Watching Studio60

Hey, I remember this show!

We’re starting our Sports Night Replay marathon with the first episode, “Pilot,” and boy was it fun to be dropped back into this world. It’s been a while since I re-watched this show, and I missed these people.

I love how fast the show is — all the rapid-fire banter we love from Sorkin shows with none of the weighty topics to ponder. Yeah, I know, they’ll get into weighty topics, but at a sit-com pace, not a drama pace. After the kind of melancholy final batch of episodes of Studio 60, this was really zingy and refreshing.

I also like how we’re dropped in without much explanation and left to figure out the relationships of all the people. Pilots too often are all about Explaining It All for You, and I’m generally forgiving of that. But the Sports Night pilot didn’t really pause for exposition. The tensions and relationships — between Dan and Casey, Casey and Dana, Dana and Isaac, Isaac and the network, and potentially Natalie and Jeremy — came out as natural parts of the plot that went zipping by.

The one standard sit-com moment, sadly, involved an actor I like and a character I love, and that would be Jeremy’s basketball meltdown. I don’t know if poor Joshua Malina was directed to be that schticky, or he was playing to a studio audience, or what, but every time I see that scene — which word-wise, is pretty cute — I feel like it’s been dropped in from a much, much broader type of TV comedy. Thank goodness Jeremy calmed down and learned how to be panic on the run instead of in the spotlight.

What did you think of this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments, and come back during the week for a recap and memorable lines.

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

Sports Night, ABC, Pilot, review