Chewing Gum For The Eyes
Have you ever had a band that you loves so much during their prime that you found yourself continuing to buy their new albums even after you’ve admitted to yourself that they suck now? Well, that’s how I am with “Studio 60″. I still feel compelled to watch it even though it’s obviously a mediocre show, but luckily for me, NBC is probably going to put me out of my misery :
One month later, it appears “Studio 60″ will be lucky to last the season. Since its premiere on Sept. 19, the pricey series has been shedding viewers weekly, and those who once saw Aaron Sorkin as the Arthur Miller of network drama grumble about the poor quality of the show’s comedy and the characters’ endless back-patting claims that said tepid comedy is in fact boundary-pushing, hilarious, edgy fare.
The latest episode featured a toothless, unfunny parody of Nancy Grace which was painful to watch. Hell, with the way Grace foams at the mouth every time someone accused of a crime is found “not guilty”, her show should be easy to parody, but the “Studio 60″ sketch was the Christian chick (a bland label for a bland character) wearing a wig and using a bad accent badgering someone about a lost cel phone. Not ready for primetime, indeed.
What was even more pathetic was the musical guest. For a show that is supposed to be “edgy” (or at least heading in that direction), why the hell would they feature Sting performing selections from his album of 16th-century lute music. It seemed like a third of the episode was Sting hyping his album while the various cast members stood around admiring his brilliance. Uggghhh…what’s wrong, were Bryan Adams and Eddie Money too busy to help contribute some of their cutting edge cred as well?
Speaking of horrible shows on NBC, can we talk a little about how horrible “Deal or No Deal” is? First of all, they took one of the all-time greatest game shows ever, “Let’s Make A Deal”, and squeezed out every drop of personality the show had. Instead we’re stuck with something that looks like a mishmash of every other primetime gameshow phenomenon, but without even the slightest bit of skill involved in winning the game. No trivia, no strategy, no challenges, it’s just trying to guess where that guy who used to put rubber gloves on his head is hiding the money. They might as well have a double-or-nothing, coin-flipping show or fast track “What Number Am I Thinking Of?” as a mid-season replacement.
Of course, the reason people get glued to the show is manufactured drama of deal-making, but even that aspect of the program is simple-minded and stupid. How can anyone watch more than ten minutes of the show before figuring out that “The Banker” is just counting the remaining cases and offering sums based solely on the odds. For example, if there are five cases left, you’ve got a one-in-five chance of winning the money, so they’ll offer you slightly less than one-fifth of the grand prize. It fairly simple math and it’s not much different than the way a casino’s games and allowed bets are always designed to give the house a slight edge. If “Deal or No Deal” were being played in Vegas, it would be like watching a stranger play a slow-motion craps game with only one bet and no dice.
Oh well, at least Heroes is good.
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I’m sticking with “Studio 60,” regardless of the bad press. I just enjoy it. And maybe it’s not vintage Sorkin, but it seems better than most stuff on TV.
“Heroes” is good and I’m also really enjoying (and dreading when the axe will fall) on “Friday Night Lights.” Though NPR had a story yesterday on how NBC was moving away from scripted shows at all, so I hope you like “1 vs. 100,” “X-Treem Family Feud” and all the other crappy game shows and reality shows that will fill up the schedule.
At least they’re still doing good work on cable. Have you seen “Eureka”?
Comment by Dr. Pants — October 20, 2006 @ 7:48 am
Deal or No Deal is the pinnacle of the game show genre. It proves that people want to watch televised contests not for their substance, but simply for their drama.
Who wants to be a Millionaire? had very little substance. The trivia was occasionally interesting, but never difficult (it’s no Jeopardy!). Its real attraction, the source of its drama, was risk management.
DoND, as you indicate, has no substance at all. It’s just a striptease with a thin illusion of contestant interaction. It’s 100% risk management. And apparently, that’s all we ask as an audience.
What’s really weird is that they bothered to recruit 25 supermodel wannabes to open the cases, and then they barely even exploit them. I get more hot & bothered by the Price is Right ladies.
Comment by Cris — October 20, 2006 @ 9:47 am
Thank you for confirming that Heroes is indeed a quality show - I was beginning to think that I had lost my good-taste cred, what with my wife giving me that look and rolling her eyes when I watch it.
Studio 60 is to TV as some slick guy trying to get in your pants, with his fancy vocabulary and witty banter is to women.
Comment by Ben in VA — October 20, 2006 @ 10:33 am
Damn skippy, Heroes is good.
Aaron Sorkin, meanwhile, should be strung up by his Emmies for foisting his chunk of crap on us. Anyone who can so completely waste Matthew Perry should be forced to eat the paper on which his masturbatory dialogue is printed.
Comment by Joe — October 20, 2006 @ 1:35 pm
I just don’t think a show about a sketch comedy show was the right vehicle for Sorkin. It’s a stretch to think there is that much soul-searching going behind the scenes at SNL.
30 Rock, on the other hand, might just do the trick. It’s funny and it just takes a half hour (or roughly 20 minutes on Tivo).(.2
Comment by jim marquis — October 20, 2006 @ 6:09 pm
Deal or no Deal is about boobs. Boobs is good TV.
Comment by Kamachanda — October 21, 2006 @ 3:50 am
Why do you even watch network TV? I have cable, but I only watch C-SPAN (very hit or miss), documentary stuff, true crime, some PBS … basically it’s all horrible compared to the Internet though.
I realize that sounds a bit snooty which is not my intent. I really don’t see any value in even trying to watch a “dramatic” series on TV. If it’s any good, you can borrow the DVDs from a friend.
Comment by Deodand — October 21, 2006 @ 10:14 pm