Studio 60

[Fellfrosch]

I'm sure there's a rule about this, and I bet Ookla knows what it is.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

That depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is.

[Pemberley]

The third person singular present indicative of the verb "be" it is. Your conversation has made me very curious about Studio 60.  (Great, now I'm gonna have to  watch it, but I've already used all my wastable time on TWG!)

[Fellfrosch]

Three sentences account for all of your wastable time? You must be a Junior High teacher.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Hey, what are yous guys talking about?

[Nessa]

 The commercials have been painting it as a funny little backstage comedy about an SNL-style skit show,

That would be "30 Rock", with Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. Which I wanted to like, but it fell flat.

[Fellfrosch]

The early commercials for Studio 60 took the same tack as the commercials for 30 Rock, despite the fact that it's a completely different show.

I haven't seen 30 Rock yet, but though I really like Tina Fey I have to admit it doesn't look very good. Alas.

[Nessa]

Yeah, ok. I saw one episode of Studio 60, and it was good, but I'm not sure I'll keep watching it. We'll see where it goes....

[Fellfrosch]

The most recent one was kind of poor--an interesting idea that never really went anywhere. I kept expecting a conclusion, and we never got one.

[House of Mustard]

Fox News is reporting that Studio 60 is very near to cancellation.  The entertainment reporter obviously dislikes the show, though, so take it with a grain of salt.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,226092,00.html

[Spriggan]

I've heard the same thing from teachers at school (who work and have friends in Hollywood), and from other websites for weeks now.  The ratings just keep dropping, in the first month alone they ended at about 1/4th of what the premier start at which is never a good sign for a show.

[Tink]

That's too bad because I see the plots as having a lot of depth. There were moments in last week's show where things just caught me that I thought were cool. ***SPOILER: Like the old man pretending to be senile so he could have a picture that turned out to have him in it. Then him talking to Matt and others about what it was like for him around WWII, being blacklisted and such. Also the guy showing his parents around the studio and talking about the history of the theater and comedy. I also liked when the president of the network fought not to bid on another sleazy reality show for their network, but instead have a drama about the UN.

Very cool and very different, in my opinion, than many shows. If it gets dropped, I think that really says something about the American audience.

[Fellfrosch]

It might say something, but not what they'd like us to think it says. The truth is that television is in a better state now than its been in for years--we have more intelligent shows, both drama and comedy, and we have storytelling and writing that put most new movies to shame. The reality TV craze is all but over, and the kinds of shows that Studio 60 makes fun of are already dead (they made fun of Temptation Island? Which hasn't been on network TV in years?).

I like the show very much, but I can't buy into the idea (established in the first episode) that it had come messianically to save us from crappy TV. In the end, it's no better acted or written than half a dozen other shows on TV right now. If the same show had come on the air four or five years ago, sure, it would be a godsend, but other people have come along and "saved" TV while this show was still in concept.