MEJHarrison

So, I'm really enjoying Sports Night so far. I'm finding it to be a very intelligent show. Up until this episode. Now I have a couple questions.

First, why would they delay a live sports show because of the tennis game going over? I've never seen a news show delay because some big story was breaking. In fact, it's always the opposite.

Second, Gordon is a US Attorney, correct? So does he work the swing shift or what? There's been lots of references to him and Dana going out after the show (which would be about 1am, right?). Why is Gordon working till almost midnight (she called his office looking for him right before the show started)? And going out afterwards? I'd think he'd have to be in to work early in the morning.

Finally, why was this tennis game so annoying to everyone (Pete Sampres vs. whats-his-name)? These people live and breathe sports. Wouldn't a major upset be a big, exciting story? You'd think they'd be glued to the TV sets, but instead, they act as if this is ruining their evenings.

Anyway, there may or may not be good explanations here. Either way, I'm still enjoying the show.

Count Dooku

If the network is showing a live tennis match, how can they go on the air with their live news program?
I understand that this rarely happens with any sport other than football, but the concept of what's going on should be easily understood.

Lawyers and business professionals often work long hours into the evening and night.
If Gordon knows that he can't meet Dana for their date until after midnight, it's understandable that he would pass the time in his office getting work done.
It's true that late night dates would be a drag on most 9-5ers, but Gordon is no ordinary man.

They believe that it is a foregone conclusion that Sampras will win the match, and they just want it to be over with.

You do realize that this is a TV show and a lot of the situations presented are going to be contrived for dramatic purposes, right?

auto

not to nitpick or anything...

MEJHarrison

Duh. For some strange reason, that hadn't occured to me. That makes a lot of sense.

I'm just not buying that one. It's not once or twice. It seems to happen fairly frequently. Just one of those things I'll just have to ignore I guess. But I'm guessing by the time Dana is done for the night, they grab dinner, etc. the guy has to be getting home at around 3ish. And in this particular episode, they were supposed to have dinner with friends. Just seems odd everyone having dinner at 1:30-2:00AM. And Gordon doing this on a frequent basis. "Gordon is no ordinary man" doesn't quite cut it for me. I'd buy that excuse on a show like Buffy, but not this show.

Again, a nobody giving him that much trouble when he shouldn't have had a chance at all should have had these people excited, not whining. On episode one in fact, Casey called and woke his kid up so he could see some underdog running faster than anyone else before. The situation was a little different of course, but in this case the underdog fighting against enourmous odd just bores them. It just felt too contrived and out of place. Oh well.

Well, obviously. It's just that this series seems to be so much smarter than most TV shows and I've come to expect a certain amount of intelligence. I wouldn't nitpick a lesser show. There's just a couple things that were bugging me and I thought there might have been a reasonable explanation that hadn't occured to me.

RMSpuhler

This happens once or twice a year in tennis - a major star bowing out of a tournament too early. It's an "upset," sure, but upsets are different depending on the situation. If it's not one of the four Grand Slam events, tennis barely makes the news. There's no way you can compare Sampras to the pilot episode situation.

RS

Count Dooku

I respect and appreciate that POV, but really Sorkin is just creating incidents and situations so that they charcaters can play out their reactions.

Wasn't the tennis match the episode where Jeremy wrote the letter to his sister?
So it was just a dramatic device to create a situation where everybody has to hang around the office with nothing to do. And they can wander in and out of the offices and jeremy can comment on all of them.

People who get off work after midnight are going to have fucked up social lives or none at all, so Sorkin is like "He's a lawyer and he goes out with Dana in the middle of the night." Realistic? Explainable? Who cares. The point is Dana has a great successful boyfriend and it will drive Casey crazy. Would you like it better if Casey and Dana were just falling into bed together because they both get off work at the same time and they have nothing better to do?

The truth is Sorkin --with Sports Night and The West Wing, is really not much better than Three's Company.
He's gonna throw really contrived situations at you and you just have to suspend disbelief for the sake of seeing them play out with the great characters and the great dialogue.

MEJHarrison

Fair enough. I thought it was out of character for these sports people, but not being a sports nut myself, I'll accept that explanation.

MEJHarrison

Obviously. As do all shows. Some do it better than others of course and create very believable situations. I think Sports Night does a pretty good job of this in general. In this case (Gordon's odd hours), I think they're stretching the suspension of disbelief a little too much. If there's no good explanation in this particular case, that's fine. I'll move on. But I reserve the right to find it totally ridiculous. And that's not a feeling that I've associated with Sports Night up to this point.

Yes.

I disagree. With something like Three's Company, I expect things to be silly to the point of absurdity. It's a sitcom and you just have to accept some things on faith or you'll never enjoy the show. I've seen no evidence so far that Sports Night follows this formula. I've found it to be very believable and realistic (accepting that I'm not really into sports and know nothing about producing a TV show). It seem much more grounded in reality than the average sitcom.

Anyway, most of my questions have been answered to my satisfaction. I'll just ignore the unrealistic hours Gordon keeps and enjoy the show. It's certainly minor enough to not really worry about. Heck, let's just say that it's weekends and be done with it.

Count Dooku

Given the concerns you've already expressed, I started thinking about what you have in store for you, and I didn't want to be a spoiler, but you're in for a rough ride if you continue to analyze the show the way you have been.

As you said: It's a sitcom and you just have to accept some things on faith or you'll never enjoy the show.

Sports Night is a sitcom, too; and I hope you can adopt this attitude, and enjoy a truly great TV show.

MEJHarrison

Nonsense. I've really been enjoying the show. I had a few questions, but don't think that it's in any way stopping my from liking what I see.

chamber715

I always thought of it as Gordon worked regular hours but would save work for after hours so he would have something to do while waiting for Dana to get off of work.

Count Dooku

Good. You'll like what you see in the coming episodes even more. The show keeps getting better.

Shoe Money Tonight!

MEJHarrison

I watched the next episode today. The Sword of Orion

This time it was Dan bugging Rebecca to watch the baseball game with him after his broadcast. Again with someone with a 9-5 job staying up way past midnight to hang out with one of the gang. Except for two important things. First, Rebecca said something about wanting to go home after work, eat, bath and sleep. Second, there was a reference later in the show to it being a Friday.

That's the intelligence I've heard to expect from this show. That makes sense. She's acknowledging that it will be late when he gets off work and she'd like to be in bed sleeping. And we find out it's a Friday. Thus she most likely doesn't have to work the next day. Therefore it doesn't seem strange at all that she would stay up late to be with him. I've done the same thing before.

I still don't get the Gordon thing, but I'm willing to assume that since this episode took place on a Friday, perhaps we're to believe all episodes take place on a Friday. I do understand him being in the office late. I have no problem with that. In fact, given his job, it makes sense that he has plenty of work to keep him occupied late into the night. It's just the frequent late (very late) nights. But for now I'll assume it's the weekend. Then again, he's a lawyer. Maybe he's used to 35 hour days.