Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.(S01E01) Sports Night is the show that Aaron Sorkin created before The West Wing. It didn't last very long (two seasons), but it has a lot in common with The West Wing: intelligent writing, fast-paced dialogue, and a strong ensemble cast of smart, moral characters all working toward a common goal. In this case, that goal is getting out a nightly show on the CSC network. It also have several of the same behind-the-scenes people as TWW, and a few on-camera people too.
Sorkin got the idea for the show from watching TV while he was holed up in a hotel room writing The American President. He was watching ESPN, and found the humor and banter from the anchors (Dan Patrick and - there's been some confusion here - either Keith Olbermann or Craig Kilborn) intoxicating, and decided to create a comedy set in that world.
The pilot episode, like The West Wing's, introduces each character beautifully. Sorkin knows how to write characters (and dialogue), and the casting on his shows always seems to be especially good. Casey and Dan are the hosts of the show. Dan (Josh Charles) is the good-natured one, and Casey (Peter Krause) is the just-divorced one who likes producer Dana (Felicity Huffman), who always seems to be running around like a nut trying to get the show produced for her boss Isaac (Robert Guillaume). Natalie (Sabrina Lloyd) is Dana's co-producer, who likes a new guy interviewing for a spot at CSC, Jeremy (Josh Malina). One of the big scenes in the pilot is Dana interviewing Jeremy, and Jeremy is outrageously nervous. Personally, I think Malina overplays this scene a little bit, but it's funny and the scene is redeemed by a funny closing line about Spike Lee. Jeremy is hired.
But the main plot of the pilot is Casey's growing ambivilance about covering sports for a living. He wants to quit Sports Night and do something else. Dan thinks that this is just a phase, in part brought on by Casey's divorce (he's even sleeping in the office). He tries to convince Casey to stay, but as it turns out, he doesn't have to. He is inspired again by a 40 plus runner who is trying to break a world record. When the runner does indeed break the world record, Casey realizes that there really is something left to surprise him in the world of sports. He calls his son and tells him to get out of bed to watch the man break the record. Casey stays at the show.
P.S. If you're wondering whether or not you'll like this show because you hate sports and TV shows/movies set in the world of sports, don't be. As the show's tag line says: "It's about sports. The same way Charlie's Angels was about law enforcement."
Quotes:
"At this level, they pretty much want you to be able to kick in a game." - Casey, to a staffer who said he once saw a lousy placekicker kick in practice.
"Tell Spike Lee to sit down and shut up?" - Jeremy, answering interviewer Dana's question about what the Knicks have to do this season to improve.
"Natalie, if you shout it into a microphone while I'm wearing a headpiece, it poses the question, is there a decibel level at which the human head will, you know, explode?" - Casey, after Natalie yells something to him in his earpiece.
"I'm getting a divorce. I don't need a cruise director." - Casey, to Dan, who is trying to get him to go out and do something.
"I'm not gonna do the show with your high school driving instructor if that's what you're driving at J.J." - Dan, to a network exec who compared Casey's charisma to his high school driving instructor.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-01-2006 @ 7:32PM
purpleslog said...
This show was great. I hope the new Sorkin show captures the same wit. Hmmm...time to pull out the series DVD again.
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6-01-2006 @ 7:50PM
eugene said...
i LOVE sports night. i only watched it sparingly when it was on network tv, i was a might bit younger then. but when it started running on comedy central, i would stay up to watch it (from 1-2am central time). then when it was released on dvd, i got it straight away. i could watch them over and over again. in fact i have so much that i have much of the dialogue committed to memory.
can't wait for studio 60 bc i think it'll be the perfect middle ground between TWW and sports night. don't get me wrong TWW had its fair share of comedy and SN had its fair share of drama, but i think studio 60 will cover the middle ground with both elements represented equally.
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6-01-2006 @ 8:04PM
erica said...
Love that Sports Night is being covered. This show was truly amazing! And soo much fun to watch. The dialogue and the characters and the moments on this show are hardwired into my brain.
I agree with the comment about Malina overplaying that scene, it stands out from the rest of the show. And the bit about the place-kicker always makes me laugh.
Casey: They’re going to cut Santori.
Natalie: The place-kicker?
Casey: He’s made eight field goal attempts in three games and has connected in a grand total of none of them.
Elliot: Oh, I’ve met him. He’s a good guy.
Casey: He can’t kick.
Natalie: He is a good guy.
Casey: He can’t kick.
Natalie: He’ll get picked up by another team.
Casey: No he won’t. You know why?
Elliot: Why?
Casey: He can’t kick.
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6-01-2006 @ 8:55PM
Joel Keller said...
Jeez, I so fell in love with Sabrina Lloyd on this show, especially as she pursued Josh Malina's character. It gave nerds hope that cuties like her would look at us... uh, I mean them. :)
And the episodes that guest star William H. Macy are priceless, because the acting chemistry between him and Huffman is pretty damned amazing (of course, they're a couple, so that helps... What did Colbert call them? Oh, yeah: "Filliam H. Muffman").
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6-01-2006 @ 9:15PM
ttheTVaddict said...
Sports Night was an incredible show. So Sorkinesque... I have the DVd, and if you can find it, definitely worth buying.
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6-01-2006 @ 9:31PM
Dorv said...
SportsNight was the greatest show ever, in my opinion (Ok, I exagerate, but still, it was pretty damn good). Better than the West Wing, at least when looked at as series in their entirety (I mean, I still liked the West Wing in late Season 5/early Season 6, but the show wasn't anywhere in the ballpark of its former greatness).
I especially like that Bob is including several different quotes. SportsNight lends itself to having severally really good one-liners (and running bits, as I'll hit on in a second) an episode.
Eugene: I agree that both shows are good, but I would disagree that SN had 'some drama.' Just a couple of nights ago I introduced the show to a friend by watching the first six episodes or so (I had explained it as the funniest show I'd seen in a while). As I watched Dan's apology, the incident with Chris Patrick, Jeremey's insecurity after getting 'the Call,' and etc. I realized that there might have just been too much drama in the sitcom for the casual viewer.
erica: I love that quote too, and that whole 'type' of quote. I don't think its the only time Sorkin has used a similar exchange.
I didn't find this show until halfway through its second season (Once I was hooked on TWW, I heard that the same guy was blah blah blah), and felt cheated that we didn't get more. As far as shows that were cancelled before their time, I think this ranks right up there with Firefly in my mind.
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6-01-2006 @ 11:23PM
Jim said...
A little too much "walking and talking." Otherwise, a great show.
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6-01-2006 @ 11:49PM
Joe said...
OVERRATED!!!!
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6-02-2006 @ 1:09AM
Peter said...
I actually just watched the series finale last night. Still gives me goosebumps.
Helluva show.
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6-02-2006 @ 7:51AM
Eric J said...
I'd say the pairing of Dan and Casey was modeled on the pairing of Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman, but the character of Casey was more closely modeled on Craig Kilborn.
Yahtzee!
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6-02-2006 @ 10:51AM
MrsEldubya said...
The only bad thing about Sports Night is it lasted only two seasons. I loved this show but the networks had no clue what to do with it, similiar to Arrested Development. There were rumors that HBO would grab this and oh how I wish they had but then Felicity might not have done Desparate Housewives, TWW might not have worked out the way it did and Peter Krause wouldn't have been on Six Feet Under. So much great tv has been a result of the people associated with this show.
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6-02-2006 @ 11:33AM
maria said...
I heart Sports Night.
I laugh, I cry, the banter between Josh Charles and Peter Krause is great. And Felicity Huffman is excellent. And, in my opinion, you can't go wrong with William H. Macy.
I don't know what I was doing in 1998 and 1999 but I clearly was not watching TV. Cause if I had seen this show, I would have watched it religiously!
But I have to say some of the similarities between it and The West Wing were a bit erie.
Not just plot points, but some dialog and whole episode themes. One example: SN's "How Are Things In Gloca Morra?" and TWW's "The Stackhouse Filibuster". The whole telling telling the story via an email to a family member. The unusual circumstances that keep them occupied in the office but with some free time.
Has anyone else make that observation?
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6-02-2006 @ 1:39PM
Lost_in_finland said...
what a bunch a great actors in one series, best ensembles of all time, if you compare what they did after this one...
of course there are similarities, aaron sorkin is good but not god... =)
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6-02-2006 @ 3:11PM
Dorv said...
Jim: What is so wrong with the 'Walking and Talking?' I mean, blame Rob Rhiner, as it was him moving a scene from an office to a hallway in 'A Few Good Men' that hooked Sorkin forever.
I love it. I love when the West Wing makes fun of itself for doing it.
MrsEldubya: Good point that Krause would have never done Six Feet Under. But I would have traded 5 more season of SportsNight for (the good half of the first season before I stopped watching) Desperate Housewives any day of the week. However, I dont' think it would have affect The West Wing so much. The deals (IIRC it was Showtime, not HBO, that was the major player) always presupposed Sorkin to stay on as head writter, which he said that he would not due. I think you can tell a difference in the writing from S1 to S2 (when Sorkin was concentrating on TWW, whose S1 coincided with S2 of SN), but I don't think it was bad at all (compare to TWW taking a season or two to find its own voice after Sorkin left.
Maria: I'm with you, I love Sorkin's storytelling style (and that he likes to reuse what works).
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6-02-2006 @ 3:33PM
RAB said...
maria, I always wondered if "the whole telling telling the story via an email to a family member" device might be Aaron Sorkin's tribute to M.A.S.H., which often used narration by Hawkeye as he wrote letters home to his dad in Maine. Either that or the Captain's log on Star Trek... ;-)
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6-05-2006 @ 4:41PM
Jayjay said...
I agree with Maria, there are many similarities and cross-references between SN and TWW. Just a few spring to mind: Both Jeremy and Sam's fathers marriages break up over secret affairs that have lasted over 20 years; both Jeremy and Toby quote "Lion in Winter" ("As if it matters how a man falls," etc). More generally, the structure of the workplace relationships: a team (Casey and Dan; Sam and Josh), smart and proactive assistants (Natalie, Kim; Donna, Margaret); smart and accomplished woman covering all the bases (Dana; CJ), and cantankerous but loving boss (Isaac; Leo (also Toby to some extent)).
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6-06-2006 @ 1:26AM
Dorv said...
Bartlet4America did a great couple of pages on the similarities between SportsNight and the West Wing:
http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/extras/sn.html
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