Director: David Petrarca
Cast: Steven Weber (Jack Rudolph), Sarah Paulson (Harriet Hayes), Timothy Busfield (Cal), Bradley Whitford (Danny Tripp), D.L. Hughley (Simon Stiles), Matthew Perry (Matt Albie), Nathan Corddry (Tom Jeter), Amanda Peet (Jordan McDeere), Simon Helberg (Alex Dwyer), Ayda Field (Jeanie Whatley), Diana-Maria Riva (Lilly), Merritt Wever (Suzanne), Nate Torrence (Dylan), Liza de Weerd (Agent #2), Stephanie Jeffrey (Waitress), John F. Carpenter (Herb Shelton), Christine Lahti (Martha O'Dell), Sting (Sting), Lauren Graham (Announcer), Edward Asner (Wilson White), Zeb Newman (Trevor Loughlin) & Harry Van Gorkum (Martin Sykes)
During rehearsals with Sting, reporter Martha O'Dell pries into Matt and Harriet's relationship. Meanwhile Jordan passes on a tasteless new reality series, to Jack's annoyance...Oh, the comedy gold of a man in a lobster suit! Aaron Sorkin still can't write decent sketch show material, which is quite a disappointment considering he's writing a show about the inner workings of a hit comedy, but this certainly ranks as his best attempt. Nicolas Cage hosting a chat show was a plausible skit and Sarah Paulson got to showboat another impression as Nancy Grace (a CNN interviewer), so the hit-rate certainly improved on Science Schmience...
Many of my criticisms last week are answered by The Long Lead Story, which is more focused on Studio 60's characters than the stern-faced politics of making a sketch show. Cleverly, Sorkin uses reporter character Martha O'Dell (Christine Lahti), to explore the relationship between Harriet and Matt (Matthew Perry), essentially giving Sorkin an excuse to throw meticulous character backstories into the show itself.
Harriet's religious upbringing is actually quite enlightening, particularly the fateful way she was baptized and became a performer at the same time. Sarah Paulson is fast becoming the most nuanced character on the show, heavily involved in the show's off-camera storylines and the central performer in most Studio 60 sketches.
It appears that Harriet's arrival at Studio 60 "coincided" with Matt suddenly finding inspiration in his writing. She wasn't only his lover, she was his muse. It's interesting Matt is suffering writer's block now Harriet has re-entered his life, but not his love.
Christine Lahti is very good as the approachable reporter, although you sense a ruthlessness behind her eyes. She's playful, believable, even funny in a few scenes (particularly in the "still-switched-on-microphone" chestnut), so I hope she sticks around some more. Sorkin even seems to use her character to hit back at criticisms of Studio 60, when she says: "I think popular culture in general and this show in particular are important." That told me.
Danny Whitford is sadly underused most weeks, usually hunched over video monitors or playing "dialogue tennis" with friend Matt. I hope Sorkin gives him some impetus soon, as he's just a sounding board most of the time. Amanda Peet continues to delight me, despite her twinkly-eyed idealism coming across as naive fiction on Sorkin's part.
She's just too good to be true, and gets her way too often. Here, she turns down a reality TV hit series (pitched by a Brit -- a little dig at us, there!) and has to explain her actions to Chairman Jack, who can't understand turning down a show with "HIT" written all over it. But Jordan knows there's a prefixed "S".
This episode solidifies Jordan's intention to maintain quality control of her network, three week after Studio 60's "on-air television bitch-slap" in episode 1. Another subplot finds her trying to persuade a gifted writer to bring his political satire Nations to the masses on NBS, instead of its natural home on niche HBO.
I enjoyed seeing more of Jordan and Jack's corporate world in episode 5, as bringing in wider television matters helped branch the series out. I'll never be sold on the uberserious attitude to creating a sketch show, but it's easier to enjoy wheeler-dealer bigwigs further up the food chain.
The behind-the-scenes vibe of Studio 60 remains atmospheric and interesting, particularly seeing how rehearsals are run this week -- complete with the problems of dismantling sets in a fast-moving TV environment. That said, the shameless promotion of Sting's classical album, complete with lute playing, bordered on the eye-rolling. That said, the musician's appearance was given some credibility when a song became the backing to a scene between Harriet and Matt -- where it was what they didn't say that really mattered.
Overall, this is the best episode of the series since the Pilot, thanks to its focus on characters and the expansion beyond Studio 60 itself, finding targets in other TV-related areas. The humour of the supposed smash-hit show itself remains strained (why not get real comedians to write sketches, Mr Sorkin?), and some of the characters are sketchy, but there's a core of great talent that clearly revel in Sorkin's world.
23 August 2007
More4, 10.00 pm
