Studio 60 (mostly a rant)

[mamadeb]

I have no intentions of watching next week's episode, of course, since I never watch Christmas-themed episodes in December, but I wonder if I'm going to watch any other episode. Surely my time would be better spent just watching Heroes in its entirety. After all, Heroes is actually good.

There was so much bad about this last episode. Just so much.

1. If there's a virus epidemic going on in the building, why would the network allow them to go on and infect a live audience?
2. If a hostage situation has just ended in blood and bullets, why wasn't the show pre-empted for, oh, NEWS?
3. A sketch about hostages is in very bad taste while there is an ongoing hostage situation, even if it didn't end in blood and bullets.
4. Harriet is supposedly a talented comedian. If she weren't, she wouldn't be allowed in the Falstaff Society (one assumes.) She can tell jokes with set-ups and punchlines. We know that because she does thenews, which is essentially a series of set-ups and punchlines. No matter how much Sorkin dislikes Kristin Chenoweth (who does not do that sort of humor, I assume), there's only so much he can graft onto Harriet.
4b. There is a rule about ethnic humor. This rule is that only members of an ethnic group can tell ethnic jokes. Harriet telling a Jewish joke breaks that rule. Yes, there are exceptions - mainly comedians like Mencia, because ethnic jokes are his entire shtick - plus he makes fun of his own group as much or more, he makes fun of stupid people even more than that *and* he stears clear of religion. And that is NOT Harriet's shtick. And then she tells it badly, which makes it either a joke against women or about whitebread comics, which makes it offensive on an entirely different level.
5. Jordan's pregnancy makes very little sense, but Jordan makes very little sense. And, wow. Pregnant women are hormonal so they can't make good choices when they talk to interviewers. If she can't do that, then she surely can't run a network.
6.Spitting at the only healthy member of the cast? Mean, much?

This show is getting less and less watchable. As I said, next week is already gone. TVland is getting pretty darn annoying as it is without me voluntarily watching the programming that tells me something is wrong with me because I lack "Christmas spirit". The question remains about the weeks that follow that.

Comments

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

Look at the first two Xmas episodes on West Wing. The first one focuses on Toby arranging a burial for the homeless veteran (meit mitzvah - the duty to bury an unclaimed body), which is a Jewish value.

The second one, is about Toby reconciling with his father, with all the Xmas music going constantly, and Xmas decorations heavy in the sets, and Toby's father the ex-gangster being moved by "Oh Holy Night". I have to figure Sorkin was told off for not making his Xmas episode Xmassy enough.

Surely this one will be all full of the Christmas Spirit, given the general obnoxiousness of Harriet's wearing her faith on her sleeve.

On an unrelated note, we then watched the Daily Show, where Jon interviewed Rahm Emanuel. Curious about his name, I looked up his bio on Wikipedia. Israeli parents, brothers named Ari & Ezekiel, children named Zechariah, Ilana and Leah, he & his wife active in a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Chicago. Funny how we didn't hear about his being a Jew, much less observant, unlike how Lieberman trumpeted his own observance six years ago.

I then went to Debbie and chanted "One of us! One of us!"

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

You skipped the Christmas episode "Noel," or as some like to call it, "Josh Lyman's Very Special Christmas Breakdown."

Rep. Emanuel, like many of us, tends to consider his religious observance a private matter. As for Lieberman's trumpeting of his observance, well, when you run for Vice-President, you have a slightly higher profile than when you're simply one of many in Congress.

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

Oh, that just makes my point stronger. I just skimmed the script. The Xmas concert gives Josh flashbacks to the shooting. Xmas as actively evil. The only good thing to come out of the episode was returning the painting to the Holocaust survivor - again a Jewish value, returning lost property. Go Jews! Down with the evil Xmas!

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how that makes your point stronger. If I understand correctly, your point is that Sorkin had to give up with his usual Jewish-themed episodes at Christmas time, and write that special episode about Toby's father. My point is that Sorkin has a track record of writing non-Christmasy episodes at Christmas time. So citing "Noel" is in favor of my point, but I don't see how it necessarily leads to the idea that the Studio 60 episode will be "all full of the Christmas Spirit." (It may very well be so, but I'd like to see that for myself.)

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

No, not "non-christmassy", but "anti-christmassy". Now, promos can distort the real intent of the episode, but still, it seems to show a pro-xmas bent, unlike the meit-mitzvah (Toby the Jew showing the Xtians what real "goodwill toward all men" means, chesed shel emet and all that) and Noel (Josh the Jew being cast into a flashback by a Xmas concert).

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I think we've reached a point of agreement here.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I think we're actually agreeing with each other here.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Oh, the points we were making weren't in opposition. If anything, they were orthogonal.

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

How many sides does an orthogon have? Two is nonsensical. I'd submit six, since that's the shape of Lincoln Square Synagogue - nonstandard shape, yet still orthodox.