I managed to see an advance copy of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip {snerk, cuz that’s so hard to do now} and reading back and seeing my excitement over it is a bit sad, but I did adore that first episode so much. I mean … Eeee!! Matthew Perry! Aaron Sorkin! Bradley Whitford! And did I mention the Eeeee!! of Matthew Perry!! I
The writing was crackerjack (no surprise), the direction was mostly strong, most of the cast was excellent with two (unfortunately high profile) disappointments. I wanted to like Amanda Peet (Jordan), I wanted her to do a good job, and maybe she’ll grow into it, but as of the Pilot, she stands out and not in a good way. There’s an amateurish quality that I can’t quite put my finger on. The other disappointment really surprised me. I’ve seen Sarah Paulsen (Harriet) in a few other things and always been very impressed so I was expecting to be impressed here. I wasn’t. She got better as the show went on, but there was a definite weakness there … as if she wasn’t comfortable.
The rest of the cast that we got to see was excellent. I’m not sure if we won’t see Judd Hirsch (Wes) again, but even if we don’t that monologue was outstanding. In his brief screentime, he was magnificently on. And I’m not really a Hirsch fan. As a longtime Wings fan, I had higher expectations than most did about Steven Weber (Jack) and he did not disappoint at all. I thought he nailed Jack. Excellent. In the brief bit we saw of D.L. Hughley, he was very good and Timothy Busfield was wonderful also (best in his ‘fight the S&P’ scene, worst in the final scene … where he edged a tad bit into treacly).
Then of course we have our two stars, Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford. I knew Whitford from Billy Madison prior to April of this year when I watched all seven seasons of The West Wing — like most, I fell for him and his fabulous talent and charisma. He was just as fabulous here as he was on TWW, the only negative I can see is that I felt like I was watching Josh without the slight mania, but I suppose that’s understandable and should change over the course of the show.
And saving the best for last, ahhh, Matthew Perry. I just love him. I think he’s wonderful. He can handle drama beautifully, nuance, subtext, all of it he plays deliciously and I adore him as that kind of actor. Then there is the comedy. I smiled quite a bit during this, but I only laughed out loud, literally guffawed, three times while watching it and all three times were after Matt lines/actions. Comic timing to the degree that Perry can pull off is rare and he showed that skill here. He is just too awesome for words. So much love.
A few other details …
- I really hope they get rid of the “Jordan,” “Matt and Danny” and “The Big Three” titles before they premiere the show because (a) it looks ugly, (b) it has no consistency and (c) it insults the audience’s intelligence. Just not good.
- The opening scene, the conversation between Wes and the Standards & Practices guy, the monologue, the control room, ending with going to VTR was just AWESOME! The only downside of it was that the rest of the show simply did not (I don’t know if it could have) sustain that brilliance. (Side note: I also loved how Felicity Huffman (the star of Sorkin’s Sports Night, check it out if you haven’t pronto!) played her few scenes, especially the quick reaction shot of her during Wes’s monologue.)
Overall, excellent job. My one big wish would be that somehow Allison Janney is able to be brought on board. What I wouldn’t have given were it her cast as Jordan (just make the character a little older, who cares if Jordan is supposed to “be” Jaime Tarses). Ah well. Either Peet will step it up or Sorkin will write her out ala Mandy in S1 of TWW and maybe, just maybe, if the TV gods are smiling upon me, Janney will show up.
