TVSquad

Miscast. Kill off her character in a random driveby shooting and replace her with Brooke Shields.

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I have to wonder if that "roar" joke was a deliberate stab at Tina Fey/SNL, because I know there are plenty of times when they'd pull something lame like that in Weekend Update.

The thing that gets me is all the people who actually thought the joke WAS funny - just check back in the comments on that episode recap here!

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I can't watch Sarah Paulson without thinking she's learned her dialogue phonetically.

While Amanda Peet has made terrific inroads in securing a second facial expression, the show's energy flags when Harriet is onscreen.

Granted, having to deliver Sorkin's hyper-constructed dialogue (dialogue that seems to tumble effortlessly from Matt & Bradley's mouths)cannot be easy.

It's like Sorkin decided that "Well, she's a Christian...that's plenty of character development."

And without a juicy character to hang onto, Paulson gets washed out.

But, she did do a dynamite Holly Hunter impression...

Peace.

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You can't blame the actress, nothing on the show has been laugh out loud funny, which doesn't mean it's bad but when something bills itself as being a certain thing it really needs to at least attempt to demonstrate that it is.

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I did think the Holly Hunter bit was funny, and a pretty good impression, but I get where you are coming from. They are really overselling Harriet. If everyone on the show is going to look at her with such reverence, eventually we are going to have to see an example of it.

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Yep, I agree she appears smug and awkward, and with the previous posts about how it is hard to write two different shows for a single episode (the actual show and the fictional one).
This is a prime example of how it is harder to initiate a laugh (SNL, Daily Show - *when* it's well done) than to write political speeches (West Wing)...

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They've been pretty coy about not showing much of the actual skits from the show. The only thing we've seen from the actual show as the "Cold Open," which sucked. And after all the drama over the Crazy Christian sketch, they didn't even show it. I don't think they confidence in their ability to write a good skit for the show.

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I agree that Harriet has not had a chance to display her purportedly "great" talent, but I disagree that Paulson acts poorly or gets washed out. Quite the contrary. I love every scene she is in and I think she absolutely out-shines her on-screen colleagues. The Holly Hunter impersonation is case in point.

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I don't think ANY member of the cast comes off as a comedic genius; that's why I have such a problem with the show.

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I agree with Sam. None of the sketches on the show have been funny...they look even worse than SNL's sketches.

The only reason I'm watching this show is the great chemistry between Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford. And the great dialogue.

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They should make the show 100% backstage. It's hard enough for the real SNL to get a laugh. They should keep the show they supposedly broadcast a mystery to us.

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Tucker, that's exactly it. Humor is... what's the word... subjective.

Part of what was interesting to me about Paulson and that joke was the first time she delivered it, it was funny-ish. It was the bones of funny. But the second time, you could see the character commit more to the joke and the "ROAAARR" itself was far funnier.

And plus, I just find that joke funny. Again, subjectivity in humor. Just because not everyone finds something funny doesn't mean it sucks. Wasn't that the gist of the Comedia D'Arte subplot? (Sure, that had to do with intellectual humor, but it cuts both ways.)

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What about the rest of the cast? None of these guys are funny.

The show really is over rated. Great chemistry between Brad and Matt, but that's a bit it.

Let's just call Bradley Whitford's character Josh. It will make it more acceptable, since he is playing essentially teh same character.

Along those lines, I would not have had a problem if Josh took his next job in showbiz.

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Come on people, it's impossible to judge an entire fictional sketch on the three to five seconds seen during a montage of such scenes. You're getting no context against which to compare and judge the humor.

Imagine seeing just five seconds of Chevy Chase sitting at a desk calling Richard Pryor a 'jungle bunny.' If you didn't know that the scene was a job interview and that during the word-association test the two of them were trading ever increasing racial slurs, you would not see a single drop of humor in the skit at all. Now picture John Belushi yelling "cheeborger cheeborger cheeborger" to the fry cook and the fry cook replying in kind. Again, by itself not funny at all. In the context of the entire restuarant operation, it's hilarious.

And as for members of the cast not coming off as comedic geniuses, remember that writer/performer is their job, but it doesn't necessarily define who they are as people. Lots of performers only 'turn it on' when the cameras are rolling. Also, didn't D.L. Hughley's character say he went to Yale Drama school? From that I infer he's a talented performer but that does not mean we can assume he is naturally funny himself.

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I really like the actress but I can't decide if I like her in this role; of course I'm also not sure that I actually like the show so that may be part of it. I just can't get with the pace of Studio 60 and with most shows if I haven't gotten "it" by now I'm usually gone, but with this one I feel like I'm hanging on waiting for the Sorkin magic start.

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This is one of the pitfalls that Sorkin has created for himself with this show. If we never see her be funny how can we believe she is? If we see her "be funny' and she is not, they lost all credibility. What they should have done with her is what they did with the other two, cast people who have a comedy rep. We already know Corrddy and Hughley and have seen them be funny (not all that much but, whatever, so I can give them the benefit of the doubt. But, Sarah? As the great mighty titan of comedy? When she looks like she is about to cry every time she turns her head? Sorry. This was a part for someone with great previous comedic ability. Here's what's crazy: Kristen Chenoweth has wona Tony for playing Peppermint Patty on Broadway. She had to b funny. And I'm pretty sure there are some good, hearty laughs in Wicked, being the "Good Witch" an all. She was the right person to cast......in a parody of herself....weird.

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Like I said before she shouldn't have been let out of Deadwood alive. Ugh she is so not funny as is the show with each passing week. Gone by Xmas.

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I have been saying this for a while. Poulsens character is my only gripe with the show. I think the esential problem is that Sorkin is writing characters who are funnier thean he is. It is easier to cheat when you are writing a character who is smarter than you are because you can go look up facts that you don't know but the character would, The same can't be done with funny.

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Too many people here are taking how the funny is portrayed in "Studio 60" way too seriously. The point behind "Studio 60" is not the humor, but the drama behind the humor. The comedy show and sketches are just premises to hang the drama on. That's the reason we only see snippets of the routines; there's just enough information provided for us to "fill in the blanks". There's no reason to show the "Crazy Christians" sketch, because we, as viewers with thirty plus years of SNL and assorted sketch comedy in our collective memories, have already "written" it. There is nothing the writers can come up with that could match our imagination. All we need to know is that it is an offensive (or perhaps not), over-the-top (or perhaps not) sketch that has become controversial. Along those lines, if we're told that Harriet is a genius comedy performer in the "NBS universe", can't we just accept her bona fides and move on? (And for the record, I laughed at her "bear" punchline and found it funnier than the smarmy, smug "Science, Schmience" bit-- even though I agreed with the politics of that sketch!)

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Batton,
Yeah, most of the people who watch Studio 60 watch because we're Sorkin fans. I think...at least its why I watch. The problem is that it loses realism when the show isn't funny. They keep talking about this great turn around, when there is no reason to believe it.

I also agree with whoever said that Sorkin figured that being a Christian was enough character development.

I hope that this show turns around...the cast and writing staff are way too good to be wasted like this.

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