Post by Jess on Feb 24, 2007 17:58:27 GMT -5
Here's the thing that bugs me: Studio 60 should be an awesome show. Looking at the pilot alone - great actors, fantastic writing including some wonderful Sorkinesque speeches, characters I genuinely want to get to know better. And for the most part, it still has all those things. Aaron Sorkin's a talented writer and even his bad shows tend to be at least on par with the average hour drama. Sure, I'd wince every time they wheeled out the monumentally unfunny sketches and roll my eyes every time somebody swooned over Matt's awesomely awesome writing, but he and Danny are still a great pair, Tom is still the most adorkable thing ever, Cal continues to crack me up at every turn and Jack is as fascinating as he is awesome.
And yet, somewhere along the line Studio 60 stopped being Studio 60 and started being The Aaron Sorkin Show. Self-insertion is a slightly irksome tendency of Sorkin's - he did the same in The West Wing with Josh. Now, don't get me wrong, Josh is one of my favourite characters in TWW and I love him to death, but it was fairly obvious on occasion (LemonLyman.com, anyone?) who Sorkin cast himself as.
This, however, wasn't a problem. Like I said, he's a talented writer and even when he's whining at his critics he can still spin a good yarn. Even when he very blatantly cast Matt and Danny as himself and Tommy Schlamme, it wasn't a big deal, just a niggling concern. But when he began passing his own issues onto the other characters? Then it got a little annoying.
I liked Matt and Harriet's relationship initially. I thought it was engaging and interesting, until it became clear that it was only a thinly-veiled representation of Sorkin and Kristin Chenoweth's relationship. Leaving aside all the obvious parallels - The 700 Club, the lingerie spread, the gays gaffe - which are all dealt with with a mixture of self-deprecation towards Matt and irritating condescension towards Harriet... Harriet cruelly taunts Matt with her "anti-Matt" lover before realising (gasp!) that there are oh-so-many wonderful things about Matt, like omg.
Not only that, but after Matt - in a frankly creepy display of possessiveness - buys the right to date Harriet solely because he thought another guy was interested in her and is, albeit somewhat harshly, relieved any delusions he had about their relationship, it's Harriet who gets the blame! She gets an earful from Danny, as if it's somehow her fault that Matt is a drug-addled wreck, and then continues to beat herself up over it as she screeches over the construction of a suicide scene (oh, symbolism).
It's ironic that in an episode about sexism, the lead female character is cast as little more than an accessory to the lead male.
This isn't the show I signed on for. I'm not interested in creepy-stalker!Danny or angsty-pity-me!Aaron. I feel as if Matt and Harriet have taken a fast track to Dana/Caseyville (srsly, they'll roll out the dating plan any second) and in the process, all the characters I love - non-creepy!Danny, Jack, Tom, Cal and Simon - have fallen by the wayside.
...umm, which would be in large part why I haven't updated the site in so long. Sorry about that.
And yet, somewhere along the line Studio 60 stopped being Studio 60 and started being The Aaron Sorkin Show. Self-insertion is a slightly irksome tendency of Sorkin's - he did the same in The West Wing with Josh. Now, don't get me wrong, Josh is one of my favourite characters in TWW and I love him to death, but it was fairly obvious on occasion (LemonLyman.com, anyone?) who Sorkin cast himself as.
This, however, wasn't a problem. Like I said, he's a talented writer and even when he's whining at his critics he can still spin a good yarn. Even when he very blatantly cast Matt and Danny as himself and Tommy Schlamme, it wasn't a big deal, just a niggling concern. But when he began passing his own issues onto the other characters? Then it got a little annoying.
I liked Matt and Harriet's relationship initially. I thought it was engaging and interesting, until it became clear that it was only a thinly-veiled representation of Sorkin and Kristin Chenoweth's relationship. Leaving aside all the obvious parallels - The 700 Club, the lingerie spread, the gays gaffe - which are all dealt with with a mixture of self-deprecation towards Matt and irritating condescension towards Harriet... Harriet cruelly taunts Matt with her "anti-Matt" lover before realising (gasp!) that there are oh-so-many wonderful things about Matt, like omg.
Not only that, but after Matt - in a frankly creepy display of possessiveness - buys the right to date Harriet solely because he thought another guy was interested in her and is, albeit somewhat harshly, relieved any delusions he had about their relationship, it's Harriet who gets the blame! She gets an earful from Danny, as if it's somehow her fault that Matt is a drug-addled wreck, and then continues to beat herself up over it as she screeches over the construction of a suicide scene (oh, symbolism).
It's ironic that in an episode about sexism, the lead female character is cast as little more than an accessory to the lead male.
This isn't the show I signed on for. I'm not interested in creepy-stalker!Danny or angsty-pity-me!Aaron. I feel as if Matt and Harriet have taken a fast track to Dana/Caseyville (srsly, they'll roll out the dating plan any second) and in the process, all the characters I love - non-creepy!Danny, Jack, Tom, Cal and Simon - have fallen by the wayside.
...umm, which would be in large part why I haven't updated the site in so long. Sorry about that.
