d.l. hughley

(S01E04) Unlike many people, I like the Harriet Hayes character. And I like the way that Sarah Paulson is playing her. It's a distinctive performance: very precise in her delivery, graceful, even when she's yelling about something or irritated. And she's a very religious person, but one that's on a late night show doing satire. I don't see anything wrong with what she's doing or how she's written. I actually find the way she acts really believable. I know people like Harriet Hayes.

Having said that, I didn't really enjoy the opening scene of this show. I thought that (for the most part) Matt and Harriet had made up an episode or two ago. And I thought the argument (Matt's upset that Harriet gets a signed bat from a pitcher) was a little too forced, and I thought the Matt and Harriet love plot was going to take over the entire show. But then something happened in this episode, around the 19 minute mark, like something snapped and the episode started to soar, started to click, and showed how dramatic the backstage goings on at a TV show can be.

(S01E03) I'll get to the review in a moment, but first, a confession.

When I was a struggling writer who lived from paycheck to paycheck (when I had a paycheck), I signed up to do a lot of focus groups. They were easy, they paid $75, and all you had to do was sit around for an hour or two with a bunch of other people and talk about a product or a service. The thing is, and anyone who has gone to a focus group will admit this if they're being honest, is that they are filled with liars. Including me. They talk to you on the phone and ask you a bunch of questions about the focus group they're having, to see if they need you. Do you like Austrailian wine? Sure, I drink it all the time! Are you allergic to anything? Yup, I'm allergic to peanuts! Do you have kids? Oh yeah, I have five!

Anything for the $75.

(S01E02) If it's possible, this second episode was even better than the first.

Where the first episode took a lot of time introducing all of the various characters (it had to, with such a large cast), this one jumps right into the action, and the episode is borderline brilliant. It's Monday morning, three days after the events of the first episode, and Jordan McDeere starts her first full day as the new president of NBS by holding a press conference to introduce Matt and Danny.

Of course, things don't go as planned...

(S01E01) OK, I'm going to make a bold statement here, so I hope you're sitting down. I assume you are because you're in front of a computer, but if you're standing for some reason, please, sit down.

All set? OK, here goes: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is the best new show of the fall.

And I say that even though I haven't yet seen the other show being touted as the best new show, ABC's The Nine. The tape is sitting to the left of me as I type this, so I'll be watching it soon (thanks ABC for sending me a tape instead of a DVD. What, is this 1999?). But I can't imagine that the show has the combination that Studio 60 has after two episodes. One is the obvious quality right out of the gate (creator, writer, director, cast, etc), and the other is this incredible, palpable feeling you get watching it that, even though everything doesn't work across the board, you know it could get even better. That the strong moments far, far outweigh the bad moments.

And it's straight out entertaining as hell.

I'll have a full review of the Studio 60 pilot after the show premieres this Monday (NBC, 10pm), but here's a sneak peek at what you can expect, and my first impressions.

I haven't seen all of the pilots yet. I've seen many of them, and Studio 60 stands so far above them it's almost like they have to say, "this isn't television, it's Studio 60," but HBO already snagged that tag line. Besides, there's nothing else on TV that's more TV than Studio 60, since it's set in the world of television.

Interesting piece over at The New York Times about the highly-anticipated new NBC show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. There's been a lot of talk about how this is creator/writer Aaron Sorkin's most personal work yet, because it features a writer who had a relapse into cocaine use (Bradley Whitford), a former flame of Perry's character who is a devout Christian (Sorkin dated The West Wing's Kristin Chenoweth), and even features a powerful female network exec played by Amanda Peet (Jamie Tarses was an exec at both ABC and NBC at one point).

And Sorkin says...it's true! But he goes on to say that the truth is only in the basic setup of the show and some of the characters, not the actual episodes that follow. Hmmm...

The article also explains how Sorkin and his staff write each show, what the set is like (it's bigger than the West Wing set), how the fictional show-within-a-show comedy sketches will be incorporated into the plots, and what Sorkin is working on next.

(By the way, AOL has the exclusive premiere of Studio 60 and other NBC shows on its web site this week, and we'll have full coverage of the show, including an early review, coming soon. The show premieres Monday, September 18 at 10pm.)