Recently in tv Category

just cause:

I really despise Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Aaron Sorkin's latest brand of crack. Why? I can't afford the extra hour lost each week. Can't do it. YET I MUST. Why must I? As if the fact that it's written by Sorkin wasn't enough, the final nail in my time-management coffin came during the third episode, when the best ever slip-in of a Sondheim lyric occurred.

The Big Boss Man was talking to the Amanda Peet character (president of the network) after someone leaked her expunged arrest record to the press. It isn't supposed to exist, she complained - it's supposed to be impossible to get, how did someone get it, why would someone do that to me, blah blah, wah wah. And he just looked her in the eye and said, without a blink,

"Now you know. Thieves get rich, saints get shot, God don't answer prayers a lot"

. He recited lyrically and unapologetically and then BOOM, it was done, right to the next scene, and I didn't even have time to squeal about it.

ANY PERSON who can work one of my favorite ALL-TIME Sondheim lines (from Merrily We Roll Along, the most underrated of his shows, during a song called, you guessed it, "Now You Know") so seamlessly into dialogue like that has my lifelong adoration. I have to wonder how much he had to pay in royalties, or if it's considered small enough to be fair use. Either way, Aaron Sorkin drawing on Sondheim? Damn. Heaven. Now all we need is some J.K. Rowling references (I'm sure there'll be some) and we're set.

But still, I hate him. Because now I have to watch. Sondheim sealed the deal. I must watch.

The other great thing about this show is that it seems to be unfettered Sorkin. I always equated the last scene of his last West Wing with his real-life departure: he handed control over to the bloated, arrogant bad guys and walked out while the rest of the staff had to stay behind with their mouths open, about to be manhandled by someone who cares very little for their agendas or talent. So, whatever happened there, here's the absolute reverse: Sorkin writes about a TV network called NBS, with a renegade at the controls and the entire premise of the show based upon a necessary slap to the nature of modern television. It opens as a TV producer has a freak attack live on-air, decrying the most popular network television shows for exactly what they are: eye candy, mass appeal, lowest denominator, artless, feckless pieces of mindless drudge. The network goes into a tailspin, the new prez promises to turn things around by silently acknowledging the (now ousted) man's points and bringing in people who only agree to work under the condition that they can buck authority.

So, basically, it's a Stick It To The Man-a-thon, from the writer who wanted most to do so but was hamstrung with his last project, and whose first TV escapade was too good and too smart to last for too long.

The show is just...ripe with it. Ripe with the words of an embittered writer who came enough into his own that he has earned the right to be so, ripe with jabs at the stupidity of common culture and complete inanity of politics. (Another favorite line: Matthew Perry, defending himself against being a political wimp, says he takes plenty of pot-shots at the Republicans, and would do the same to the Democrats if only one of them would say or do ANYTHING. WORD! Sing it!)

It'll be interesting to see if Studio can keep mangling the hand feeding it, or if audiences think it's too smug and too smart (there are ways in which it definitely is, but come on, Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry ooze le charm and make up for the annoying but growing-on-me character Amanda Peet plays). I have to give NBC credit for committing so wholly to something that exposes it so regularly and viciously. And I wonder what real behind-the-scenes situations mirror the scriptwriting, which is so full of uptight execs/political panderers/demographic hounds/people who are generally made uncomfortable by anything that makes anyone uncomfortable.

We'll see. In the meantime: Hate you, Aaron.

The above line is from The American President, by the incomparable Aaron Sorkin, and I need to do no more opinionating. The following are simply quotes from today's article regarding the elapsed weapons ban:

Asked repeatedly whether Mr. Bush had made any calls to get Congress to act, [Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary] said that the president "does not set the legislative timetable" and that the "administration has a strong record of vigorously and strictly enforcing our laws, and stepping up prosecutions of crimes committed with guns."

Many Democrats believe they lost control of the House in 1994 in part because of gun control. In 1999 Mr. Gore cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate on one hard-fought gun-control provision - background checks for people buying guns at gun shows and in pawnshops - and Democrats believe that his prominent role on the issue cost him votes among blue-collar union members, and perhaps even the election.

The assault-weapons ban, however, has support from large majorities of the public, particularly suburban women.

The wheels of deadly industry are already in motion:

US firemarms manufacturer ArmaLite Inc has been planning for several months for the expiration of the assault weapons ban today.

The company has been taking advance orders for military-style rifles, outlawed by the 10-year-old ban, for the past two months.

From tomorrow, ArmaLite plans to start making versions of its M-15 and AR-10 rifles, and variations, with magazines containing 20 or 30 rounds. Options will include collapsible stocks, and flash suppressors, which limits the flash to conceal the shooter's location.

Of course, that company sells to security firms and law enforcement agencies, so that makes it all right, right? Hm. Because we're pouring so much effort into domestic crime control right now. Right.

But how are the Americans taking it? BBC says we're split. St. Louis doesn't seem to like it. Illinois? Not thrilled. Pittsburgh expects business as usual. The op-ed articles number in the hundreds. People are angry, confused, elated, relieved, incensed, saddened, feverish.

Even Kerry went on a fiery blast against Bush about this (and none of this nonsense that Bush doesn't set the schedule - if anyone believes that he has no control over a simple thing like bringing an issue to vote, why on EARTH would you believe he has more facility over things like, you know, the armed forces, Iraq, terrorism, the economy and the environment?), and while I've no more belief in his genuine compassion for the troubles on the gun-ridden streets than I do Bush's ability to discern between right and convenient, at least he stood up and made some sense, talked about the situation and dealt out his opinion shamelessly.

And then we have our fearless leader.

Tonight, this was on my local newscast, verbatim, with video footage as proof (even featuring a burly woman stepping in front of the intrepid reporter who dared ask): "President Bush was asked why he didn't urge Congress to come to vote. He ignored the question [Bush shown chuckling and turning his back], and went back to the ice cream he was eating."

You have to love a country where this man is allowed to be president.

It is such cruel and unusual punishment for NBC to release The West Wing season one on DVD, with that series finale, at Christmastime, and not start showing season two on Bravo until January 28. It's planned, I tell you. All the people who watched all 22 episodes in record time after the holidays are now on tenterhooks for a freaking syndicated spot. I hate being a pawn in convoluted corporate gambits.

If any of you know the outcome of the season one finale and tell me, I'll kill you. :)