The End

In case you have not heard yet, tonights airing of "Studio 60" is likely to be the last. The mid-season replacement has been pushed up to next week. While many have speculated as to whether this is or isn't the end, I think the post immediately below this one speaks to network reasoning more than anything else can.

That said, I intend for this blog to continue on in some incarnation or another. I daresay that this is not the last we shall hear about "60", but I can almost say without reservation that it is not the last we will hear from Aaron Sorkin.

The Case Against Cancellation

Since the recent news of "60"'s open-ended hiatus, there's been little intreptation of the announcement as anything other than an ominous strike in a series of ominous stikes against the show. Therefore, this piece (entitled "Seven Reasons Why It's Not Cancelled") is notable if only for the contrarian approach:

1. network support. A few weeks ago, Sorkin said that, when Studio 60 was picked up for the additional nine episodes in late 2006, now NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker assured him of the show's future. Zucker told Sorkin that he wasn't focusing on the back nine episodes but more in terms of seasons two and three of the series.

2. Even more network support. At the recent Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly vowed to stick with several quality freshman shows that have struggled to find a large audience -- including Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Quite honestly, the network doesn't have a lot of other options.

The remaining reasons are predictable (the ideal demo, the ambiguity of the ratings #'s, even [gasp!] that NBC wouldn't dare cancel on Aaron Sorkin b/c he is, after all, Aaron Sorkin).
Network support is, in the end, the only route through which "60" can survive but it shouldn't be underestimated. I, like any other fan of the late, great "Arrested Development" can tell you, that critical network support, as well as a lack of other scheduling options to pursue, can buy a under-performing show two extra seasons (and an offer from boutique cable outlets like Showtime).

Obviously, "60" and "Arrested Development" differ greatly, most important of which being that "60" actually has a an average rating of at least 2-3 million more viewers (though declining) than "AD" did when it was cancelled.

Tonight's 'The Christmas Show' a "Must Watch"

The TV Addict has apparently gotten a sneak peak tonight's show, given it five stars, and says it is the "MUST WATCH hour of TV tonight.":

The episode is classic Sorkin and is on par with the best of THE WEST WING and SPORTS NIGHT. (emphasis his)

If history tells us anything, "Studio 60" has perhaps a tiny-problem with high expectations. And that's not setting the bar high at all.

I will, however, be more than happy to have have my cynicism stand corrected.

Aaron Sorkin's Culture Wars

The AP via the SanFran Chronicle:

With a studio executive and producer lending support, Tom lands in front of a small-town Nevada judge (guest star John Goodman). The judge makes it clear he doesn't like the "condescending" Hollywood types who put on sketches such as "Crazy Christians."

"You make fun of people like my family, people like my friends and people like me," he says. He's already extracted revenge of sorts, calling a Chinese businessman and his daughter "Japs" and threatening to inflict damage on a network lawyer he's dubbed "Matlock."

"I had these guys going," the judge smirks to a sheriff's deputy before turning back to his adversaries: "You're idiots. ... I'm a judge. You really think I go around calling people Japs and ordering deputies to shoot lawyers?"

So the only thing getting shot down in the scene, apparently, is the stereotype of a small-minded "red-state moron," as Goodman's character puts it.

Except when he turns his gaze on Simon.

The judge mocks his hair, which the deputy helpfully explains is styled in twists rather than cornrows, and repeatedly and without apology calls him "Sammy." In Southern parlance, that's the insult of calling someone out of their name — and using a term one small step from "Sambo" or even an ugly "They all look alike" reference to entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.

So if the sheriff is a self-aware racist — and one who ends up dispensing justice fairly against those he disdains — is that progress in the culture wars? Or has Sorkin just rubbed the right's face in the crime of intolerance while stripping away Simon's dignity?

I personally got bored with Sorkin's culture war drumbeat after about, oh, the third time the words "Crazy Christians" were uttered. Yes, it makes great material (especially compared to the 'issues' that most other network dramas are 'addressing'), but it's something that, frankly, has been exhausted. And I mean this not merely in the media's exasperated 'value voter' banter that followed the 2004 election, but in Sorkin's own work.

Take the pilot of "The West Wing": the dramatic conclusion features the Bartlett administration facing off with lobbyists of the Religious Right. They are tired of "New York Jews" using them as punching-bags on TV talk shows. Sound familiar?

Once again, I'm not saying Sorkin's 'Elitist vs. Average Joe' script doesn't make for good, or even important, television. But, as the AP piece suggests, you're entering into contradictory territory when you typecast entire segments of the American population into one character (John Goodman's character). Just as the cable television news punditry tired of the 'red state v. blue state' narrative after it failed to explained alot of post-2004 politiking, I for one will be glad when "Studio 60" moves past "Crazy Christians".