Product Description
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Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Complete Series (DVD)
When the beleaguered executive producer of a long-running
late-night sketch-comedy series interrupts the live broadcast and
has a "Network" moment on the air, the industry, the media and
the viewers are galvanized. Into this melee steps shrewd and
self-confident network president Jordan McDeere, who squares off
against the chairman and rehires a brilliant, unpredictable
writer/producer team--which had left the show years ago under a
cloud of controversy--to bring it back from the brink. This
daring, highly anticipated comedic drama literally goes behind
the scenes to expose the politics, personalities and pandemonium
of producing a ship series on a major television network.
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Aaron Sorkin, bless him, believes that "the people who watch
television shows aren't dumber than the people who make
television shows." He also believes that "quality is not anathema
to profit." He puts these idealistic words into the mouth of
Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet), the new, impolitic NBS TV president
whose first order of business is to revitalize the network's cash
cow, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a long-running live
late-night sketch-comedy series reeling from the Howard
Beale-esque on-air meltdown of its creator (Judd Hirsch, alas,
limited to the pilot episode). With this Upstairs/Backstage look
at Studio 60's tumultuous network politics and stormy personal
relationships, Sorkin, the creator of Sports Night and The West
Wing, once again tried to raise the bar of prime time fare. That
he didn't quite clear it makes this one-season wonder a
fascinating object lesson of great hopes and dashed expectations.
Studio 60 was perhaps the most hotly debated series of the 2006
season and, love it or hate it, all its strengths and flaws can
be savored and savaged anew with this complete-series set.
Pretty much above reproach is the ensemble. Matthew Perry and
Bradley Whitford head the cast as comedy writer Matt and
executive producer Danny, former Studio 60 hands whom Jordan
brings back to "save" the show. Steven Weber costars as network
chairman Jack Rudolph, who clashes with Jordan over reality
programming (he wants it, she doesn't), is embroiled in network
negotiations with China, and must fend off angry affiliates
offended by such sketches as "Crazy Christians." Jordan contends
with becoming tabloid fodder after her ex-husband leaks
scandalous details of their past. Meanwhile, Matt, a sardonic
atheist, is in a whole Ross and Rachel thing with Harriet (Emmy
nominee Sarah Paulson), who is devoutly religious and the show's
galvanizing star performer (she does do a mean Holly Hunter).
Studio 60 has much to say about comedy in wartime, the divided
states of America, the creative process, and patriotism. Some of
it is deftly handled, some of it is ham-handed and some of it
patronizing. Most of it is delivered in Sorkin's signature
chock-a-block style and with walk-and-talk urgency. But even at
its most maddening, there are enough riveting moments (a
performance by displaced New Orleans musicians in "The Christmas
Show"), jaw-dropping developments ("I'm coming for you, Jordan,"
warns Danny, suddenly-turned romantic stalker), and indelible
performances (John Goodman's Emmy-winning turn as a
plain-speaking Pahrump, NV judge not impressed with the Hollywood
types before him in the two-part "Nevada Day") to make Studio 60
a series worth revisiting, if only as a guilty pleasure. The
pilot episode commentary by Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme,
as well as a behind-the-scenes featurette, were produced before
the show was canceled, robbing this series' fervent fans of the
rtunity for some closure. --Donald Liebenson