 | |
List Price: $59.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 2878
Released: October 16, 2007 |
| Our Price: $39.00 |
| Used Price: $23.97 |
|
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 16-OCT-2007
Media Type: DVD
Description of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - The Complete Series:
Aaron Sorkin, bless him, believes that "the people who watch television shows aren't dumber than the people who make television shows." He also believes that "quality is not anathema to profit." He puts these idealistic words into the mouth of Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet), the new, impolitic NBS TV president whose first order of business is to revitalize the network's cash cow, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a long-running live late-night sketch-comedy series reeling from the Howard Beale-esque on-air meltdown of its creator (Judd Hirsch, alas, limited to the pilot episode). With this Upstairs/Backstage look at Studio 60's tumultuous network politics and stormy personal relationships, Sorkin, the creator of Sports Night and The West Wing, once again tried to raise the bar of prime time fare. That he didn't quite clear it makes this one-season wonder a fascinating object lesson of great hopes and dashed expectations. Studio 60 was perhaps the most hotly debated series of the 2006 season and, love it or hate it, all its strengths and flaws can be savored and savaged anew with this complete-series set.
Pretty much above reproach is the ensemble. Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford head the cast as comedy writer Matt and executive producer Danny, former Studio 60 hands whom Jordan brings back to "save" the show. Steven Weber costars as network chairman Jack Rudolph, who clashes with Jordan over reality programming (he wants it, she doesn't), is embroiled in network negotiations with China, and must fend off angry affiliates offended by such sketches as "Crazy Christians." Jordan contends with becoming tabloid fodder after her ex-husband leaks scandalous details of their past. Meanwhile, Matt, a sardonic atheist, is in a whole Ross and Rachel thing with Harriet (Emmy nominee Sarah Paulson), who is devoutly religious and the show's galvanizing star performer (she does do a mean Holly Hunter). Studio 60 has much to say about comedy in wartime, the divided states of America, the creative process, and patriotism. Some of it is deftly handled, some of it is ham-handed and some of it patronizing. Most of it is delivered in Sorkin's signature chock-a-block style and with walk-and-talk urgency. But even at its most maddening, there are enough riveting moments (a performance by displaced New Orleans musicians in "The Christmas Show"), jaw-dropping developments ("I'm coming for you, Jordan," warns Danny, suddenly-turned romantic stalker), and indelible performances (John Goodman's Emmy-winning turn as a plain-speaking Pahrump, NV judge not impressed with the Hollywood types before him in the two-part "Nevada Day") to make Studio 60 a series worth revisiting, if only as a guilty pleasure. The pilot episode commentary by Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme, as well as a behind-the-scenes featurette, were produced before the show was canceled, robbing this series' fervent fans of the opportunity for some closure. --Donald Liebenson
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - The Complete Series Reviews:
Should have been allowed to grow 
2008-09-30 - I am currently living in Australia and wasn't able to watch this while it was airing. I actually purchased the show on iTunes to watch while on the airplane during a trip back to the states. I really wished I had the meager extras provided on the DVD set because that would give me just that much more. Watching it was very hard, because I knew that every episode that I watched was one less till the end.
As with all Aaron Sorkin scripts, the dialog is very fast and dynamic. It is very intelligent and assumes you are as well. The show doesn't feel as polished or as snappy as Westwing but you can easily see it was going there. I understand that the show was very expensive to produce, but was pretty obvious that it was just taking a beat to find its rhythm. I believe I read somewhere that the show had the highest increase in ratings numbers if you include people who used a DVR to record the show to watch later.
Although a lot of my political beliefs are opposite of Aaron Sorkin, as with West Wing, I never really felt he was treating my position unfairly. His characters were all well done. I especially liked that Matthew Perry showed he isn't still Chandler from Friends. I also think D. L. Hughley did a great job.
The actual endings of the show was a bit of a let down. It felt like a quick, "Well the show is ending, quick lets tie off all these ends." Granted, I guess that is better than just leaving us hanging. But with the quality of the rest of the writing, I expected that 'tie off' to be handled better.
I thought the name of the show was a bit off. When I first heard about it, I pictured a 90210-ish type show set in a night club ala "Studio 54." I imagine Aaron Sorkin's first show, "Sports Night" had the same problem. Seeing either of these shows listed in the TV guide, I wouldn't have watch them because of assumptions I would have made about them based on their name.
Studio 60
2008-08-28 - It is still one of my all time favorite Shows. My favorite episode is and will always be the Christmas show. I play it over and over and over!!!!
21st century's best network series thus far
2008-07-31 - I knew ten minutes into the first episode I watched (the third broadcast) I would be adding this set to my DVD library. And I expect I also knew it would become a great 19+ hour movie; no network was likely to order another season on something so perfectly reflective of the precise reasons it could not endure in primetime during the W years.
Do not miss this "film" then. Sociologists will be using this show in 25 years to illustrate that there were TV writers able to dramatize how and why America went so horrendously off-the-rails in the first decade of the 21st century. All of our post 9/11 core issues are dancing here, enacted with wit, invective and charm.
Outstanding TV
2008-07-14 - Absolutely love this show. We were so sad to see it get canceled. Now having it on disc, it's been a blast revisiting these great episodes. Yes, the last few episodes aren't as good as the first, but we continue to watch the rest over and over again. Great characters and witty, fast paced dialouge are addictive and fun. So sad to see it leave the air, but happy to have the series in my home.
One of the Best
2008-07-12 - Studio 60 is one of the best TV shows to have aired in the last decade. Departing from the usual and constant blab present on our air, Studio 60 is the real deal. A smart and unbelievably crafted screenplay, casting actors which seemed to have been born for this show and only this show. If my words are not to be believed, then perhaps the fact that the series was canceled in the middle of its first season should clarify what I have said above. Lack of an audience wasn't the only problem faced by the network; the real problem has proven to be the show's content.
I never watched the show as it aired one year ago, and I have few reasons why I haven't completely given up on my three weekly hours of television, but all the buzz had to catch on sometime, and after glancing at "The Wrap Party" at a friend's house, I had to indulge in the other 21 episodes. And let me tell you, from the first episode of this first season until the very last one, television becomes what it should have been all along. Pure and brilliant entertainment.
If the ratings are a direct response to content (as Studio 60 clearly states that it is) then we have a huge problem here. When a country turns in mass to watch mentally deprived individuals fight off their personal lives on stage, and completely ignore and reject content such as Studio 60 then the conclusion that most of our population is illiterate and uneducated is inevitable. It is this simple - good shows don't stay on because they have no appeal. Intelligent discussion about religion, politics, love, literature, history and whatever topic covered in these twenty-two episodes were not enough to captivate people, or perhaps they just didn't understand it at all. Studio 60 is still entertainment, and like the fictitious show bought by character Jordan McDeere, perhaps it was bought by the wrong network and for the wrong public.
Many have accused Studio 60 of being too smart, and those who enjoyed the show delusional about their own intelligence, but nothing could be further from the truth here. Studio 60 had flaws all around, but I still stand by the first sentence in this amateur review. Author Aaron Sorkin should have known that you can only talk so much about a sketch before finally airing it. Not presenting it for the home audience was delusional. Perhaps this was his worst and most regrettable decision, after all the show inside the show is a comedy. Studio 60 definitely needed more time to find itself, something which was clearly not possible, and it pays to bear in mind that no show will ever satisfy the majority. It has been said before that Aaron Sorkin's worst is still an awful lot better than others out there; however, Studio 60 is far from his worst. It is the most insightful and crafted to date. Like I said, Studio 60 is one of the best TV shows to have aired in the last decade.
