FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Greggulator on April 27, 2011, 03:22:49 PM
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Not sure if you saw Tom plugging this, but there are now Twitter accounts for MattAlbie60 and DannyTripp60 -- the head writer and director of NBS' long-running, influential comedy landpost Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It's an informative look at the behind-the-scenes interworkings of such a remarkable show, one that has proven that comedy with a point matters! It's also a great look at their relationship.
Whoever is behind this is absolutely brilliant. I've been laughing all day at these.
It also prompted me to watch the actual show on Netflix. When it debuted, I watched the first one and couldn't even make it through that episode. I plowed through three episodes today -- what an absolutely insipid, terrible show. I completely forgot how awful Matt Perry is.
My favorite thing is that Science Schmience -- complete with dreadful Tom Cruise impersonation -- is some landmark bit but Peripheral Vision Man is hack material. I would watch the hell out of Peripheral Vision Man!
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I'm seriously addicted to Sunset 60. I'm going to try and get through the whole season.
I've heard that the Nevada road trip episodes are some of the worst things to ever appear on television. I CAN'T WAIT!
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you know the NBA playoffs are still happening, right?
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Those twitter accounts have finally convinced me to pull the trigger on this show, God help me.
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I'm seriously addicted to Sunset 60. I'm going to try and get through the whole season.
I've heard that the Nevada road trip episodes are some of the worst things to ever appear on television. I CAN'T WAIT!
Believe me, it gets worse than the Nevada Day episodes. The three part (!!!) Afghanistan rescue mission plot is even worse. Sorkin may as well be whispering behind you as you're watching "this is important stuff here, I'm pushing buttons, and I'm really putting it to those Republicans."
So enjoy while you cringe.
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They weren't on this morning. Planning on watching tonight!
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oh, i know....i was just being silly.
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I love the subtle axe to grind he has w/ early-90s SNL. Peripheral Vision Man is a rip on Mr. No Depth Perception. I haven't seen that sketch in years but I remember it being perfectly acceptable silly comedy. I also love the dig on Wayne's World.
The other shocking thing: If you google "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip reviews" you'll see a ton of shockingly positive press for the first few episodes. I really can't believe this. I guess the show's politics are preaching to the choir a bit but even people I know who are really left-wing hate this show.
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didn't they introduce Studio 60 and 30 Rock at the exact same time?
for some reason I remember being more excited about Studio 60, probably residual Sports Night love, yet I never watched.
Also, I thought that 30 Rock might end up being the flop.
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Man, Aaron Sorkin is really good at writing fake sketch comedy that reads like something Aaron Sorkin would find funny!
To be fair, this is a little better than I remember. Still, yeesh.
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didn't they introduce Studio 60 and 30 Rock at the exact same time?
for some reason I remember being more excited about Studio 60, probably residual Sports Night love, yet I never watched.
Also, I thought that 30 Rock might end up being the flop.
The meme at the time was that Lorne Michaels was pissed off that NBC gave Sorkin a show that essentially was ripping apart everything Lorne was doing -- despite SNL being a major part of NBC for 30 years. So they gave Lorne a bone with 30 Rock which ended up being one of the best comedies of its era and actually way, way, way better at showing the stresses of putting together a sketch comedy show and dealings with network executives than Sorkin's turkey.
I really can't wait to get through episode 4.
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I've never watched this show. Perhaps now I will.
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You Studio 60 rookies.
Now that you've detached from yer mama's apron strings go and follow all 6 fake Studio60 twitter accounts.
I've already watched this thing twice all the way through and I'm watching it again right now. Terrible is way too simplistic a term for what's going on in that show.
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Update - 2 more twitter feeds look like they're real. Or I should say "real". Last night they were eggs, so I left them out of the count because I wasn't sure if some douche may have tried to snatch them up to be a wiseguy.
Whoever is behind this whole thing is going long. It's fucking fascinating.
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Is it available on Netflix Instant? Every time I have tried it said it wasn't available.
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Is it available on Netflix Instant? Every time I have tried it said it wasn't available.
Yeah, should be there ... that's odd.
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A list of all the Twitter handles would be handy for us novices. I don't know who the fuck these people are.
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@mattalbie60
@dannytripp60
@jeaniewhatley60
@andymackinaw60
@rickytahoe60
@jackrudolph60
@calshanley60
This is probably one as well but there's no picture yet:
@harriethayes60
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@mattalbie60
@dannytripp60
@jeaniewhatley60
@andymackinaw60
@rickytahoe60
@jackrudolph60
@calshanley60
This is probably one as well but there's no picture yet:
@harriethayes60
Next online:
@tomjeter60
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You Studio 60 rookies.
Now that you've detached from yer mama's apron strings go and follow all 6 fake Studio60 twitter accounts.
I've already watched this thing twice all the way through and I'm watching it again right now. Terrible is way too simplistic a term for what's going on in that show.
I think Studio 60 is the most fascinatingly awful show of my lifetime.
There are some strong points with the show:
1) The direction and style is fairly interesting. I know it's Sorkin's trademark to do a lot of walking, camera sweep shots and it's become kind of cliche at this point. But it's still visually pretty decent -- which is pretty cool because the show is essentially about people writing comedy or talking about ratings demographics.
2) The characters are well-drawn enough that someone can make Twitter accounts that 100% accurately capture what these people say and act like. So Sorkin & Co. at least were able to create memorable characters. It's just the characters are just the absolute worst, most unlikable characters in TV history.
And that's about it.
Some of the "best" moments of the show:
1) To get it out of the way first -- the "comedy" bits that are terrible and the stakes of the show are ridiculous.
1) The beginning is the absolute laziest writing ever done. It's a total rip-off of Network that they, via the faux-news reports, admit is a total rip-off of Network. Translation: I'm not a good enough writer to come up with something completely original. Although I plan on using "GO TO VTR NOW!" as much as possible when in emergency situations.
2) Some of the critical reviews are hilarious when they talk about how talented the cast is. Nate Corrdry -- very talented. D.L Hughely -- pretty talented. Bradley Whitford -- he can hold his own. Steven Weber -- definitely has the sleazebag corporate asshole persona down pat. But there are so many glowing reviews of AMANDA PEET AND MATTHEW PERRY! They are beyond awful! Amanda Peet's "charming, witty but serious" persona is beyond ridiculous. There's no way any executive would believe a word she was saying! And Matthew Perry somehow manages to be even more irritating than he was on Friends -- and it's not just that the character's irritating. He's just completely untalented.
3) Matt and Danny non-stop touching each-other during heart-to-hear speeches. Also: that beach scene they have is soooo awkward. And it's not the homoeroticism -- who cares about that? It's just so horridly conceived.
4) The stresses over the cold opens. And that their debut cold open is the most self-congratulatory thing of all-time. It doesn't even reference Wes' meltdown and is instead all about Danny's cocaine thing. And Albie's "I HAVE A STROKE OF GENIUS" face that leads into a musical parody of Pirates and Penzance (I found that out reading some blog about the show) and the lyrics go by so fast and the music is so loud you can't even hear a thing they say. And it gets a standing ovation? I guess the live audience is made up of lip reading Gilbert & Sullivan fans.
5) Harriet's supposedly a sex-bomb Christian that is beyond talented. She's Christian, at least.
6) Both Jordan's and Harriet's characters talk exactly like Lorelai's in The Gilmore Girls, which is pretty insane since The Gilmore Girls style of cadence is essentially Sorkin's style. And I read that Lauren Graham has a role in a few upcoming episodes. That's META at its finest. Wondering if Rob Jeter would bust out an Emily Gilmore impersonation like his Jack White's?
7) The Jordan has a DUI from eight years ago -- who would seriously give a shit? And who would read a tell-all book about a TV executive?
I cannot WAIT for the Afghanistan stories coming up.
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I still want a Jordan McDeere account.
I watched almost every episode when they aired and will not be revisiting them with you. I'm enjoying the twitter accounts but I don't think I can put myself through that garbage again, especially when I have a bunch of good shows that I still haven't seen. But it's definitely worth watching once.
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Those twitter accounts have finally convinced me to pull the trigger on this show, God help me.
Ditto.
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I will always cherish Studio 60 and the character of Tom Jeter for introducing me (and surely countless others) to an amazing but highly obscure comedy bit called "Who's On First?".
I took a chance and hunted a copy of the routine down on vinyl (it may be floating around on the internet by now after Studio 60 finally gave it the exposure it deserved) after they dug it up and introduced it on the show (episode 6, "The Wrap Party"), and let me tell you, it was totally worth it. I won't spoil it for you, but there are quite a few hilarious twists in that routine!
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They could maybe ease up on the tweets a little. Then again, I suspect this isn't lasting more than a week or so.
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They could maybe ease up on the tweets a little. Then again, I suspect this isn't lasting more than a week or so.
It seems like toward the end of the day they were basically tweeting I think episode 3.
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They are running a little bit hot - even moreso tonight, probably, considering they will "live tweet" this week's episode - but they are absolute genius. I can't wait to find out who's behind them - must be someone we "know", right? Way too many refs to the alt comedy world etc.
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I'm getting a feeling, not sure if I'm right, but I feel like it's Jake Fogelnest.
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I'm getting a feeling, not sure if I'm right, but I feel like it's Jake Fogelnest.
I thought the same thing. I saw on NY Mag that he made a comment about it being dumb yet they're following him on Twitter.
I don't care, though. I'm believing this is real.
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I might just cut back to Matt Albie.
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I'm watching Episode 4 right now. It's so terminally boring.
The scene where Matt breaks the glass with the bat right after he says "I have to make something funny happen" is one of the worst things ever written and filmed.
The Juliette Lewis on Meet the Press sketch -- ugh. That's the stuff of nightmares.
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I have no desire to revisit Studio 60. None. I watched in its first run and thought it was condescending and contemptible. Everyone involved with that show from the actors to the writers to the caterers should be ashamed of themselves for foisting that piece of pretentious and ponderous dreck upon the American public.
The only thing that was remotely enjoyable about that show was the episode where Sting played the lute. That's it.
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It looks like the Studio 60 tweets may have come to an end after their live tweet of tonight's fantastic episode hosted by Aziz Anzari with music guest Keysha as it appears the show was just CANCELLED while Tom Jeter's brother was captured, released, and then recaptured in Kabul in the matter of 90 minutes.
Whoever is behind this is truly brilliant and has my respect for life. I actually would RATHER not find out but it's pretty spectacular.
In honor, I'm currently on episode 6. Thoughts:
1) The Matt/Harriet/Darren Wells love triangle is the least interesting love triangle in the history of television.
2) I just met Tom's parents from that isolated backwater of Columbus, Ohio -- which is the furthest thing from a sizable metropolitan area with possibly the biggest state university in the country located smackdab in the middle of it.
3) I really, really, really wish that there was a spin-off of Nations.
4) Is it wrong for me to want this old guy to die? Like tragically? And I get to watch it?
5) I don't know who is more annoying: Jordan and her search for "friends" and Timothy Busfield's obsessive WW2 history fandom.
6) That scene w/ Simon Stiles and Matt Albee at the improv is even more painful to watch than it was to read Bill Simmons talking about how he thought he was black as a kid and his name was "La Bill". If I was the dude who got hired, I'd probably at least think of assaulting them for insulting me and then condescendingly talking to me when hiring me.
This show is so sublime. I can't get enough.
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Just finished ep. 2. That Gilbert & Sullivan parody was timely!
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Just finished ep. 2. That Gilbert & Sullivan parody was timely!
Show the greatest frat comedians of them all some respect. (I just watched that one too)
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Just watched episode 1.
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Just watched episode 2.
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This show leaves me speechless. Not because there's so much to say that I can't decide how to begin. Not because my thoughts about it are too complex for me to put them into words. No. It's because, today anyway, I can't bear the thought of wasting my time commenting on such shallow, smug, uninspired twaddle. Tomorrow, who knows? I may feel different. But for now I'm a little embarrassed to have written even this much.
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On the plus side, I feel like crap today, and it's great to have this dumb show to watch, because it's awful and I don't care about it.
A question: What is it exactly about the acting that makes it so very, very bad? Is it that no one can deliver these lines plausibly? Or is something else going on?
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A question: What is it exactly about the acting that makes it so very, very bad? Is it that no one can deliver these lines plausibly? Or is something else going on?
For me it gives off the same vibe that Rob Lowe in St Elmo's Fire gives off - you can almost physically feel the pressure coming from everyone in the movie and everyone who made the movie basically willing you to think that Rob Lowe is so fucking cool when he's playing that saxophone.
Same thing with this show. It's so horrible it's delightful - everybody in this thing is telegraphing so hard how vital this shit is. Aaron Sorkin probably gave this one note over and over and over again in rehearsal no matter how anyone read their lines.
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But it's just a show about a show! How can it take itself so seriously? It mystifies me.
Just finished episode 3. Stray thoughts:
* Amanda Peet was in way over her head.
* It's pronounced "ar-tay," damn it. (The mistake would irk me less if we weren't all supposed to be terribly impressed by the erudition on display.)
* I am having fun seeing Dan Stark in Danny Tripp. Someday, when/if I finally watch The West Wing, no doubt I'll have just as much fun seeing him in Josh Lyman.
* So far, my favorite character, insofar as such a thing exists, is Cal Shanley.
Note: I had a three-hour nap after my last post.
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Other than snark and irony, what are you people getting out of this rewatch? I watched these when they were first run and have absolutely no tolerance to sit through them again.
Is this an MST3K thing where it's so bad it's good and you can just say witty things at the screen?
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Other than snark and irony, what are you people getting out of this rewatch? I watched these when they were first run and have absolutely no tolerance to sit through them again.
Is this an MST3K thing where it's so bad it's good and you can just say witty things at the screen?
Yes.
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Hey, this is my first time.
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I just got through Nevada Day -- Part 1 AND Part 2.
I think what's really leaping out to me right now is that EVERY character more or less shares the same dry sense of humor. This is a show about the alleged funniest comedy writers and actors in the world -- you'd think that at least one of them wouldn't rely on deadpan reactions to absurd situations. How come the supposed funniest people alive -- and the people around them who all are incredibly well-educated and seemingly well-read people -- NEVER LAUGH?
Seriously -- I think I could actually MAYBE enjoy some of the Nevada scenes if Danny or someone just actually started to laugh at the oddity of it all. I think that would give the audience permission to laugh at a scene they're supposed to laugh at. Instead, Danny has this smug view of it -- he's pretty much the audience proxy in those scenes and he's looking down on everyone (not just the Judge, but everyone) so why the hell am I supposed to enjoy something that he's bemused by since he's above it all?
The culture wars stuff is so annoying for another reason: Why the hell are you having a discussion about gay marriage when you have to probably rewrite a comedy show in about five hours? I know I'm not a genius along the lines of Matt Albie, but the last thing I ever want to do when I'm on a deadline for work is to quote Leviticus and civil law.
These episodes weren't as left wing as I thought they would be. Team Nevada have the sanctimonious position during these episodes and talk down to people that they have contempt for and power over.
Sorkin's rightfully been ripped for having no idea how to write a comedy sketch. But the scenes with Matt and Lucy show that he has no idea how to write any sort of comedic scene whatsoever.
I will say that the "Cheeses of Nazareth" sketch sounded like it had potential in my eyes.
Also: "Are you crazy about me or are you just crazy?" "I don't know." "Now he says it." That's possibly the worst dialogue ever written. Wow.
I absolutely LOVE this show.
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The feeds are actually DONE. Aren't they? So sad. I loved them.
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I just re-watched episode 1 to see if it was as bad as I remember it being.
It was.
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I watched half of ep. 3 before the Bin Laden news came out, then I dozed off. Commedia dell'Arte! What unit from an undergraduate theater history class WON'T Sorkin take on? I'm looking forward to the leaking of the unreleased Season Two scripts, when they do bits about Aeschylus and Hroswitha of Gandersheim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrotsvitha).
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I wish this show was still on so we could see the episode where Tom Jeter's brother killed Osama while Matt Albie and Danny Tripp argue over a script about Pope John Paul's beatification.
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I watched 20 minutes of episode 1. I just find it unredeemingly bad and I can't relate to hardly any aspect of it. Its like one of those primetime dramas my dad watches(Castle, Law & Order, TNT dramas). I just get mad at them. In the case of the dramas I always think how can the American mainstream be so into this stuff. It's like in your face seriousness from the getgo.
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I am surprised to find Castle compared to Studio 60. It's as slight, sure, but it doesn't pretend to be otherwise.
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I just finished The Option Period. I think it's in this episode where Harriet or Jordan or someone says, "It took you 30 minutes to get to the point." That sums up this episode pretty brilliantly.
What a trainwreck this show is. The one sub-plot about "sponsors on the show or 15 jobs are lost" is something that there's no way the general audience member can identify with. This show has as mainstream an audience as one could find -- a heavily promoted network show from the guy who made West Wing. And pretty much everyone in this audience works a "normal" job in which you have to eat shit and compromise your morals constantly -- and the morals for the general audience member are things like, "I have to cancel our trip to Florida because my jerk boss just gave me a new deadline on my project." The only people who could possibly care one iota about the whole "sponsor the show" drama are creative sorts, and the show is so alienating to that audience -- especially those of us who are comedy nerds, who have been told from the beginning that stuff we generally like sucks and we should like Gilbert & Sullivan and "scathing" political sketches -- that there's no one who cares.
The show REALLY just doesn't understand its audience. And then it ends with a happy compromise about the billboards on the set, which pretty much translates to, "You sold out and are making excuses for it."
The other plot about Ricky and and Ron -- I think a show from their point of view would be great. Here you have two comedy writers who were handed a show in some sort of controversy after Matt and Danny quit for the first time. They have a big team of writers they work well with. Ratings and critical acclaim might not be as strong as at one point but the network obviously still cares about the show. And then the producer has a public meltdown -- not of your doing -- and the new network president, whom you've never met, makes the decision to rehire the people who quit in the first place. And these guys hate you because you disagreed with their support of Bill Maher (!) in the wake of the heated political climate of 9/11, in which your opinion pretty much mirrored that of most Americans at the time. And now you're marginalized without any sketches getting on the air so you decide to leave the show with the writers you know and respect. And your parting gift is the new head writer -- who hates you, even though you tried to bury the hatchet -- telling you that your project has no chance of making it.
THAT's a good idea for a show. It's a total underdog story. The early episodes would pretty much start with everyone struggling to find their footing and then it slowly comes together and you overcome the odds.
The Harriet stuff is also pretty fun to watch -- the whole "Believe us, we don't mind seeing you naked but..." is such cliched writing.
This show is so addictive. I really wish it didn't get canceled. I kind of just want to skip to the asinine sounding Afghanistan TRILOGY but I kind of like the mundane episodes more than the sweeping faux-epics.
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Art is now imitating art: the tweets, which have returned, have gotten very didactic and preachy with lotsa shit about what comedy is about without actually being funny - just like the show!
"@CalShanley60 Going to want the location where bin Laden was shot to be our main stage. That's the only way the comedy will be best served"
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I just blew through the entire series in about a week. It was fine for awhile and then towards the end just got a bit unbearable. Seemed quite heavy-handed.
Some beefs (SPOLIERS):
- Matt's drug problem. Yeah, let's not even address detoxing from opiates and what that does to a person.
- Ugh, Danny and the "that's my daughter". Please.
- Jordan is supposed to be the President of NBS, but acts like a highschooler.
- The Simon Stiles issue with the young black writer - I didn't really follow what the hell that was about.
- WHO'S ON FIRST
- The sketches seemed like they were written by my HS drama class when we did a "SNL" style sketch show.
- "It's MY weed" x67
- Did Tom's parents drive from Ohio or wherever he was from? wtf
- Sure, Jack Rudolph is just gonna take care of the 10 million to get Tom's brother saved.
- Not so much Sting and that overplayed drek, but the dude accompanying him practically making love to the instrument.
Liked:
-Danny Tripp, Pointdexter as the Director, DL Hughley
Overall it was a fine watch, but I don't think I'll be revisiting it.
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Just finished episode three -- let's play a drinking game where we take a sip of absinthe every time somebody mentions August Strindberg. WE GET IT AARON SORKIN. YOU USED TO BE A PLAYWRIGHT.
I am a playwright. I have met hundreds of other playwrights in my life. We're not smarter than the viewing audience, and we're certainly not smarter than comedians or TV writers. What's next, a fucking sketch based on Aristophanes' laff-a-minute-if-you-live-in-Athens-c.-425-BCE The Clouds? (I really hope he does this. Don't spoil me.)
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Also in ep3, I love how the entire fucking network grinds to a halt when they find out that one of the writers stole a couple of jokes.
Just finished ep4.
-Love how Matt and Simon find a black guy at the comedy club who is flopping because he's just as pompous and humorless as everyone on Studio 60 and they have to hire him right away.
-I pegged the old guy wandering around backstage as a blacklisted screenwriter pretty much right away. Anyone else?
-The real missed opportunity of this episode is that they didn't also hire the senile old guy on the spot, making him pair up with the struggling and unfunny young black man.
-Did it just never occur to Aaron Sorkin or anyone else to hire one comedy writer? Even, like, someone who couldn't hack it in Jay Leno's room?
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Also in ep3, I love how the entire fucking network grinds to a halt when they find out that one of the writers stole a couple of jokes.
Just finished ep4.
-Love how Matt and Simon find a black guy at the comedy club who is flopping because he's just as pompous and humorless as everyone on Studio 60 and they have to hire him right away.
-I pegged the old guy wandering around backstage as a blacklisted screenwriter pretty much right away. Anyone else?
-The real missed opportunity of this episode is that they didn't also hire the senile old guy on the spot, making him pair up with the struggling and unfunny young black man.
-Did it just never occur to Aaron Sorkin or anyone else to hire one comedy writer? Even, like, someone who couldn't hack it in Jay Leno's room?
Mark McKinney was on the Sunset 60 staff. What he actually did is anyone's guest...
The Twitter accounts tonight are from PAKISTAN since they did the show at Osama's compound. I wanted them to go w/ Tom's brother killing Osama.
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Dear God... the Christmas episode...
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I've been rewatching too (thanks, I guess) and I've been kind of struck by how it actually ISN'T as bad as I recall. I watched most of it when it aired, and I can't disagree with the commonly mentioned flaws - the terrible comedy sketches, the condescending tone, Amanda Peet's "what the hell is she doing performance" - it all manages to be very watchable. So far, anyway.
I think the biggest problem comes from the sheer amount of repetition on the show, with "Nevada Day" in particular largely consisting of different characters being told and retold the same information over the course of two episodes. It's infuriating that this show claims to be in favor of smart television yet goes out of its way to repeat its own plot and ideological claims over and over just in case we missed anything.
And as I get later in the run, I can see the hackier ideas starting to set in - quarreling would-be lovers locked on the roof? Breaking a date, then lying about it, then being caught with another woman? We can see the outcomes coming from miles away, and it still takes forever to get there.
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Okay, in fact, just about every idea in "The Harriet Dinner" parts 1 & 2 are bad sitcom subplot rejects.
Also, the biggest shock for me so far: one of the most quoted lines from "The Social Network" was actually recycled from an episode of "Studio 60". I'm forced to assume that Sorkin safely guessed that no one was watching the first time he used it.
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Looks like, back in the day, AC called it on the Twitter accounts:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/arts/television/tv-comedy-writers-on-twitter.html?_r=1&ref=arts (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/arts/television/tv-comedy-writers-on-twitter.html?_r=1&ref=arts)