Studio 60

From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.

Studio 60 is an NBC series written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Thomas Schlamme, and starring Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry. Yeah, sorry, Matthew Perry. It centers on the comedy and drama in the lives of actors who work at a fictional live late-night sketch comedy show that bears no striking resemblances at all to Saturday Night Live, and far too many striking resemblances to the increasingly alarming puppet show of moral justification apparently unfolding inside Sorkin's head.

The Characters

• Aaron Sorkin Matt Albie (Matthew Perry): The most brilliant writer in human history, Matt Albie was cruelly expelled from his previous writing gig on The West Wing the fictional Studio 60 series after being late with his scripts and getting busted for drug possession taking a bold creative stand on a controversial sketch. Now, after being begged to return by a desperate network being begged to return by a desperate network, he has taken over at Studio 60 to give the quality-starved American public the Moliere references and lute-playing they so desperately crave. Unlike lesser mortals, Matt can write an entire 90-minute comedy program every week by himself, without needing to consult producers Jeff Reno Rick Cleveland Ricky Tahoe and Ron Osborne Ron Oswald or any of the stupid, useless peons on his writing staff.

• Thomas Schlamme Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford): Matt's faithful friend and executive producer, Danny is recovering from an addiction to cocaine. Which, by the way, hurts nobody but the user, unlike those jackasses who drink and drive. Shame on you, drunk drivers. Shame on you.

• Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet): The youngest, prettiest, smartest, bravest, most awesome network television executive ever, Jordan is the new president of NBC NBS. In between basically letting Matt and Danny do whatever they want, in recognition of their obvious brilliance, Jordan is struggling with the prostitute with which she enjoyed a years-long relationship the ex-husband she married and divorced at 26, who is publishing a sordid tell-all book about her years of copious drug use publishing a sordid tell-all book about the one time he dragged her unwillingly to a sex club.

• Kristin Chenoweth Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson): A bubbly, bright blonde commedienne with a sunny personality and a lovely singing voice, Harriet is a devout yet open-minded Christian. She and Matt used to date, but they broke up after she went on The 700 Club to promote her album of spiritual music, and Pat Robertson gave her a baseball bat with his phone number written on it. Even though Matt consistently acts like a jerk toward her, she remains in love with his obvious genius. Matt frequently knocks Harriet's socks off, usually with the aid of the Robertson-signed baseball bat she gave him.

• Simon Stiles (D.L. Hughley): Simon is a talented black comedian who has the exact same criticisms of bad, stereotypical black comedians that many well-educated white people do. Funny about that. He is also from the 'hood, and used to be in a gang, because, well, of course.

• Tom Whatsisface (Nate Corddry): Like Jimmy Fallon, Tom is blandly handsome and has amusing hair. Unlike Jimmy Fallon, Tom has talent, a personality, and the ability to get through a sketch without giggling.

• Cal Niceguy (Timothy Busfield): Cal is a director, and a very, very nice man.

• Mark McKinney Andy Mackinaw (Mark McKinney): Mark McKinney is a writer brought in to help Studio 60. Andy Mackinaw is a fictional comedy writer brought into help the fictional Studio 60. The key difference being that Mackinaw tragically lost his wife and daughter while McKinney tragically used to work for Lorne Michaels.

• Jack Rudolph (Steven Weber): A hard-bitten network executive, Jack's role is to say the exact same things the audience is thinking, like "Is there really that much of an audience for an hourlong drama about the United Nations," and "Is it really such a good idea to let TV writers do whatever they want all the time?" This makes him the villain.

• Lou Grant (Ed Asner): He's risen in the ranks to become a media mogul, but this crusty old newsman still hates spunk. He does love China, though.

Notable Trivia

In a bold and unprecedented move, the show is slated to run on the same time on the same night on both NBC and Fox in Fall 2006. The two networks issued a joint statement on February 14, 2006, saying that "in keeping with the spirit of this joyous holiday, Studio 60 will be shown on both our networks at the same time so that the Nielsen company can accurately judge which network Americans love more."

The working title for Studio 60 was Studio 7, which was changed because the networks felt that Sorkin did enough with Biblical numerology in The West Wing at the request of Martin Sheen, and are keen to model the new show after CBS juggernaut 60 Minutes more than flash-in-the-pan Saturday Night Live. Someone also mentioned the fact that the WB had already taken the title for use on a game show a few seasons prior, but that argument was brushed aside, as nobody actually watched Studio 7.