Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - "4 a.m. Miracle" - 2/19/07
02-21-07 | 08:16 AM
#27
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From: Gone to the islands - 'til we meet again.
Originally Posted by puddytay
this show needs cancelled it's terrible
puddytay, threadcrapping is against forum rules and you seem to be making a habit of breaking this rule. If you aren't interested in the topic, just don't post in the thread. Additional incidents may result in administrative action.
02-21-07 | 10:09 AM
#28
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From: Columbia, SC
Originally Posted by Dead
puddytay, threadcrapping is against forum rules and you seem to be making a habit of breaking this rule. If you aren't interested in the topic, just don't post in the thread. Additional incidents may result in administrative action.
Here's a definition of threadcrapping, from the urban dictionary:
1. thread crapping:
Making off-topic posts in a thread on a message board.
Making off-topic posts in a thread on a message board.
Just my $0.02.
02-21-07 | 11:41 AM
#29
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Originally Posted by Meteu185
His post was on-topic. A whole lot of people think this show bites, and if after watching this episode puddytay thought it was bad, he/she should be allowed to post their opinion.
Also, there has be some form of discipline against point blank show attacks like this, or else people like me could just go into every thread on "illiterate programming" and call people idiots and say that their show(s) should be cancelled. After all, shouldn't I be allowed to post my opinion?
02-21-07 | 12:09 PM
#30
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Originally Posted by dvd182
He posted before the episode aired, so this idea doesn't really apply here. (I know some people end up seeing them before the U.S. airtime, but I don't think this was the case here).
Also, there has be some form of discipline against point blank show attacks like this, or else people like me could just go into every thread on "illiterate programming" and call people idiots and say that their show(s) should be cancelled. After all, shouldn't I be allowed to post my opinion?
Also, there has be some form of discipline against point blank show attacks like this, or else people like me could just go into every thread on "illiterate programming" and call people idiots and say that their show(s) should be cancelled. After all, shouldn't I be allowed to post my opinion?
Last edited by rfduncan; 02-21-07 at 12:11 PM.
02-21-07 | 12:52 PM
#31
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From: USA
This article was reprinted in my local paper yesterday with the Hartford Courant byline, but apparently it dates back a week. Forgive me if it has previously been posted on these boards; I couldn't find any evidence of such. I've edited it down a bit for space.:
linky
linky
'Studio' Won't Pander
No Creative Changes Just To Boost Ratings
February 14, 2007
By ROGER CATLIN, Courant TV Critic
...
After being hailed as the most promising new show of the new season by a number of publications (including this one), "Studio 60" hasn't attracted the numbers or attention of his last project, "The West Wing," or even "Heroes," the comic-book-style show that precedes "Studio."
"I'm not sophisticated when it comes to crunching the numbers and analyzing the audience," Sorkin says. "But I can tell you this: Our audience is 10 percent bigger than you think it is."
It's the kind of brash phrase you'd imagine his counterpart, Matt Albie (Matthew Perry), would say in "Studio 60." But Sorkin persists.
"We're the No 1 time-shifted show on television," he says. "When you add the number of people who are recording the show and watching later in the week, the audience grows by over 10 percent - 10.9 percent."
Even so, the whole numbers thing has to be taken in context.
"When I compare the size of the `Studio 60' audience to the size of the `Sports Night' audience, I'm delighted," Sorkin says, referring to his late-'90s series.
"Would we like to have more people watching it?" he says. "Of course we would. But we're really happy with the audience that is watching it."
He reels off the numbers (just as Albie had earlier in the season about his show), about how upscale the audience is.
But there is a downside to such riches, Sorkin says. "Because it is a high-end audience, they all own TiVos." Hence, the hidden 10 percent.
As for getting a lot more people watching, "There isn't a lot we can do creatively," he says. And even if he could, "I think it's a mistake to do things creatively in order to attract that audience."
Even so, the show has been concentrating almost exclusively in recent episodes on romantic story lines.
"Hopefully, that is going to bring some people who wouldn't have otherwise been interested in the show," Sorkin says. But he insists the shift in emphasis wasn't done to bring in more people.
"The romantic comedy was intended all along," he says, nor was it suggested by the network, which he describes as "supportive as you could possibly imagine."
"It was really meant to be somewhat at its core a romantic comedy," NBC President Kevin Reilly says of "Studio 60."
At the same time, Reilly adds, "Aaron likes social relevance, pop-culture references, political references [and] being smart on the fly - and I think that's what really the true fans of the show love."
The network has promised a full season for the struggling show, averaging 9 million viewers. But it will take a break March 5 to make way for another series, "The Black Donnellys."
"Studio 60," from the start, might have been hobbled by high expectations.
"I'm very proud that there were, and are still, high expectations," Sorkin says. "It's not an advantage, though."
...
That leads to bad press, first about the ratings, and then stories that really rile Sorkin - newspapers quoting Internet bloggers dismissing the show.
"I do believe we've seen an enormous rise of amateurism," he says of the Internet slagging. "Everybody's voice oughtn't be equal."
But how does he feel about occasional complaints from legit critics that the show is smug or its sketches aren't funny?
"It's the cost of doing business. You get used to it," Sorkin says. "But I get it. I get when people write there's smugness to the show, there's an arrogance to the show. I get when people write that the characters on the show take television too seriously. Again, it's not fun to read. I don't necessarily agree with it."
He says he never intended to fill his shows with laughs from the occasional sketches. He meant to show only very brief scenes from the sketch show to indicate what they do - "the way, on `Sports Night,' we'd do a few seconds of news or, on `West Wing,' there'd be a few moments of chatter about the Council of Economic Advisers."
Besides, he says, "If you saw a random 10 seconds of `Wayne's World' or the Coneheads or any `SNL' sketch, you'd say you wouldn't think it was funny. You probably wouldn't get it.
Director and longtime Sorkin collaborator Thomas Schlamme says that showing the mechanics of comedy necessarily removes the laughs. "We're showing the magic. And the magic trick is not going to be that exciting once it's shown."
"I want to make it clear," Sorkin says of his drama, "you're not supposed to be finding it funny."
...
No Creative Changes Just To Boost Ratings
February 14, 2007
By ROGER CATLIN, Courant TV Critic
...
After being hailed as the most promising new show of the new season by a number of publications (including this one), "Studio 60" hasn't attracted the numbers or attention of his last project, "The West Wing," or even "Heroes," the comic-book-style show that precedes "Studio."
"I'm not sophisticated when it comes to crunching the numbers and analyzing the audience," Sorkin says. "But I can tell you this: Our audience is 10 percent bigger than you think it is."
It's the kind of brash phrase you'd imagine his counterpart, Matt Albie (Matthew Perry), would say in "Studio 60." But Sorkin persists.
"We're the No 1 time-shifted show on television," he says. "When you add the number of people who are recording the show and watching later in the week, the audience grows by over 10 percent - 10.9 percent."
Even so, the whole numbers thing has to be taken in context.
"When I compare the size of the `Studio 60' audience to the size of the `Sports Night' audience, I'm delighted," Sorkin says, referring to his late-'90s series.
"Would we like to have more people watching it?" he says. "Of course we would. But we're really happy with the audience that is watching it."
He reels off the numbers (just as Albie had earlier in the season about his show), about how upscale the audience is.
But there is a downside to such riches, Sorkin says. "Because it is a high-end audience, they all own TiVos." Hence, the hidden 10 percent.
As for getting a lot more people watching, "There isn't a lot we can do creatively," he says. And even if he could, "I think it's a mistake to do things creatively in order to attract that audience."
Even so, the show has been concentrating almost exclusively in recent episodes on romantic story lines.
"Hopefully, that is going to bring some people who wouldn't have otherwise been interested in the show," Sorkin says. But he insists the shift in emphasis wasn't done to bring in more people.
"The romantic comedy was intended all along," he says, nor was it suggested by the network, which he describes as "supportive as you could possibly imagine."
"It was really meant to be somewhat at its core a romantic comedy," NBC President Kevin Reilly says of "Studio 60."
At the same time, Reilly adds, "Aaron likes social relevance, pop-culture references, political references [and] being smart on the fly - and I think that's what really the true fans of the show love."
The network has promised a full season for the struggling show, averaging 9 million viewers. But it will take a break March 5 to make way for another series, "The Black Donnellys."
"Studio 60," from the start, might have been hobbled by high expectations.
"I'm very proud that there were, and are still, high expectations," Sorkin says. "It's not an advantage, though."
...
That leads to bad press, first about the ratings, and then stories that really rile Sorkin - newspapers quoting Internet bloggers dismissing the show.
"I do believe we've seen an enormous rise of amateurism," he says of the Internet slagging. "Everybody's voice oughtn't be equal."
But how does he feel about occasional complaints from legit critics that the show is smug or its sketches aren't funny?
"It's the cost of doing business. You get used to it," Sorkin says. "But I get it. I get when people write there's smugness to the show, there's an arrogance to the show. I get when people write that the characters on the show take television too seriously. Again, it's not fun to read. I don't necessarily agree with it."
He says he never intended to fill his shows with laughs from the occasional sketches. He meant to show only very brief scenes from the sketch show to indicate what they do - "the way, on `Sports Night,' we'd do a few seconds of news or, on `West Wing,' there'd be a few moments of chatter about the Council of Economic Advisers."
Besides, he says, "If you saw a random 10 seconds of `Wayne's World' or the Coneheads or any `SNL' sketch, you'd say you wouldn't think it was funny. You probably wouldn't get it.
Director and longtime Sorkin collaborator Thomas Schlamme says that showing the mechanics of comedy necessarily removes the laughs. "We're showing the magic. And the magic trick is not going to be that exciting once it's shown."
"I want to make it clear," Sorkin says of his drama, "you're not supposed to be finding it funny."
...
02-21-07 | 04:22 PM
#32
DVD Talk Limited Edition
"I want to make it clear," Sorkin says of his drama, "you're not supposed to be finding it funny."
I understand this. I really do. But it's difficult to buy that Matt is a comedy genius when you don't see ANYTHING that looks remotely funny. Even the names of the sketches don't seem funny.
In this regard I think 30 Rock has done a much better job, because the stuff with the show has become so secondary, that you don't get any insight on whether it's "funny" or not, as the small peeks you get are just over the top.
I understand this. I really do. But it's difficult to buy that Matt is a comedy genius when you don't see ANYTHING that looks remotely funny. Even the names of the sketches don't seem funny.
In this regard I think 30 Rock has done a much better job, because the stuff with the show has become so secondary, that you don't get any insight on whether it's "funny" or not, as the small peeks you get are just over the top.
02-21-07 | 10:05 PM
#33
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From: Missouri
You've really got to love Sorkin -- claiming that ratings for his awful show are low because of TiVo use by Studio 60's wealthy, sophisticated audience, and then basically dismissing the show's critics as philistines. You get the impression that Sorkin is a narcissistic dick when watching his shows, and he doesn't disappoint.
"I want to make it clear," Sorkin says of his drama, "you're not supposed to be finding it funny."
