Studio 60 - a plea for short seasons!
I have an endless capacity for certain kinds of TV (especially reality shows and Friends re-runs, I'm sorry to say) but there's a certain kind of show that continues to pass me by.
The last few years has seen a steady stream of American TV with smart, twisted plots and high production values. Sadly, it seems routine to run to hundreds of episodes, and consequently most of them lose me 10% of the way in. That's almost certainly because I don't have a TIVO or equivalent, of course. However, the epic number of episodes problem has been enough to lose me with Lost, 24 (mercifully only 18 without the ads, but I still didn't have the stamina), Six Feet Under, The West Wing, The Sopranos and even Desperate Housewives. Yes, even Desperate Housewives. I liked the first episodes of all of them, but I've never seen a whole season of any.
With luck, I won't have the same problem with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, because the first two episodes have me absolutely hooked. It's certainly the most meta TV show I've seen in a while - the best comparison I have is that it's like a live action Muppet Show, especially for the cameos within cameos. Several people whose blogs I read have raved about it. After the pilot aired, Tara Teich bowed down to Aaron Sorkin and Steven Johnson seemed to like it so much it seems certain he'll add it to the Everything Bad canon of super-smart TV. I'm glad they pointed it out, because I can't wait for episode three.
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