(S01E07) Why do I get the feeling that half of the audience who watched this episode tonight said, "hey, they finally focused on small town America!" and the other half is cringed and said, "oh no, why did they focus on small town America?"

Tom is arrested in Pahrump, Nevada on Friday afternoon, charged with speeding and possession of marijuana, and the judge doesn't want to hear from anyone else in his office (Danny, Jack, Simon, the NBS lawyer, or the two Chinese) except Tom, so Tom tells the judge exactly what happened to get him in handcuffs, dressed like Jesus Christ.

To paraphrase a famous quote, rumors of Studio 60's death may have been greatly exaggerated.

An NBC spokesman says that not only is the show not canceled, it is actually profitable, and last week's ratings were up from the week before. The network likes the show, and they are going over the ratings numbers, but it looks like the show would be moved to a different time slot instead of just canceled outright.

One thing the article says that I don't agree with is this: if Friday Night Lights got great ratings last night (haven't seen the numbers yet), that could spell trouble for Studio 60. But that's not true. CSI: Miami was a repeat last night, so you would expect whatever NBC had in the time slot to do well, or better. Though if the numbers aren't great...now that would be interesting, and might prove it's a time slot thing and not the show itself.

[via TV Tattle]

Update: Friday Night Lights got its best ratings yet.

(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...