TVSquad

(S05E13) Let me ask you a philosophical question: is it possible for a sitcom to be funny and still not be a very good episode? Technically, all a sitcom is trying to do is make you laugh; if it accomplishes that, it's hard to argue that it's a bad episode. Yet, despite above average guffawing throughout tonight's Office, nothing about it worked that well.

The cold open perfectly encapsulates what I'm talking about. Dwight's actions officially crossed the line from odd-but-likable-doofus to dead-eyed sociopath. I get that Dwight's a little out there, but when it becomes plausible that a sitcom character might have a basement pit filled up with hitchhikers he's planning to use to make a girl-suit, you have to take pause and consider how he's being handled. That fire was stupid, unbelievable, and ridiculous.

But it was damn funny. You see my dilemma ...

Can someone tell Aaron Sorkin that he's not a sketch writer? Because if he's going to do a series about a sketch show being rescued from the dead he might want to make the sketches that show puts on... you know... what word am I looking for? Oh yeah! "Good."

Don't get me wrong, I really liked last night's episode of Studio 60; Sorkin needs to lay off the sanctimony, but that can be said of all his shows. However, the sketch that he wrote for the "cold open," the one that the entire episode led up to, was pretty lame.