Studio 60 - 3rd episode

An improvement over last week:

nfitz...

I preferred last weeks; though this week was certainly good.

But what with the guest star, who hosted "Studio 60"? His name didn't appear
in the credits - unless it was at the end somewhere - I was a bit
confused when he first appeared, as I thought it was clearly him, but
when I went back to the beginning credits, he wasn't listed. Or was
I fooled by a look-alike. Sorry to be vague, but I understand that
it doesn't air in some markets until Mondays, so many won't have seen
it yet.

karl...

I didn't notice the credits. If he was a look-a-like he was a good one.

Another thing: was Danny's nod to the 'walk & talk' technique used in The
West Wing [and mentioned elsethread in The Shark] by explicitly referring to
it.

I really like the way they focused on the technical/practical side of the
behind-the-scenes rather than the soap.

The montage of the show's bits worked well too. It gave a sense of the

karl...

??? Why does Jordan 'just coming' from the news dept have any bearing on
the schedule? A news story involving her is breaking. She visits both S60
and the news division to tell them no special treatment. I don't see why the
schedule is important. Her visit doesn't mean she was on the air.

Or am I misremembering? Even so live news shows air taped segments all of
the time.

Obveeus...

Yep. I biffed the times by an hour.

Obveeus...

I don't think that when she said 'I just got done talking with the news
department' that the word 'just' has to mean only minues before. It could
have easily been a few hours. My point was simply that the show did mention
her interacting with some network programming other than Studio 60.

Obveeus...

Is the national news done that way? I know lots of it is taped, but is all
of it taped, or is some of it updated over the 3 hour time difference? That
is, does the anchor do one recording for the East coast and then go home or
does the anchor stick around and do some bits (the desk stuff between
recorded segments) live for the West coast audience?

Obveeus...

I'm curious about that too. Maybe I just incorrectly assumed that they
stayed at the studio and updated throughout the evening as needed.

Obveeus...

I'd think the whole evening is a lead-in and the whole evening is important
since that would likely be when studio 60 would be advertised. For that
matter, on the West coast they could actually use clips of the 'live' show
as commercials.

show-within-the-show without getting bogged down in full blown skits.

Clifford Blau...

Agreed. I'd have liked to have seen more of the Nicholas Cage skit,
though. That was hilarious, and this show could use more laughs.

Curse you, Don Tickles, Notary Public!

nfitz...

Agreed, thought that would probably be difficult to pull off on a regular
basis. Ironically this is how I watch Saturday Night Live these days - in
about 15 minutes on a PVR. Opening skit, guest host, Weekend update, a
quick check in of the musical group, and not much in between (was this week
the dullest SNL season premiere ever, or what ... perhaps Sorkin should
replace Lorne Micheals ...).

I liked the focus group plotline and general corporate doings as well. Peet
still looks and sounds too much like a starlet to be prez but I can live

Obveeus...

Sure, she can retool. However, those other shows all have episodes in the
can. At best, any changes she makes will show up in a month+ on screen.
She has no ability to make an immediate impact with the scripted shows. It
isn't surprising that a person jumping into a new job as 'boss' would want
to make an immediate impact.

Barry Margolin...

So when is she supposed to start working on the other shows? No matter
what, changes to Friday Night will always have a more immediate impact
than other shows, but eventually she has to get to them. She's now two

Anim8rFSK...

No, we knew. One of the on air people . . . I think it was Jeannie . .
. that was upset about it, said specifically they gave it to her.

weeks into her tenure as president, isn't it about time she addressed
the network's other problem areas?

Obveeus...

Why do you think she hasn't? Just because she is on set for a couple of
hours Friday night with Studio 60 does not mean she is there 12 hours a day
every day. She has 6 3/4 days left in her week for those other shows.

Obveeus...

I didn't say that there was no need to visit the sets of the scripted shows
at all. There is, however, no need to visit them on a specific day because
they aren't going to be going out over the airways live on that specific
day. BTW, how often do you see shows get 'retooled' in any major way mid
season? It doesn't happen often. Between season, sure...but mid season
they usually just get put on hiatus and replaced with some other experiment.

Barry Margolin...

Well, there were the replacements of the producer of "Commander in
Chief" last year. But even if she's not on set, she should be worrying
about WHETHER to retool these shows, put them on hiatus, or cancel them.
She should be threatening those other producers with all these
consequences if they don't improve.

I realize that the reason we see so much interaction with the Friday
Night team is because that's what this show is about -- it's not about
running a network, so we don't see her whole day. But the simple fact
that the network president and (what is Steven Weber's title?) are so
prominent is what seems wrong -- would the network brass really be
micromanaging the show this much?

Obveeus...

In the first couple of weeks after the 'firestorm' that resulted in the last
guy's departure? Yes, it makes sense for them to be there.

with it.

Sorkin's dialogue is still top notch.

Lex Dysic...

Nice cover of The Shirelles' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow."

Anyone know who's singing it? Sounds a bit like Southside Johnny and The

Brian Thorn...

Dave "We Just Disagree" Mason, circa 1978. Great cover!

Lex Dysic...

Thanks.. Wow! it is a great cover.. I actually saw Dave in concert at a
local Florida Garlic Festival a few years back.. he still sounded pretty
good. Until I saw him perfom I didn't realize how many great songs cranked
out.

Asbury Jukes.