Yes there's clearly a great deal of Sorkin using his own life as material, and I think that's actually a good thing: he can mine every script meeting, every deadline, every visit to rehab as part of the show. It's like the Toby and Sam speech-writing bits of The West Wing spun off into their own show. It's good that he has those places to draw on, because I'm still quite hard-pressed to work out where the show's storylines will be coming from. I suppose if he managed to get two seasons out of the premise of Sports Night anything is possible!
I'm not sure about the lack of intensity. I do think there's a danger of judging the show too quickly, and rating two episodes of Studio 60 against four seasons of the West Wing. I generally feel that the show has potential but isn't quite firing on all cylinders yet. This episode definitely feels like an early first season episode of a TV show, in that it's doing all the right things but slightly too mechanistically and without having found its natural voice. That's perhaps surprising with a writer and cast as experienced as this, but I suppose any new endeavour takes time to find its feet, and when you're trying to make lightning strike in the same place twice without appearing to repeat yourself it's inevitably going to be more difficult.
There are times I feel the direction and performances are playing against the script, turning lines that would be sure-fire comedy on the page into more naturalistic but less funny moments on screen. Maybe they're doing what Matt said in the episode - asking for the butter instead of asking for the laugh, but equally it's a sign of the writing not quite meshing with the performers, and the series trying to strike a different tone without quite knowing what that will be.
I really think the biggest barrier the show has is genuinely that type-casting. I'd be the first to say it shouldn't hold anyone back, but right now I think I'd actually have warmed to the series more quickly with an unknown cast. On the plus side the famous faces do serve the material, in that we're supposed to believe these are performers with pedigree, but it's going to take time for me to get used to them in new roles, and for them to set their new characters apart from their past performances.
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zvi and
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Date: 2006-09-28 06:21 pm (UTC)I'm not sure about the lack of intensity. I do think there's a danger of judging the show too quickly, and rating two episodes of Studio 60 against four seasons of the West Wing. I generally feel that the show has potential but isn't quite firing on all cylinders yet. This episode definitely feels like an early first season episode of a TV show, in that it's doing all the right things but slightly too mechanistically and without having found its natural voice. That's perhaps surprising with a writer and cast as experienced as this, but I suppose any new endeavour takes time to find its feet, and when you're trying to make lightning strike in the same place twice without appearing to repeat yourself it's inevitably going to be more difficult.
There are times I feel the direction and performances are playing against the script, turning lines that would be sure-fire comedy on the page into more naturalistic but less funny moments on screen. Maybe they're doing what Matt said in the episode - asking for the butter instead of asking for the laugh, but equally it's a sign of the writing not quite meshing with the performers, and the series trying to strike a different tone without quite knowing what that will be.
I really think the biggest barrier the show has is genuinely that type-casting. I'd be the first to say it shouldn't hold anyone back, but right now I think I'd actually have warmed to the series more quickly with an unknown cast. On the plus side the famous faces do serve the material, in that we're supposed to believe these are performers with pedigree, but it's going to take time for me to get used to them in new roles, and for them to set their new characters apart from their past performances.