April 23, 2009

A new (old) crush

Apparently it's Thursday night again...how does this keep happening? Blink and a week goes by.

Anyway yesterday my quickflix coughed up Disc 1 of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I had mixed feelings about it. It's hard to watch something when I know there's only one season. Either you're setting yourself up for Firefly style anguish and "why oh why idiot TV people did you cancel this" or it's bad and probably deserved to be canned (note this doesn't necessarily apply to British TV where they like to just toy with you by making short seasons of good stuff and maybe lob another one at you every so often just when you've given up hope).

But it was Wednesday and House had left kind of a sad taste in my mouth, so I chucked it in.

And man oh man, Aaron Sorkin, how I love thy writing. I mean, I knew I loved his stuff, the West Wing is one of my all time favourite TV shows and I like the American President and Sports Night has chunks of brilliance but I forget how much. His rhythms and style just fit me to a tee for some reason. I like his characters - his friendships, his smart women (and smart men) who still manage to do dumb things. His characters are passionate. And funny. And really, he's one of those writers who creates worlds that I want to be able to open a door and step into. Jealousy abounds.

Two episodes in and I'm in "why oh why cruel television gods" territory already and looking forward to the next episode like a chocolate fix. Don't get me wrong, I can see already why it didn't become a ratings bonanza - he's always a very political writer and the politics that fit pretty naturally in something like the West Wing don't seem to sit quite so easily amongst the set of a comedy show (albeit a satiric social commentary comedy show). Still, I'm already kind of hooked. And seeing lots of actors who are old friends from his other shows is great (and yet I believe them as the new characters....unlike Supernatural where it took me forever to make the mental click that Dean-from-Gilmore-Girls is called Sam and Dean is the other one lol). Plus hey, Matthew Perry is never hard on the eyes and I always had a crush on Bradley Whitford as Josh. Excuse me while I go and watch some more (then start cursing that I have to wait until next week for the next fix).

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