Grid Effect

I’ll let you know by the end of the recap if I am going to continue watching Studio 60. For the most part, you will be able discern whether or not I will by my tone in the article.

Everyone one is still in a tizzy over the happenings in Pahrump, Nevada. And Matt is scurrying to put together a replacement show, in case Tom and Simon cannot make it back. So he chooses a heavy-set, slightly shy writer to fill the shoes of Simon for the “Weekend Update”-esque sketch. When he expresses insecurity over his physical appearance, Matt has the attractive female writer say she is looking forward to seeing him in a suit, he immediately goes all schoolgirl blushy before she sternly says, “Don’t flirt with me.” Somehow, this manages to instill confidence in him. Like I said in last weeks entry, the drama is fairly inconsequential. Simon makes it back in time regardless, making the entire bit negligible.

Out in Pahrump, we are still supposed to be curious as to why Tom was speeding through their small town. I’ll save you the suspense and just say he was light-speeding through Pahrump to see his brother before he left for his third tour in Afghanistan. The judge, has a soft spot for the troops, even if they are siblings to sketch comedy shows he despises, let’s Tom off of the speeding ticket, Simon off the possession charge and Jack, who coincidentally went ballistic right before everything surfaced about Tom’s brother, off of his contempt of court charge. Hooray!

Harriet spends the entire episode proving to everyone she is not homophobic, including Jordan, Matt and the staff, which leaves viewers of Studio 60 forced to endure multiple cliche rittled blue state-red state arguments about the tenants of Marriage in America, that probably eats up at least ten minutes of their 45-minute air time.

And on the business end of things, Jordan is still in hot water with the network heads over the exerpt of her ex-husbands memoirs that ran in The New York Post. As revealed last week, Jack, who initially was suspected as an advocate for her dismissal, is actually fighting for her. She is confronted by one of the network owners and warned to not screw up the deal with TMG, the company headed by the Chinese man who is in Nevada with his daughter because she wanted to meet Tom Jeter.

The girl also doubles as her Father’s translator, and at the very last moment, the Chinese man caught wind of Jordan in the tabloids. Unfortunately his daughter translated incorrectly, mistakenly saying to Jack that, “Your president has brought great shame to your network”. Jack goes ape-shit about how honorable Jordan and everyone on the cast of Studio 60 is, it ends up this tangent, that lasted at least three hours, was unnecessary, because the Chinese man actually said that “Jordan’s ex-husband had brought great dishonor to himself.”

In the closing scene we learn that Matt was being so difficult on Harriet because he felt it should have been him defending her instead of Tom. So he is actually feeling guilty about his absence.

That, my friends, is the straw that broke the recappers back. It was just one speech too many for a series overrun with speeches. Damn, its a shame that girl didn’t translate properly and Matt isn’t emotionally stable, I might have been on the hook for one more episode.

Just to illustrate I am not a total scrooge, here are a couple decent lines from “Nevada Day: Part II”-

Danny: Judge, in this position, are you pretty much capable of doing whatever you want?
Judge: Why do you think I’m smiling?
-Danny, inquiring about the unique circumstances to Tom’s position.

Harriet: Who’s homophobic?
Matt: Please, I’m homophobic in a way that makes sense.
-Harriet and Matt after he accused her of being homophobic.

Let me just close by saying the series wasn’t a colossal bore. It had its high marks, great acting from the entire cast, most notably Steven Webber and Mathew Perry. Some intriguing story lines that never materialized, probably because I am bailing on them halfway through it first season. Oh well. Nothing ever reached the status of “gripping” for me to have any regrets here.

Ultimately the series is to conceited for my taste. Sorkin, in his attempt to prove that not everyone in hollywood is liberal like mainstream America might believe them to be, refutes his own intentions by portraying everyone from a red-state as some cracked-out gun wielding yokel ignorant to everything. And again, I am not offended in the least nor am I pandering to a base. My sensibilities haven’t been corrupted or anything… but jesus, couldn’t they have brought in a consultant from Iowa or something. Possibly for their second season?

From here on out, if you enjoy this series and want to read up/discuss the latest happenings in Studio 60 land, go here.