Caught the first episode of the new Aaron Sorkin created TV show STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, the only new TV show of the season I was really looking forward to (the US debut is later tonight, but the Canadian channel shows it on Sunday). I'm a big fan of Sorkin's previous shows, SPORTS NIGHT and THE WEST WING (which really got worse after he left), and this new one is sort of right in the middle of those two. Backstage at a TV show again, this time a live sketch comedy show which is nothing like SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (it's on Friday night), but this time a one-hour drama instead of a sitcom, and bringing over a few regulars from WEST WING.
Good start so far, with the two main characters, the writer/producer team brought back in to rescue the show after the creator doing a NETWORK on live TV, being set up well in the first episode, complete with a lot of hints at the background and baggage that'll lead to interesting plot complications down the line, as well as a good solid grounding of what their relationship to each other is, which is where a show like this will stand. Also a good large cast with a lot of talent and potential (a few I'm not sold on, in particular the people playing the network higher-ups, and it'll be hard enough for the show to justify having network higher-ups involved in the day-to-day production of the show). Mostly it's good to hear some real Sorkin dialogue again, as opposed to the pale shadow of it that most of the last few years of THE WEST WING provided.
Well worth checking out.
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