(S01E07) Why do I get the feeling that half of the audience who watched this episode tonight said, "hey, they finally focused on small town America!" and the other half is cringed and said, "oh no, why did they focus on small town America?"Tom is arrested in Pahrump, Nevada on Friday afternoon, charged with speeding and possession of marijuana, and the judge doesn't want to hear from anyone else in his office (Danny, Jack, Simon, the NBS lawyer, or the two Chinese) except Tom, so Tom tells the judge exactly what happened to get him in handcuffs, dressed like Jesus Christ.
I'm not going to try to convince anyone that they should be watching this show. If you're reading this, you either love the show and want to read something that agrees with your viewpoint, or you hate the show and you want to read how out of it that Bob guy is over at TV Squad for liking this show. So I won't try to convince anyone, but I'll just say that this show just keeps getting better.
Matt comes up with a sketch for Studio 60 (actually, helped a lot by Danny's pushing) where Jesus H. Christ is the Head of Standards and Practices for NBS. This is actually a funny idea, because it addresses the often-used rule that you can't use "Jesus Christ" as an exclamation but only when referring to Jesus Christ. The rehearsal shows it's a pretty clever sketch. Matt still thinks there are some things wrong with it, so he asks Darius (the new writer) to look it over.
Harriet seems to think the sketch was written about her comments to the NY Post's Page SIx where she said something derogatory about gays (the comments were cut off), and while she and Tom are walking out of a restaurant, they are stopped by three guys who want her autograph on a CD of hers. She gives it, and then one of them throws it on the ground and crushes it. They were offended by her comments. Tom gets in the middle of it and sticks up for her. The guy falls over a bush and Simon gets Tom and Harriet into the car and speeds off.
The next night, two detectives show up and arrest Tom for the incident. He's dressed like Jesus and wearing Simon's leather jacket because he was cold. Later, he's arrested for an old charge of driving over 100 mph near Pahrump, Nevada, which is celebrating Nevada Day, and taken there, and there are no judges or other officials around.
Meanwhile, in the middle of this, a business exec from Macau and his daughter (who wants to meet Tom) are here to talk to the NBS head Wilson White (Ed Asner) about his investment, and Jordan's ex also had a story in the Post, about his tell-all. Jack doesn't want the show to do the sketch because the tell-all is bad press enough. Jordan asks Danny to argue a little with Jack about his decision to not run the sketch, but to ultimately give in and can the sketch. She wants Jack to win one. But Jack is busy with Tom's arrest. He has to go on the NBS jet to Nevada to help Tom, and he has to take the business exec and his daughter and an NBS lawyer.
On the plane, Jack tells Danny that they're not running the sketch, and Danny gives in immediately, not remembering he's supposed to fight a little. When Jack finds this out, he says the hell with it he doesn't need to win one, they can run the sketch. Jack also tells Danny that even though he really likes Jordan and is sticking up for her, he believes she's going to be fired at some point.
This might be a lot of plot for two or three shows, but Sorkin and company are so skilled at writing, directing, and performing this that it's all so outrageously entertaining that watching it you feel like John Goodman (the judge), who says "I'm as giddy as a little school girl." You never get lost, it's funny and snappy, and there's a great continuation of plots from earlier episodes that will remind West Wing fans of how that other Sorkin show did the same thing. White's interest in Macau, Jordan's hiring, Jordan's ex writing the book, Harriet's faith, and all of the other plots from previous shows are all covered here, and it serves as a nice summary of who these people are and how they got to the position they're in.
Will the judge go easy on Tom? Will the other cast members get arrested too? Will they make it back in time for the show? Part 2 next week...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
11-06-2006 @ 11:42PM
MacGuffin said...
Jesus was that a horrible show.
I happened to catch The West Wing on Bravo earlier this evening and remembered how much I loved that show. Too bad Studio doesn't approach the excellence of TWW.
I really, really want to like this show, but so far it has been very very spotty.
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11-06-2006 @ 11:49PM
Walt said...
First off, props to the show for getting John Goodman. Not only did I smile at the use of a frequent guest star of SNL in Studio 60, Goodman carries off the air of solemnity better than anyone else on the show, including Ed Asner. You really DON'T know which way this is going to end up.
I can easily see this show going away, because of the obvious appeal to a niche audience vs. the obvious expense in filming an ensemble show.
Last, the fact that Studio 60 is a DRAMA about a comedy show is hammered home more in this show than the previous shows. But that final shot of the bassethound... the dog needed to give out a small "woof" in reply, even if it was dubbed in.
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11-06-2006 @ 11:54PM
SJ said...
Very entertaining episode, and certainly the best episode so far. For a while I was worried that Sorkin would portray the judge as an idiotic stereotypical redneck, but thankfully they rectified that quickly. John Goodman gave a good performance.
Btw, that "something derogatory" thing Harriet said about gays is that she doesn't believe in gay marriage because the bible says so. This is of course the standard reason Christians say they are against the gay lifestyle. I'm surprised that Harriet's gay fans were surprised at her position since just about everyone knows shes a staunch Christian.
All in all a very entertaining episode. The less Harriet the better I say. Jack's banter with Danny was interesting...I was surprised Danny told Jack that Jordan talked to him.
Does anyone else get the feeling that Sorkin is always trying to give a "message" to the viewers? When Jack mentions that not all the corporations are liberal it kinda seems stupid to tell that to Danny...he probably knows that already. This is the first Sorkin show I have watched so I'm not sure if he did that with other shows too.
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11-06-2006 @ 11:56PM
ooda said...
You mean, he was stopped some time ago for speeding through the town, which has something important tied to it, as Tom and Simon both had some things to say about it, in that Simon was telling him to justify it. Because of that he was extradited to Nevada, instead of just the North Hollywood police station.
That said, I know I say this every week, but this was a great episode. I'm actually looking forward to seeing this sketch (if we do get to see it), and I like how Sorkin addressed everything that people have been saying about the show through John Goodman, and all the comments people had about the "backwater" towns. That and the reference to CSI: Miami.
For some reason, in a good way, this episode reminded me of the early episodes of The West Wing. I loved it when everyone was sitting in Matt's office, and you have Jordan going on about how Nevada became a state because the country needed more silver and gold. I know it's irrelevant, and that's something haters of the show love to pick on, but for me, lines like that are what make the show great.
Steven Webber was especially great in this episode (I just ordered season one of Wings, he impressed me that much), and I just love the cast that Sorkin has been able to assemble. That and hopefully through his performance in this show, Nate Corddry will become one of Sorkin's "Power Players".
That and I just hope like hell that the ratings were good. I can understand why some people might not like the show (actually, I can't, but I'm just trying to seem fair), but I cannot comprehend why people think this show should be canceled. We need shows like Studio 60.
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11-06-2006 @ 11:59PM
Michael Couvillion said...
Did you even watch the show? He was extradited to Nevada because there was an old bench warrant out for him for the speeding and reckless endangerment incident that occurred in the past. Your account doesn't even make sense. How could he be arrested in L.A. in costume wearing a borrowed jacket, then be speeding in Nevada _still in the costume and jacket_ without ever having dealt with the assault charges, and in the middle of a dress rehersal for a live show the next day?
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11-07-2006 @ 12:11AM
ooda said...
The thing is, she did give the standard shtick for gay marriage, but she also said exactly what Matt portrayed it as meaning, that she thinks gays are sinners, but she tolerates them. That's what got at the gays, that she, in a way, thinks of herself as being better than they are. Had she just said the whole, "the bible says gayness is wrong", then maybe it would have been a bit less aggressive.
Side note: Nice to see Goodman channelling his character in Lebowski with his yellow shades.
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11-07-2006 @ 12:38AM
Will said...
I haven't been too big on this show lately but I really liked this episode.
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11-07-2006 @ 1:18AM
Shawn Smallwood said...
way to come off thier "bye" week strongly we at the very least are getting one more episode next week and I think the late time slot is helping more than hurting (prison break/himym at 8pm, heroes at 9pm, i'm sure there's a CSI show somewhere around there). at this point i'm just enjoying the show and hoping i see another episode each week.
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11-07-2006 @ 1:31AM
Khamel said...
i'll be sad when this show is canceled at the end of its second season just like sports night. now i think sports night was better, but thats just me. it could have lasted if it weren't so expensive but thems the breaks.
liked the idea for the sketch but as always, sorkin should leave his sketches at the idea phase and let people imagine them instead of telling you what its about.
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11-07-2006 @ 1:34AM
RevJonathan said...
Ok,
I've given this show every chance, but as 2300 hours EST I am officially done. Terrible episode just slamming Christianity. That's all this show does. You'd think there's more to life than just making fun of what beliefs people have. The show and the within the show are NOT witty, NOT funny, and NOT worthy of my time.
I loved The West Wing and Sports Night, but this is a shameful show playing on stereotypes. I'm sorry that I've appearantly grossly offended Aaron Sorkin for being a Christian and voting Republican. Even when he tried to play to people like me today, he was patronizing and elitist.
I've given this show 7 chances- one for Sorkin, one for Schlamme, one for Whitford, one for Perry, one for Hugley, one for Cordry, and one for Busfield. Everyone writing and acting in that show are nothing short of brilliant, but somehow putting them all together results in an elitist circle jerk. Count me out.
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11-07-2006 @ 1:47AM
Dave said...
I was glad to see in the opening credits that Mark McKinney wrote the story. And it was probably the best episode I've seen so far.
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11-07-2006 @ 2:34AM
Pip said...
The premise is really quite similar to "Celestial Navigation", probably my favorite episode from the West Wing's first season (between Toby in the police station and the president's secret plan to fight inflation). Now, that epiode did air in February of 2000, and we're barely two months into Studio 60's run. Yet, it is just so much better than this episode. Hopefully Part 2 will be more entertaining.
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11-07-2006 @ 2:41AM
Batton L. said...
Good episode. Incidentally, for all those who dismiss "Studio 60" for not having "funny" sketches within the show . . . have you watched SNL or MAD TV lately? Phew! The faux sketches on "Studio 60" are better than the current crap those exulted sketch comedies are offering.
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11-07-2006 @ 3:03AM
FrankTheTank said...
After weeks of being unimpressed and disappointed with this show, I actually enjoyed this episode. I have to admit maybe Bob is finally, right, "this was the best episode yet"
Maybe it's because of the extra time granted by the two parter, there didn't seem to be the need to slam every ultra important issue into the show. I get the feeling that the extra time to play out a story allowed the writers to take things at a lighter pace and add in some scenes that were actually entertaining (as opposed to scenes designed solely to hammer home some self indulging Sorkin point). Not to say that it was slow, just that it was able to take a less heavy-handed tone with things, something I would say is critical for show about a sketch comedy show (even it is a drama)
I still can't see this thing going past this season, but at least I see a small flicker of hope that this can be an entertaining show...
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11-07-2006 @ 3:10AM
Nick said...
And for anyone complaining that the sketch wasn't funny, could you try watching the show before you make that complaint next time? We were told the sketch wasn't working, hence Matt passing it on to Darius and Danny being willing to drop it and not fight for it when Jack told him to.
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11-07-2006 @ 4:12AM
lp said...
"Slamming Christianity"
Well, technically in this episode they were quite sympathetic to the people who follow Christianity being forced into a biggotted belief that gays are sinners.
Also, if you thought that the'joke' was slamming Christians you missed the point, it was slamming the FCC.
I thought it was a pretty good episode, and was glad they left the studio for a bit. JG was great as he always is.
Saying that, I still think they do go on about the same subjects over and again far too much. Yes, we get it, Harriet's a Christian, Simon's black, America has hick-towns. Get over it!
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11-07-2006 @ 5:21AM
Dorv said...
RevJonathan... Seems like you say the same thing every week.
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11-07-2006 @ 6:24AM
Doug said...
Maybe they just say too much. Alot of talk and no action. I really can't stand the show. Please review NCIS tommorrow Bob.
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11-07-2006 @ 8:17AM
David said...
The new joke is NBC will cancel this show before the second part ever airs. :)
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11-07-2006 @ 9:28AM
doog said...
Boy, I really wanted to like this show. And, boy, am I really just saying "blah" every week. The biggest problem for me is that the sketches for the comedy show just aren't funny. Jesus as head of Standards and Practices? *Yawn*
This episode reminded me more of The West Wing than any so far. But the West Wing was a drama about running the White House; the subject matter just seemed so important. This is a drama about a dopey TV show. Maybe that's why I am so disappointed by this show so far - that it's hard to care about the people on the show, because its success or failure in its own fictional world just doesn't really matter much.
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