This showed up there Wednesday night:

Studio 60 Was Better When It First Came Out

By Artie Mayer

October 18, 2006

It reminded me of you.

I owe you a "thank you" for pointing me to Project Runway but I cannot let your harsh words about Boston Legal pass without a protest.

Boston Legal is the high point of my TV week, the one time I know that I will laugh. I suspect, too, that you haven't been watching very much this season, because you seem to be a bit behind the times on the details (I've only heard the "Denny Crane" line once this season, for instance.)

I love the way Kelly shatters the fourth wall, the madcap quality of the comedy, the camp, and the send-up of oiliness and masculine folly. I like it so much I hadn't bothered to check out "Shark."

Again, thanks for the good watching tips -- as for your opinion of my favorite show, de gustibus non disputandum est. (Ain't no accounting for tastes.)

Though Sorkin has gone to the same well multiple times over the years (West Wing had an episode ending in same HMS Pinafore song…with original lyrics), Studio 60 isn’t all bad. Seems to me the relationship between Matt and Harriet is parallel to Sorkin’s relationship with Kristin Chenoweth. She too is Christian, has released an album of spiritual songs, and is an actress (she was on West Wing, Broadway’s Wicked, etc) and oh yeah, they dated. He obviously has no problem writing about Danny having a cocaine problem, or Matt being a writer…or even having to acquiesce to a writing staff or network executive. Seems to have a problem making his (ex)girlfriend seem funny, which may have been the case on West Wing as well.

Thanks Heather for voicing so well what's wrong with the Matt-Harriet thing on Studio 60. I really want this series to work but, damn, it's hard to stomach the onscreen obnoxiousness of the Matt-Harriet thing. For me it's not about the writing or Matt, it's about Harriet. She's is, as Heather notes, "too bratty and coy to give a crap about." And it's definitely not coy/bratty in any kind of fun way, either, if that's possible. The character is not funny, period, and WTF with the Southern Baptist angle? I get the feeling that the character's religious proclivity was created as some sort of academic exercise to open up a dialog between our stratified blue and red political landscape. And that feels manipulative and definitely not wanted by me. But, I will hang in there and keep checking it out--maybe it will evolve to something more palatable. BTW, I also agree with Heather's Heroes assessment--good stuff. Good luck, also, Heather with your impending motherhood--even lampreys need a mother who loves them.

Good call on Dexter. Great show. Brotherhood was masterful. Weeds is hilarious. Bullshit--another great show. Even with an improved Entourage and really good Showtime is outfoxing HBO.

and he does it all in subtitles, which seems wildly subversive, somehow, for network TV

Well, it might, if Lost hadn't done it first.

And, to my mind, the reliance on the Meredith/McDreamy storyline is the weakest thing about "Grey's." Both characters are insufferable; together, they're almost unbearable.

If you watch T.V. all the time, I guess any show get's tiresome. ( Seinfeld... why did I like that show so much? >> )

But I didn't get to watch much Boston Legal last year, so I'm not sick of it yet.

Besides, it's kind of fun to see what old warhorse T.V. actor they'll pull out next.

The scripts are *still* smarter then 99% of the rest.

And I can *never* tire of Captain Kirk's self absorbed oilyness, I grew up on Trek reruns! It's just fun to see what a monstrosity he's become.

Oh, I'll get tired of it eventually, but not this season.

'With its third episode, "Heroes" has hit its stride.'

Wow. That is completely wrong to me and exactly the opposite of the way the show looks to me. If anything, that third episode is an indicator of that show rapidly diving into the toilet. That third epsiode was SO sloppily written, filled with so many plot holes and continuity flubs it made my teeth hurt. It was like Medium at its sloppiest. If the show continues in this vein, it's going to be a colossal bug-frak of not really all that impressive dimensions.

Dear Heather,

Love ya, mean it.

Want dark? Want creepy? Watch Dexter on Showtime! We TiVo'd this on a lark because it has Six Feet Under's Michael C. Hall as the main character. He's a police forensics expert who's also a serial killer going after irredemable bad guys. Apparently, he had some traumatic experience as a child and his cop adopted dad turned his killing urges towards people who "deserve" it. His girlfriend is a battered wife who is so scarred she doesn't want sex, which suits the sexless Dexter just fine (since he gets his kicks in slicing people apart). AND they have a new serial killer drying out and carving prostitutes who is playing with Dexter as one pro to another.

Oh, and it's set in Miami.

The only way this can be darker is if he starts stalking his cop sister. Go watch this show!!!

Rich

Studio 60 suffers from an inflated sense of believing that every split second has to be filled with 'witty' catty dialog. Crackheads on 'Intervention' don't talk this much. It's irritating and tiring.

(This is why I never wanted to watch Shark either. Someone please tell James Woods to occasionally shut the fuck up.)

"No, I don't read comic books. Yes, I know this makes me inferior. When it comes to shows about superpowered humans, I've been modeling through it. I'll admit it."

That was coffee out the nose worthy. Thanks Heather!

>She is however prim and re-born which are odd traits for an SNL type.<

I started watching S60 about ten minutes into its second episode, and it came as a complete surprise to me that she was supposed to be a comic. SP is a little doleful for this kind of role, no?