a handful of interesting notes today, but because i\’m trying to be less ADD, we\’ll stick to one: happen to catch Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip last night? sara and i did, although nearly by accident: we tuned in to NBC at 9, assuming we\’d see the season premiere of Medium– turns out that isn\’t starting until january. so, we watched Studio 60 instead. and it was flat-out amazing.
firstly, i had wanted to watch this show because of the aaron sorkin connection. (i\’d just spaced the fact that it was on last night, so actually seeing it was fortuitous– that means lucky.) anyhoo, sorkin and producer thomas schlamme were responsible for sports night and much of the west wing, the former being top five in my all-time favorite shows, and my expectations were fairly high. when the credits rolled at the end, i believe i started clapping and said \”woo hoo,\” (and only part of that was the rum) so you know what i thought of it.
i won\’t regurgitate the plot– you can read that on wikipedia or imdb. i will tell you what i thought worked, though:
- dialogue. this is standard sorkin, but he\’s such a master. you have to concentrate to make sure you don\’t miss anything, but it\’s so intelligent that it\’s worth the effort.
- cast. check it. other than matthew perry (and arguably amanda peet), no huge names– but a lot of great actors. speaking of…
- perry. i was pretty skeptical of his ability to be anyone beyond chandler bing (or mrs. chanandler bong). he was chandler-like funny in a couple of spots, but also sold the dramatic bit really nicely. impressive, and i look forward to seeing more.
- intangibles. (yes, i sound like mel kiper.) the music fit the scenes nicely. and- i rarely notice this- but the camera work was fantastic. there\’s a scene near the end where perry and bradley whitford are about to address the cast and crew of the show, and there\’s a 360-degree spin around them that really worked.
if you missed the pilot, you can catch it tomorrow night on bravo at 10…
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