NBS studio chief Jordan McDeere will keep her job for a while--NBC announced it is giving Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip a full season order.
Last week, rumors circulated that the show would be canceled due to poor ratings--after premiering with a solid 13.4 million viewers, the show slipped to 7.8 million viewers as of last Monday. The expensive drama, from West Wing creators Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, stars Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitoford, and D.L. Hughley in the behind-the-scenes story of a Saturday Night Live-type sketch comedy show.
Peet stars as McDeere, the new head of the fictional network NBS, whose career is riding on the fortunes of the show-within-the-show.
"I am pleased to show our support for this outstanding and ambitious effort from executive producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme," said NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly in a statement. "From the start, they have delivered the superb show that we wanted. The critical support has been rock-solid and there is a passionate core audience. We can't wait for what's going to come in the remainder of the season."
Although the show doesn't get as many viewers as the network would like, the quality of those viewers appeals to NBC. Studio 60 snares upscale, college-educated viewers in households with $75,000-plus and $100,000-plus incomes.
"It's a bull's-eye at the core of our brand," Reilly told Daily Variety. "I love the talent onscreen and off, and I want to give it the full season to work it out and fully discover its audience."
With the Studio 60 pickup out of the way, Reilly will turn his attention to two other high-profile new shows that haven't met expectations: Tina Fey's 30 Rock--which also follows a fictional sketch comedy show--and football drama Friday Night Lights.
"They're shows I'm trying to figure out how to support and give a real chance at growing," Reilly said. "We're trying to put together a sensible [January] schedule that can hold together in the middle of American Idol season."
Next week, 30 Rock will move from its Wednesday spot to Thursdays as NBC fashions an all-comedy block on the night. Rock's fellow Wednesday night freshman, Twenty Good Years, has already been canceled.
Lights was given a special spot last week after NBC's hit Heroes and showed marked improvement. The show scored 8.3 million viewers, better than its previous episode's 6.3 million.
Was worried about this one. If you haven't watched this yet, you should do yourself a service and catch an episode. It's a smart show with an excellent cast (hooray for Matthew Perry!). It's probably doing poorly in the ratings because it caters to the more intelligent viewer, what with the fast paced dialogue and the lack of a laughtrack. American viewers like to be told when they're supposed to be laughing!
If clever shows delivering dry humour sounds like something you wouldn't like, give it a pass. There's probably some UFC on Spike you can watch.
Dregor Thule wrote:If clever shows delivering dry humour sounds like something you wouldn't like, give it a pass. There's probably some UFC on Spike you can watch.
Nice elitist attitude you have there!
Last edited by Boogahz on November 14, 2006, 3:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Studio 60 quickly became the show I can't *not* watch. (Fuck tivo in the face for breaking on me since now I *have* to be home on Monday at 10 to watch it). It's clever, it's funny, it's believable and it deals with current issues given a comedic spin.
Laneela
You may take our lives, but you will never take our trousers!
I agree. This is a very good show. Great writing, great acting, and very good story lines so far. Cheeses of Nazareth. Gold. The Nevada 2 parter that just finished was excellent. John Goodman played a great character.
I don't know, I really liked the first couple episodes, and now I find myself not even watching it before it falls off of my Tivo. I think I just don't have enough time for another show (after Lost, Heroes, The OC) so I haven't made time to watch it.
It's relatively entertaining, I might just wait to watch it on DVD though.
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Dregor Thule wrote:If clever shows delivering dry humour sounds like something you wouldn't like, give it a pass. There's probably some UFC on Spike you can watch.
Nice elitist attitude you have there!
Thanks. I make no excuses for it or try to cover it up. Some people are just too stupid for some shows. If you're hurt by it, I'm sorry.
Friday Night Lights is a great show as well. It's a nice drama, and I always enjoy catching it when I can. I'm hoping it stays on the air as well, it's something I'd like to grab on DVDs in a few years.
Sylvus wrote:I don't know, I really liked the first couple episodes, and now I find myself not even watching it before it falls off of my Tivo. I think I just don't have enough time for another show (after Lost, Heroes, The OC) so I haven't made time to watch it.
It's relatively entertaining, I might just wait to watch it on DVD though.
If you didn't watch the last 2 episodes (the Pahrump ones), you missed out. They were pure genius.
Laneela
You may take our lives, but you will never take our trousers!
I'm pretty sure I have at least the last two on my Tivo, maybe I'll try to check them out tonight if I can. That's assuming that I should trust your taste, which has historically been pretty poor. Or maybe that's just in music...
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Sylvus wrote:I'm pretty sure I have at least the last two on my Tivo, maybe I'll try to check them out tonight if I can. That's assuming that I should trust your taste, which has historically been pretty poor. Or maybe that's just in music...
And friends... Male friends. That live in Michigan. And whose names start with an M, end in a T and have an AT in between.
Laneela
You may take our lives, but you will never take our trousers!
Dregor Thule wrote:If clever shows delivering dry humour sounds like something you wouldn't like, give it a pass. There's probably some UFC on Spike you can watch.
Nice elitist attitude you have there!
Thanks. I make no excuses for it or try to cover it up. Some people are just too stupid for some shows. If you're hurt by it, I'm sorry.
But not really.
I watch and enjoy it as well. My point was that you're not going to drag in any fans by insulting people who might not have seen it yet.
Dregor Thule wrote:I'm not insulting people who haven't seen it yet, I'm insulting people who usually find the type of show it is to be not their thing
So yeah... Fuck you, Mishatalmet!
Laneela
You may take our lives, but you will never take our trousers!
NBS studio chief Jordan McDeere will keep her job for a while--NBC announced it is giving Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip a full season order.
Last week, rumors circulated that the show would be canceled due to poor ratings--after premiering with a solid 13.4 million viewers, the show slipped to 7.8 million viewers as of last Monday. The expensive drama, from West Wing creators Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, stars Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitoford, and D.L. Hughley in the behind-the-scenes story of a Saturday Night Live-type sketch comedy show.
Peet stars as McDeere, the new head of the fictional network NBS, whose career is riding on the fortunes of the show-within-the-show.
"I am pleased to show our support for this outstanding and ambitious effort from executive producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme," said NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly in a statement. "From the start, they have delivered the superb show that we wanted. The critical support has been rock-solid and there is a passionate core audience. We can't wait for what's going to come in the remainder of the season."
Although the show doesn't get as many viewers as the network would like, the quality of those viewers appeals to NBC. Studio 60 snares upscale, college-educated viewers in households with $75,000-plus and $100,000-plus incomes.
"It's a bull's-eye at the core of our brand," Reilly told Daily Variety. "I love the talent onscreen and off, and I want to give it the full season to work it out and fully discover its audience."
With the Studio 60 pickup out of the way, Reilly will turn his attention to two other high-profile new shows that haven't met expectations: Tina Fey's 30 Rock--which also follows a fictional sketch comedy show--and football drama Friday Night Lights.
"They're shows I'm trying to figure out how to support and give a real chance at growing," Reilly said. "We're trying to put together a sensible [January] schedule that can hold together in the middle of American Idol season."
Next week, 30 Rock will move from its Wednesday spot to Thursdays as NBC fashions an all-comedy block on the night. Rock's fellow Wednesday night freshman, Twenty Good Years, has already been canceled.
Lights was given a special spot last week after NBC's hit Heroes and showed marked improvement. The show scored 8.3 million viewers, better than its previous episode's 6.3 million.
Was worried about this one. If you haven't watched this yet, you should do yourself a service and catch an episode. It's a smart show with an excellent cast (hooray for Matthew Perry!). It's probably doing poorly in the ratings because it caters to the more intelligent viewer, what with the fast paced dialogue and the lack of a laughtrack. American viewers like to be told when they're supposed to be laughing!
If clever shows delivering dry humour sounds like something you wouldn't like, give it a pass. There's probably some UFC on Spike you can watch.
And I'm the cocky and arrogant one. Just in case someone led you to believe otherwise, every single actor from the show Friends is absolutely worthless and could not act their way out of a paper fucking bag(ESPECIALLY Matthew Perry.)
But hey if thats not your taste, maybe you should catch an episode of "Arrogant, BitterElitist prick" (hooray for Dregor Tool.) You can catch it weekdays right here on the VV.
Bring it
Last edited by Funkmasterr on November 15, 2006, 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
Yeah, Funk, I'm sure everyone here will read your opinion on an actor and go 'Hey, that douchebag on VV is right, he can't act and furthermore he looks weird. Wow, I was wrong all this time!'.
Perry is a very good comedic actor, in my opinion, and he's showed on both West Wing and now in Studio 60 that he can do drama as well.
As far as arrogant and bitter? Hello little teapot with the tiny little spout!
IT'S HARD TO PUT YOUR FINGER ON IT; SOMETHING IS WRONG
I'M LIKE THE UNCLE WHO HUGGED YOU A LITTLE TOO LONG
Seriously. I can't help but love people who will get all pretentious about a fucking NETWORK TV SHOW. We're not talking about a Picasso here, we're talking about a show that's put together by people who regularly say things like "$10,000 to have Matthew Perry name-drop Coca-Cola? Done!"
I mean, go ahead and enjoy your TV show, I don't begrudge you that and I'm sure that it's 'more' intelligent than Cops or whatever it is that entertains plebians in your world, but to act like you're some sort of sophisticated aesthete because of your classy taste in fucking network television is beyond absurd.
Shrug, the article itself said that's the type of viewer the show is trying to attract.
Although the show doesn't get as many viewers as the network would like, the quality of those viewers appeals to NBC. Studio 60 snares upscale, college-educated viewers in households with $75,000-plus and $100,000-plus incomes.
Is Dregor being elitist or is he reflecting what the article says?
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Your distinction between network tv and what I must assume is cable tv (hbo, showtime and the like) is patently flawed. The biggest difference between the two comes down to 3 things: sex, swearing, and violence. For a show like Deadwood or Sopranos this is a must since all 3 are a large part about what makes the shows work. But with a show like Studio 60 those aren't factors, so I don't see why what channel it's being shown on should matter. Sure, there could be swearing and nudity but obviously the show doesn't need that to work. It would just be doing it for the sake of doing it. The show could be playing on any of the specialty channels right now, as is, and fit in perfectly without any of it, the quality is high enough.
Actually, I've never seen a premium cable show in my life (with the exception of the first season of Ali G). There certainly is a distinction to be made there, but the real distinction is between watching TV and doing something else. There are plenty of people who like to go out to museums, listen to top-notch jazz, read fascinating and provocative books, and watch some incredibly moronic shit on TV every now and then. I have a lot more respect for the sophistication and intelligence of someone who spends much of their time reading literature and complex educational non-fiction but occassionaly likes to watch a few guys kick each others asses on TV than I do for someone who sits around all day and watches TV and occassionaly stumbles across a show that's more intelligent than the rest of the shit that surrounds it. And I think that there's enough people in both of those categories for it to not be a frivolous counterexample.
Sylvus: You went to college. You should know as well as I the horrific taste that is often exhibited by 'upscale, college-educated' people. Additionaly, I'm sure you're aware that this is a sales pitch to advertisers as the show tries to charge high rates for advertising despite poor ratings. I don't believe I ever denied that Studio 60 catered to an upscale crowd. Rather, what I said was that defining yourself as part of that upscale crowd (and expanding the definition of upscale crowd to involve intelligence and good taste) BECAUSE you watch Studio 60 is absurd.
I found myself watching this show because the way my DVR works, after recording HEROES, it automaticly records the first part of studio 60. I watched the first few mins of a couple shows and just started recording the whole thing.
This is one of the *very* few shows on TV that my wife and i watch together. It really is good. This is coming from a guy that cannot stand Friends and would never watch more than 30 secs of it w/ my wife. I thought Matt Perry was a retard that sucked goat balls....untill this show.
He does a great job all the way around and the cynergy b/t him and the rest of the cast is really noticable.
I wish real sketch comedy were as good as the ones they half perform on the show. I loved the To Catch A Predator spoof with Santa. "It's what I do! Heh.."
Dregor Thule wrote:I wish real sketch comedy were as good as the ones they half perform on the show. I loved the To Catch A Predator spoof with Santa. "It's what I do! Heh.."
Thats what I was saying! The skits the show on the show are 100 times funner than anything on MAD TV or SNL. Also, this show is getting better every episode.
WOW - Eewy priest of Cenarius
EQ- Akanae Tendo officer of OTB ~retired~
COH - Akanae Empathy Defender on Pinnacle ~retired~
I must be the only one who thought this show was crap. I watched a couple episodes after Heroes and just didn't see the point. I really didn't like the way they filmed it either.
Deward wrote:I must be the only one who thought this show was crap. I watched a couple episodes after Heroes and just didn't see the point. I really didn't like the way they filmed it either.
Sorkin shows have a definite feel to them, the way the camera follows the characters as they weave in and out of rooms. Sports Night, West Wing, and now Studio 60. Lots of movement (not shakey cam!), lots of quick dialogue.
Deward wrote:I must be the only one who thought this show was crap. I watched a couple episodes after Heroes and just didn't see the point. I really didn't like the way they filmed it either.
Yes. Yes, you are. The only one in the world.
The Christmas episode was stellar. The New Orleans musicians' rendition of O Holy Night was phenfuckingnomenal.
Laneela
You may take our lives, but you will never take our trousers!
Deward wrote:I must be the only one who thought this show was crap. I watched a couple episodes after Heroes and just didn't see the point. I really didn't like the way they filmed it either.
Sorkin shows have a definite feel to them, the way the camera follows the characters as they weave in and out of rooms. Sports Night, West Wing, and now Studio 60. Lots of movement (not shakey cam!), lots of quick dialogue.
Sports Night was one of my favorite all time shows. Studio 60 is so similar to the feel of Sports Night it is scary.
3 weeks have passed without an episode and there are none coming according to my DVR. I'm hating life right now. All the fucking shit on TV and they can't pusha nd promote this as much as they push Ugly fucking Betty.
Deward wrote:I must be the only one who thought this show was crap. I watched a couple episodes after Heroes and just didn't see the point. I really didn't like the way they filmed it either.
I would like to derail this slightly and say that I think 30 Rock is an hilarious show. Studio 60 is entertaining in a different way, I don't find it laugh-out-loud funny, but 30 Rock cracks me up. I just caught the last two episodes on tivo last night, and the Source awards one was great. If you like the premise of Studio 60 and it isn't for your tastes, give 30 Rock a go.
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Meanwhile, the news doesn't look so good for NBC's other low-rated SNL-inspired backstage series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The Aaron Sorkin-helmed drama, starring Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, has failed to generate the critical heat of 30 Rock and has been pulled from NBC's schedule with no return date in sight.
Meanwhile, the news doesn't look so good for NBC's other low-rated SNL-inspired backstage series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The Aaron Sorkin-helmed drama, starring Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, has failed to generate the critical heat of 30 Rock and has been pulled from NBC's schedule with no return date in sight.
Fuck.
30 Rock was a dumbed down version of Studio 60. It's no surprise it is doing better. Did you see the returns on Norbert? Case closed.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip returns to the NBC schedule on May 24, presumably to just run the rest of the episodes they have filmed. Hopefully they knew they were ending early while filming so they can end the show in a good way.
By the way, May 24 is a Thursday. The show will air at 10pm in the slot currently occupied by ER. I wonder what would have happened to the show if it had originally been in this slot, or maybe an hour earlier. Oh well. I guess the best way to think of it now is as a long miniseries, one that will have around 22 episodes and a conclusion.
30 Rock is well written and funny. I liked Studio 60 too, but sometimes it did the famous Sorkin "look we are all really smart, listen to us on this issue" preachiness. Both are good shows, Matthew Perry was amazing in his role and the humor is subtle, but to say 30 Rock is a dumbed down version, in my opinion is wrong.
30 Rock just brought up the black coalition going after Tracy Morgan for his role on the show, which was one of things that people theorized about Chapelle. The issue with Obama and Osama was hilarious. If you don't get the humor don't always blame it on the show.
Oh herre we go. I get the humor and it's funny. I TIVO 30 Rock. I enjoy it, but it is a dumbed down version of Studio 60. Studio is a much more adult, intelligent and humorous show than 30 Rock.
30 Rock is essentially a sitcom and Studio 60 is a drama. The only similarities that they share is that they are both set in a comedy/variety show environment and they are both broadcast on NBC. They are about as similar as Caddyshack is to The Legend of Bagger Vance.
Studio 60 is no more intelligent or adult than 30 Rock and is probably a less-accurate portrayal of life behind the scenes of a comedy show than 30 Rock is. One is simply a drama and the other is a comedy, and one is better than the other as evidenced by its return next season and the other's demise.
And before you bring up your "big picture" argument or say that 30 Rock does better because people are stupid (which is the pinnacle of irony), remember that West Wing was written by the same guy, was also a drama, and was a great show that got decent ratings and ran for a number of years. It was enjoyed by that same smart crowd that should be enjoying Studio 60 and is not, because Sorkin fell flat on this one. 60 is a decent show but could have been much better. They probably should have tried to make a show about a comedy show more humorous than a show about the White House, but it's really not.
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Thanks for the recommendation peoples. I watch very little TV, but you guys talked me into checking this one out. Im up to Episode 4. The last one ended with the show at a high "you know theres only one place we can go from here". I cant to see where they go from here =)
Anyway, thanks!
I think I just don't have enough time for another show (after Lost, Heroes, The OC) so I haven't made time to watch it.
