The network TV season has officially ended, which mean NBC figures it's time to burn off the remaining episodes of their expensive bomb Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. Dear God, this thing is worse than I remembered.
Where to start? First of all, top-billed stars Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and Bradley Whitford were all absent from this episode, for reasons never explained. This meant the bulk of the show was carried by the charisma vacuum that is Timothy Busfield--Was this the best way to bring the show back from hiatus?
Scripted by series creator Aaron Sorkin, this episode seemed to exist only to promote the Sorkin Universe, as the show-within-the-show was guest hosted by Allison Janney, star of Sorkin's West Wing, which was referenced repeatedly. Sorkin would probably call this "Brechtian"; anyone else would call it undue self-adulation.
(And for the sake of verisimiltitude, it couldn't hurt to point out that Studio 60's SNL-like fictional program is repeatedly referred to as edgy, hip and popular. And the biggest name they can get as a guest host is Allison Janney?)
The show's usual problems were as apparent as ever--Sorkin clearly doesn't know anything about live TV production, and his attempts at comedy writing are absolutely, utterly painful to behold--but this episode managed to slip from irritating to deeply offensive.
At the end of the show, which has been a series of disasters (there's a backstory there, but frankly I don't feel like explaining), guest host Janney is hopping mad at the whole production team. Until, that is, Busfield reminds her how lucky she is to be working in show business, because "it sure beats digging a hole for a living."
In other words, show-biz people are just plain better than those stupid schlubs who actually work for a living. This must be the most arrogant, self-righteous, classist thing I've ever heard on TV. At that moment, every criticism ever uttered by right-wing gasbags denouncing the "liberal media elite" suddenly seemed...valid. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin, for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
