This fall I started watching two new shows. One is "Dexter", a great cable show about a serial killer that stars David from "Six Feet Under". The other is the doomed "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip", Aaron Sorkin's new series for NBC about the production of an SNL-like show. "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip" was fatally flawed, but I kept coming back for more.
I haven't yet read that "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip" is cancelled, but from what I've read that's imminent. In fact, word may come down today. I decided to watch the pilot based on a review I read in the Globe & Mail. That pilot was awesome. Judd Hirsch delivered a killer rant about the decline of the show and television in general and I was hooked. Unfortunately, every episode since that pilot has paled by comparison.
I loved "Sports Night" and the first couple of seasons of "West Wing", but "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip" isn't nearly as clever as either. It all seems so forced, so contrived. Let's listen to the guy who was blacklisted tell us about the old days.. let's hire the urban comic who has the smarts and doesn't resort to stereotyping. It's difficult to watch, but somehow I haven't missed an episode. I think I just like catching a glimpse of what it might be like behind the scenes of an SNL-type show.
Now it doesn't matter. "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip" didn't air last night and it might not air again. At least I've still got "Dexter". If you haven't seen it and you get it, check it out. Michael C. Hall deserves an Emmy.
