Studio 60 On the Way Out

Have any of you been watching Studio 60, NBC's show starring retreads from other NBC series like Friends and The West Wing? If you like the writing and acting style of The West Wing, then you'd probably like Studio 60 because it's produced by the same folks that brought us the lefty dream White House and is done in much the same style.

I like The West Wing despite the comically leftward slant of its politics, and have enjoyed Studio 60 as well - again comically left wing though with even more anti-Christianity. I think it is well cast and acted, and the writing is crisp and interesting...at least to me, but apparently not to enough other people:

Here we go: despite receiving an order for three more episodes on Friday, the Aaron Sorkin NBC drama “Studio 60 on Sunset Strip” is about to be put out of its misery.

Cast members are already confiding in friends that the end is near. It’s likely NBC will pull the plug shortly I am told by insiders.

Last week, Studio 60 had 7.7 million viewers. Compare that with competing "CSI: Miami," with 17.5 million. That gap cannot be closed...

Sorkin and friends will argue that NBC has done something wrong, or that the audience isn’t smart enough. Alas, in this case, neither is true. 'Studio 60'—as I wrote on August 7th after viewing the pilot—is just a bad show. There’s nothing wrong with the acting, directing, or dialogue writing. But the premise is faulty. No one cares whether a bunch of over caffeinated, well off yuppies, some with expensive drug habits, put on a weekly comedy sketch show from Los Angeles.

Even worse: no one cares whether or not the people from the Bartlett White House puts on a comedy show. That’s what 'Studio 60' is, essentially: the "West Wing" annual talent show. There’s so much earnestness involved in this endeavour, you start to think that nuclear war will be declared if the 'Studio 60' staff doesn’t air some joke—usually one we don’t hear anyway. The whole thing just feels weighted down and frankly, not entertaining.

I think that what could have been a much more popular show shot itself in the foot early on with the anti-Christian mood of the early episodes. Despite having a cast member who is supposedly a Christian, the show seemed to revel in the notion of taking shots at Christians and Christianity, and therefore immediately wrote off a big piece of the viewing market that's just not interested in seeing their faith lampooned like that. It never bothered me personally, because it's just a show and it's entertaining to me to see how threatened the left is of Christians and their faith.

The show did suffer from something that afflicts the real Saturday Night Live - the sketches within the show weren't funny. Just as Saturday Night Live has this "look at me - see how funny I am" smugness about their "comedy" sketches, the sketches that were shown as part of Studio 60 just weren't funny, and that diminished the effect of the otherwise good writing.

Had they done a few things differently right from the start, I think this should could have enjoyed a long run as The West Wing did. Sadly, it now looks like a squandered opportunity.

UPDATE: Not so fast - NBC picks up the show for the entire season.