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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The Unfunny Dream Is Over

posted by on February 21 at 12:54 PM

studio-60-splashpage.jpg

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Aaron Sorkin’s ruthlessly unfunny dramedy charting the behind-the-scenes action of an “SNL-like” comedy show, has been placed on hiatus, with industry insiders predicting the show’s all-time-low ratings last Monday will make the hiatus permanent.

Truly, it couldn’t happen to a more deserving show. (My original gripe about Studio 60’s complete failure as entertainment can be read here.)

In better news, 30 Rock, Tina Fey’s funny comedy about behind-the-scenes action at an SNL-like comedy show continues to get better and better. If Jon Stewart and Tina Fey had a baby, it would explode from hilariousness.

RSS icon Comments

1

Thank god. I was about to add, "hopefully 30 Rock is next". Apparently not, though. Tracy Morgan = not funny.

Posted by him | February 21, 2007 1:01 PM
2

It's a shame, Studio60 had people I really like but it was such a horrid show. It was like an unfunny inside joke that I wasn't supposed to get... and I didn't.

30 Rock = IS getting better all the time and Alex Baldwin is freakin' funny!

Posted by monkey | February 21, 2007 1:05 PM
3

Him, what, if not 30 Rock, IS funny on television. Please tell.

Posted by Mardy Bum | February 21, 2007 1:14 PM
4

alec baldwin.

regardless, i'm really disappointed that studio 60 has sucked as much as it has. and i agree that 30 rock is awesome. i totally didn't expect it to be, but it's one of the best things on tv. that and mythbusters. i love mythbusters.

Posted by konstantconsumer | February 21, 2007 1:14 PM
5

I actually kind of liked Studio 60 :(

Posted by Aislinn | February 21, 2007 1:18 PM
6

There isn't more deserving show? Really? It seems like every time I turn on the TV there is another painfully bad sitcom -- I don't know their names, because every time I watch five minutes of one I feel like my head is going to explode. I generally always agree with you, but I watch Studio 60, and while I think it isn't Sorkin's best work I think it had potential, and I enjoy it. Now, if someone could tell me why ER is still on after blowing up the hospital once a month for many moons ...

Posted by Emma | February 21, 2007 1:20 PM
7

Goodbye awful, awful show. Your unfunny take on why SNL is so deeply, deeply meaningful will not be missed.

And 30 Rock rocks.

Posted by Art | February 21, 2007 1:32 PM
8


Love 30 Rock and everyone on it. Watched only one episode of Studio 60 and hated it.

The End.

Posted by 30 Rock | February 21, 2007 1:32 PM
9

I watched both and love 30 rock and hate Studio 360 - even though I loved the West Wing.

Not sorry to see them axe that baby.

Now if they could just move 30 Rock to a different time slot ... nobody messes with Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy and lives ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 21, 2007 1:34 PM
10

DVR dude!

Posted by Art | February 21, 2007 1:40 PM
11

I too am a huge West Wing fan. In fact I'm in the process of watching it from beginning to end (thank you Netflix). I had high hopes for S60 and thought 30R was gonna suck. Boy was I wrong.

I really wanted good things for S60 and watched and waited but it just never delivered.

Posted by monkey | February 21, 2007 1:42 PM
12

I like Studio 60, but not enough to clamor for it's survival. It has its moments, and the flow is typical Sorkin, but a lot of what it shoots for tends to end anticlimactically.

30 Rock is great, and I didn't really like it at first. I can't get Rural Juror, Urban Fervor, or Constance Justice out of my head.

Posted by diggum | February 21, 2007 1:47 PM
13

Studio 60's first episode had promise, but it's been bad since. I TiVo'd the show at first simply because I loved Sorkin's previous shows, but from the second episode on it started piling up without being watched and I only got around to watching it in train-wreck amazement at how such good actors could be wasted on such horrible material.

Posted by Cascadian | February 21, 2007 1:49 PM
14

30 Rock has 2 and 1/2 interesting characters, (Fey, Baldwin, and Jane Krakowski in an underwritten role)and a couple really funny moments, on average, per episode, but it's really uneven....

BUT,

isabella rossellini yanking down tina feys dress and bitch slapping her WAS brilliant though...

Posted by michael strangeways | February 21, 2007 1:55 PM
15

Studio 60 was like watching a 13 episode, slow motion abortion...

mad tv parodied it as Studio 69 and it was much better....

Posted by michael strangeways | February 21, 2007 1:58 PM
16

30 Rock is getting better and better-- any show combining Isabella Rossellini and Paul Reubens into one episode has my vote. Totally worth staying up for on Thursdays.

Posted by Jessica | February 21, 2007 2:00 PM
17

Will in Seattle, I think you mean Studio 60, not Studio 360, though it is funny to imagine Matthew Perry as the host of that lovable NPR upstart. But sad to think of it as canceled. But has 30 Rock gotten funnier since its very very humble beginnings? It was pretty cringe-inducing around episode 3 or 4.

Posted by Travis | February 21, 2007 2:36 PM
18

30 Rock has gotten better with each episode but I agree I could do with less Tracy and more Jane. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are brilliant.

Posted by elswinger | February 21, 2007 2:46 PM
19

I agree with elswinger - less Tracy and more Jane. Yeah, Studio 60, whatever, dead to me, regardless. Tell Matt to go back to Friends.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 21, 2007 2:55 PM
20

While ultimately a mis-fire, choking the show with the air of West Wing seriousness instead of mirroring Sports Night's remarkable and compressed dramatic tight-rope, Studio 60 is a huge pleasure to watch.

Not just for the people involved, but because it was self-deprecatingly well-written, especially in the pilot -- which has yet to be beat -- as well as the last few episodes, and had legitimate laughs, which is almost impossible to find on network television.

If it goes, it'd be too bad. I like what they've done even if a lot of it was wrong from the start.

Posted by Fawkes | February 21, 2007 3:06 PM
21

i was holding out against hope that studio 60 would turn it around. somebody needs to sit sorkin down with the dvds of sports night to remind him that yes, he was once capable of writing a show about a show that doesn't make everyone cringe.

30 rock is hilarious. one episode even featured a captain needa reference, and that wins a special place in the nerd heart.

Posted by what am i, a farmer? | February 21, 2007 3:12 PM
22

Sorkin's downfall was trying to infuse drug abuse by comedy writers with the same gravitas as the workings of the situation room in the White House. Hmmm, not quite the same thing...

Other than that, 30 Rock pleases my mindgrapes.

Posted by Brought to you by Snapple... | February 21, 2007 3:18 PM
23

this is odd,i watched every episode of that show up until about halfway thru last nights' when i spoke aloud to noone "i'm done with this" & changed it seinfeld. cast of 30 rock is funny top to bottom,period.

Posted by robotbutler | February 21, 2007 3:53 PM
24

I know how to fix Studio 60.

Posted by SEAN NELSON, EMERITUS | February 21, 2007 3:57 PM
25

@20 - good call. They should have been more like Sports Night - that show rocked!

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 21, 2007 4:09 PM
26

Sean: Set them straight. Fix it.
I was rooting for it, but it's definitely been a let-down more often than not. I still watch it for some reason, though.
Also: Tracy Morgan is, sadly, not funny at all.

Posted by A-Train | February 21, 2007 4:23 PM
27

@26 - well, sometimes Tracey is funny, just not that often. The Baldwin brother is surprisingly more funny than I used to think, tho.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 21, 2007 4:45 PM
28

I wanted to like Studio 60. I really, really did. I absolutely loved Sports Night, so I was all primed for loving it. But it just never captured me at all. I watched through December, and then in January starting Tivoing it and never getting around to watching. After three episodes had piled up, I realized that I just don't give a crap about any of the characters. Some are mildly likeable, others are forgettable irritating. I just never really wanted to know what happened to them.

Also, the sketches they showed were never funny. Which I guess made it more true to SNL, but still.

Posted by Kristen | February 21, 2007 5:04 PM
29

You want funny, watch "Extras". DVD's on Netflix. You will squirm with horror and embarrassment. Funs!

Posted by Fnarf | February 21, 2007 5:17 PM
30

I definitely enjoyed Studio 60. I'm disappointed. There's no reason for me to argue with anyone here about this. I liked it, that's all I care about.

Oh fuck it, I think Studio 60 should replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct!

Posted by Sam | February 21, 2007 5:34 PM
31

I watch both Studio 60 and 30 Rock. They're different shows, with different purposes. I enjoyed Studio 60 as an endearing (if flawed) offering from a master wordsmith. Looking for plot? Don't bother ... it's all about the dialogue.

30 Rock, though, is intended as a single-camera sitcom. You can practically tick off the requisite six gags per minute with a stopwatch. It was never intended to be a talky, introspective, self-referential dramedy.

30 Rock is definitely the more solid of the two programs, but the criteria for measurement are different. Studio 60, although it will go down as a flop, is certainly an interesting failure -- more uneven than truly awful, its few brilliant moments (and there were indeed a handful, naysayers be damned) glittering like diamonds amid the uninspired sludge and bland filler. It will live on for years as part of the "Don't Let This Happen To You" curriculum of Intro to Screenwriting classes.

Posted by GrammarCop | February 21, 2007 6:38 PM
32

I've been half-heartedly watching Studio 60 because it comes after Heroes, and there are things about the show that have grown on me - but the seriousness is a drag, the Harriet character is totally unlikeable, and mostly I'm psyched that next week we're going to get The Black Donnellys in that timeslot, which has had incredible buzz since the beginning of the season.

Posted by genevieve | February 21, 2007 9:11 PM
33

As much as I thought Sorkin was brilliant for his creation of "The West Wing" and even "Sports Night" (Peter Krause was HOT HOT HOT in that show) this last effort was horrible. Hope he has better luck with his next show. And yes, just remember "Bartlet for America!!!!"

Posted by Andrew | February 22, 2007 7:37 AM
34

There is no 30 Rock merch in the NBC Studio Store in Rock Center in NYC. Why? Salesguy says Tina keeps rejecting the graphics. . . hmmm. Whatever the reason, disappointing. But, anyone who wants the Studio 60 merch, its there.

Posted by Jillian Smith | February 22, 2007 7:48 AM
35

If you don't like Tracey Morgan you can just go to hell. Seriously: to hell. And take lessons in humor.

Posted by Fritz | February 22, 2007 12:10 PM
36

tracey morgan has never made me laugh. i am put through hell every time i endure watching him. it's possible i might actually like 30 rock if he wasn't involved.

studio 60 had some flaws, but wasn't nearly as bad as some have said. it was definitely the critics' favorite whipping boy of the new season, and probably more due to higher expectations than the actual result.

Posted by jason | February 22, 2007 3:35 PM
37

Matthew Perry's Studio 60 character was the direct descendant of Dawson Leery: a horribly arrogant and obnoxious jerk surrounded by fawning sycophants because the show's writers aren't self-aware enough to realize that everybody would and does hate this guy in real life.

Posted by Sarah | February 23, 2007 1:19 PM

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