Watching Studio60

A couple of items of interest passing through my Google Alerts inbox today.

First, an item from a column by Anna Griffin on OregonLive.com: “The Spouse and I just finished the second season of 30 Rock on DVD, which makes this month’s Vanity Fair cover story on Tina Fey timely and fascinating. Also fascinating: New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote the thing. A year or so ago, her ex-boyfriend, Aaron Sorkin, had a Dowd-like character show up on the set of his SNL-inspired drama, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, to do a Vanity Fair-esque piece on the fictional show and its producers. Now the real VF has the real Dowd doing a real story — as real as celebrity journalism gets, at least — on the real creator of a show inspired by SNL. It’s too much meta for this early in the week.”

That Dowd-inspired character was Martha O’Dell, played by Christine Lahti. Personally, I’ve never gotten into 30 Rock, partially because I’m already DVRing more things than I seem to be able to find the time to watch, partially because I’ve never been able to get over holding a grudge that it survived and Studio 60 didn’t. Amusing coincidence (or editorial in-joke) on the writing assignment, though.

And from James Poniewozik’s Tuned In blog on Time.com comes the question: “What brilliant-but-canceled show would you like to see remade?” A reader wrote in about the Cupid remake, with Studio 60’s Sarah Paulson replacing Paula Marshall and Bobby Cannavale stepping in for Jeremy Piven to give the tale another try after it tanked on ABC ten years ago.

The reader mentions Sports Night as a show somebody might get it in their head to remake, and while I agree with a commenter that Aaron Sorkin needs to be writing for TV again, I can’t even begin to imagine that story with a different cast. I don’t want to. Studio 60, on the other hand … While I like it just fine the way it was, I think there may be other interpretations of Harriet in particular that might have worked better, something with a little more Ainsley Hayes to it. Should somebody be bringing the show back with new actors in ten years? Share your recasting thoughts in the comments.