TV Review: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

 

I generally have a difficult time convincing people to watch The West Wing, with most attempts being met by “Shee, why would I want to see a show about the US political system?” To be fair to them, I used to have a similar attitude till I watched Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, created by the same writer-director duo. And it was only after being bowled over by Studio 60 that I couldn’t wait to watch The West Wing.

 
This is my third draft of a review about Studio 60, with the first two going well over 3,000 and 2,000 words respectively. While I’d like to delude myself into thinking that my writing could keep you entertained that long, better sense prevailed; so here’s the shortened version.

The plot of the show revolves around the lives of the cast and crew of a late-night comedy show called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which is an obvious reference to Saturday Night Live. [Note: To avoid confusion, henceforth, ‘Studio 60’ refers to the real-life show, while ‘Sunset Strip’ refers to the fictitious show within the real series]

After being repeatedly put down by the network’s producers, Sunset Strip’s creator rants on air about falling standards in Hollywood and bad television, in what can best be described as homage to Paddy Chayefsky’s 1976 film Network.

This rant happens to come on the first day of the network’s new President, Jordan McDeere, played by Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards, Syriana). If you weren’t already a fan of Peet’s work, you will be after watching this show. The show’s creator and writer, Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War), has a penchant for writing strong female characters and Peet takes the baton and breaks all records in crossing the finish line.

 

Top (centre): Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme

Bottom: Amanda Peet, Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford

 

Jordan McDeere’s first act as President is to bring back the most talented production team in the program’s history: Matt Albie and Danny Tripp. The duo is now enjoying a successful movie career, but are convinced into coming back to the show — the ‘how’ of which is explained through the first episode.

Matt (Matthew Perry, of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. fame) is the writing genius behind the fictitious Sunset Strip, and is kind of an autobiographical character for Sorkin. Perry is fantastic as always his portrayal of this flawed, funny and charming lead of the series. All the acting talent that he couldn’t display as Chandler Bing comes rushing out in a performance that should have garnered him an Emmy, but sadly didn’t.

Danny (Bradley Whitford, previously seen in The West Wing and Billy Madison) is the show’s producer and Matt’s best friend. Whitford is an underappreciated actor and, by all accounts, the best acting talent on Studio 60. The character of Danny, and indeed his chemistry with Matt, is loosely based on Thomas Schlamme and his creative relationship with Sorkin. Schlamme and Sorkin co-created Sports Night and The West Wing, and have won enough awards together to fill a large trophy room.

Sorkin generally writes shows with a lot of characters, so Studio 60 is filled with other actors who will knock your socks off. Really, if you thought the three lead actors are great, you will be astounded by the performances the rest of the cast delivers. I won’t go into much detail about that, as it’s better to see them unfold.

 

The incredibly talented cast of Studio 60

While the characters are great, it is definitely the unique style of a Sorkin-Schlamme production that makes the show work. Studio 60 gives a behind-the-scenes look at the hypertension of a weekly, live comedy show. Sorkin is among the best dialogue writers in the world, and Schlamme is one of the best directors for dialogue. The ‘walk and talk’ approach they have perfected for the long conversations between the characters works like a charm, invoking urgency and energy into what would otherwise have been a dull few minutes.

If anything, the show’s only fault is that the urgency seems a bit too unrealistic at times. The creators suffer from a bit of a hangover from The West Wing, where every decision really was a matter of life and death. Port the same urgency to a comedy show being watched by a regular viewer, and it’s bound to come off as an exaggerated. To empathise with the characters, you really need to be working with tight deadlines on a regular basis — a background in newspapers would help here, as it did for me!

Unfortunately, and rather unfathomably, Studio 60 was cancelled after a single season of airing. This leads to the series finale seeming quite rushed, and does not do justice to what is one of the finest television series you will ever see. Still, it becomes that much easier to recommend it as you can buy or download the show and be done with it quite quickly. In fact, think of it like a super-elongated movie rather than a TV series!

 
With a stellar starcast and one of the best Hollywood writers of all time, Studio 60 absolutely cannot be missed. In fact, if you ask me, this is the best show to have been prematurely cancelled by a network — and that list includes some fine names like Arrested Development and Firefly.

No matter what you do, don’t give this one a miss. And once you are left stunned and speechless (or perhaps endowed with over 3,000 words of speech about it), remember to start watching The West Wing next.

 

Rating: 9/10

TV Review: The Thin Blue Line (1995)

As an anglophile, I was thrilled when one of our readers asked for a recommendation of a British sitcom, or 'Britcom' (and yes, we take requests in the comments section). The first names to pop into my mind were Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minster and Black Adder — two of the finest television comedies of all time. Still, someone who specifically asks for Britcoms has to have already covered those basic shows anyway. So I finally got around to watching a TV series that I have put off for a long time: The Thin Blue Line.

The creative team of Rowan Atkinson and Ben Elton (Mr. Bean, Black Adder) has delivered yet another fine show; but this one never really got the attention it deserved. The Thin Blue Line is a funny take on the life at a British police station, headed by Inspector Raymond Fowler (played by Atkinson, who is impeccably hilarious, as always).

Standing (from left): Kray, Goody, Habib and Gladstone

Sitting (from left): Grim, Fowler and Dawkins

Fowler is a ‘by-the-books’ intelligent cop and an outright geek: he loves his modeling kits, Sherlock Holmes novels, lives to serve The Queen and frowns upon the tele. He also has an absolute disinclination towards his marital duties — a situation mourned in each episode by his wife, Police Sergeant Patricia Dawkins. Naturally, hilarity ensues…

Patricia: We are not the first, and we won't be the last couple to have problems with our sex life.

Fowler: We do not have a problem.

Patricia: We don't have a sex life!

Fowler (deadpan): Exactly, so I can hardly see how there could be a problem with it!

The mixing of home and office lives is just one of the plot mechanisms of this finely-written show. The other most highlighted aspect is Fowler’s ‘Uniformed’ vs ‘Plain clothes’ rivalry with the head of the detective squad (which sits in the same large room as the police squad), Detective Inspector Derek Grim.

Grim is the proverbial village idiot and the writing talents of Ben Elton show through here. The wonderful play on words, meant to appear inadvertent, will leave you chuckling. If there was ever a case to be made that only Brits should be allowed to write puerile jokes, it’s a show filled with lines like this:

Detective Grim: Just remember, Raymond, it's my arse and if you stuff it, I'm going to be very red in the face!

The back-and-forth between Grim and Fowler is the highlight

Other regulars on the show are Constable Maggie Habib (an Indian-origin officer and the voice of reason in this mad circus); Constable Kevin Goody (a bumbling, inept pansy who chases after Habib); Constable Frank Gladstone (a senior West Indian cop who generally tries to pass on his ‘wisdom’, or the lack of it, to anyone present with the help of personal anecdotes); and Detective Constable Robert Kray (a cynical, smart cop and the only man from Grim’s unit who gets any importance on the show). Kray is replaced in Season 2 by DC Gary Boyle, who is basically a different actor playing the same role.

Each of the seven episodes in both seasons have a simple and predictable sitcom plot: A situation arises that entangles everyone in the station only to have finally resolved to status quo at the end of 30 minutes.

Apart from Atkinson, James Dreyfus shines as the junk-food-addict momma’s boy in playing Constable Goody, who admits to joining the force only because it involves wearing a nice uniform. All in all, everyone in the show does a competent job in this laugh-a-minute Britcom.

The Thin Blue Line is not of the class of a Black Adder or Mr. Bean, but it’s a mighty fine swan song from one of the best comic-writing duos of all time. As light viewing to unwind after a long day at work, it’s simply perfect.

Rating: 7/10

And as a parting gift, here are a few funny moments from the show (although the clips missed out on most of the better ones that I laughed out loud at):