Watching Studio60

Five questions that popped into my head while re-viewing the Studio 60 pilot:

1. What happened to the title cards? There was no title card for the first segment, then title cards for the next three segments — “Jordan,” “Matt and Danny,” “The Big Three” — and then no title cards after that. If there were originally more and they were removed, why leave these three? And if this was all there were ever supposed to be … why are they necessary? Jordan gets introduced via resume pretty quick in her segment, Matt and Danny get their names said frequently in theirs, and the identity of the Big Three gets expositioned in the earlier boardroom scene. Might as well have cut the cards.

2. Was the musical contrast on purpose? I really noticed this time how the music at the studio was loud and raucous, while the music at the dinner parties that Jordan and Matt and Danny were at was sort of relaxing light jazz. That made the cuts from those peaceful places back to the chaos of the studio a bit more jarring — particularly going from the dinner party at Jack’s to Three 6 Mafia rapping on the Studio 60 stage. I don’t know if it was done deliberately to deliver a jolt, but it worked.

3. Why didn’t Wes know Suzanne’s name? He asked her for it during his confrontation with Jerry. Was she supposed to be new? Or are there just so many people running around that Wes couldn’t be expected to know them all? And if that’s the case, what did he care what her name was this time? A simple, “Hey, flunkie! Get me Jack Rudolph on the phone” would have done.

4. Why is Jack so hostile to Jordan? He hired her, didn’t he? In which case, he would be as invested in her success as anybody. Instead, he sort of seems to be half wanting her to fail. Surely she didn’t represent herself as somebody respectful and rule-following only to flout that two days before her job even started? His attitude would make more sense if he was forced to hire her, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

5. Where did Jordan get the script of the cut sketch? She went to ask Wes about it, but he was fired before he could tell her anything, and he didn’t seem all that motivated to talk anyway. Presumably she took time out from all her wheeling and dealing to find a sympathetic staff member and score it, or maybe she got it from Jerry under false pretenses. Serve that weasel right.