Studio 60

Part of me is really glad there isn’t a Studio 60 tonight. As much as I really want to enjoy the show I just can’t, it isn’t entertaining at all. I’m going to keep watching it until it really pisses me off or until it is cancelled, which will probably be soon. The reason I’ll keep watching it is because of the great acting, great writing, I really like some of the actors and I love Aaron Sorkin’s previous work. I loved Sports Night and West Wing, I like all three movies, A Few Good Men, Malice, and American President. I would have to say that I probably don’t like Studio 60 and that makes me sad. I have quite a few reasons, not quite to the level of this guy but I do have my reasons.

What is going to get me are the Studio 60 fans that are going to scream that NBC didn’t do enough or the average American viewer isn’t ‘smart enough to get it’. Well who knows what NBC is doing or not doing for the show but I do know that I get the show, I just don’t find it entertaining. I also don’t buy that Studio 60 suffers from the American public not being smart enough or getting it. A show like Boomtown or Arrested Development or hell even Firefly can make that argument. The American public gets Studio 60 just fine, they just don’t like it. They don’t like it but even more they don’t like being made fun of about Sorkin’s perception that they won’t get it. Amanda Peet’s Jordan McDeere says in the second episode “I don’t think the people who make tv shows are smarter than the people who watch them”. Well Sorkin step up and prove it, you’ve spent the entire season making fun of everything for reality shows to Columbus, Ohio. Just spend a little time making an entertaining show.

I have a huge issue with the Columbus, Ohio thing. If you watch the show it was obviously a slap at middle America and who knows what actually middle America is. I do believe it is actually a slap at Ohio and the fact that the voters in Ohio are one of the main reasons Bush is our President. When Studio 60 isn’t making fun of its viewers it spends the rest of the time trying to illustrate how divided the country is, how partisan. I come from a pretty conservative background and I’m going to tell you the country was pretty divided in the 90s as well. The party that isn’t in power is always going to view things as divided since they feel their views aren’t being heeded. It seems worse now because the media is typically pretty liberal so there is a much louder outlet for the dissent. Sure Bush is a horrible President, you won’t find too many conservatives that disagree with you but the country is no more left/right divided than it was 10 years ago.