make eventually) her fairy-tale Broadway debut with Farnsworth, reports that “On Saturday [the strike’s first day] Aaron Sorkin took everyone out to lunch. Saturday felt like a snow day, but now it just feels weird.”