studio 60
The Long Lead Story & The Wrap Party
Original Air Dates: Oct 16, 2006 & Oct 22, 2006
Rachel M – Associate Staff Writer
rachelm@thetwocentscorp.com
Per Brittany’s request I will do more recapping in these future installments. I have to selfishly admit that I’m enjoying watching them so much that I forget that I’m supposed to be writing about them! But I will try to be better. So here we go, into two fantastic episodes!
The Long Lead Story: Tonight we see Matt eat it. With the reporter from Vanity Fair (played by Christine Lahti) hovering over Matt, he has less than 24 hours to finish writing the show and he needs another 15 minutes of material, which is a mammoth task. There’s a bit of back and forth, and Matt and Martha make a bet that she can goad him into talking about Harriet. Of course, Martha goes straight to Harriet. The ensuing conversation is Harriet’s life story, her mother was the religious one, and as the only girl with six older brothers, Harriet had a special bond with her mother through their religion. It’s also story of how Harriet became a comedian, a dancer and a singer. We learn that Harriet was discovered by Danny, not by Matt which people assume. While they’re talking, Sting is doing his sound check on a lute, which Martha quickly brushes Harriet aside for, except for one more question. About how Matt became a star when Harriet arrived, of course Harriet avoids the question.
Jordan goes to Danny to ask for his help about a show she wants to snag for the network by a young up and coming writer about the United Nations. This part has always reminded me about Aaron as a young writer pitching a show about the president, but that’s not the way that show went down. Danny says no because he has “street cred.” Later Jordan is in a pitch meeting, in which the skeeviest guy alive pitches a reality show in which they break couples up by exposing their secrets to each other and one another. The look on Jordan’s face is priceless, and one I recognize as being a complete inner struggle to maintain a look of pleasant interest despite despising the idea. The producer of this filth is a huge hit maker, but Jordan decides to pass even though Jack disagrees.
Suzanne (the lovable intern) goes to Tom for help, she’s told Martha about the distressingly sweet but misguided story of when Matt went to have a Bombshell Baby boot signed to make Harriet jealous. Danny and Matt have a conversation about the show, and Matt insists the show has to be good when he hands it to the cast, rather than the cast having to lift the level of the writing.
So Tom goes to Martha to try and fix things and tells Martha to attribute the story to him instead of Suzanne. When Simon comes in, Tom tries to bring him up to speed outside, Martha hears everything through Simon’s mic pack, effectively disabusing him of the notion that he’s a super spy. So Jack takes Jordan to the big head honcho to convince him that she has to do the show, but instead he sides with Jordan. During the show that night, Simon has to tell Harriet about the total snafu that has now happened with Martha. When Martha says goodbye to Matt, she reminds him that even though the country is divided, Harriet and Matt come together every week despite their differences. We learn that the reason Matt and Harriet broke out at the same time is because he was trying to impress her.
Jordan pitches to the young writer, who still believes his show should be on HBO (and he makes a good point). When Danny enters the room, he pulls the writer aside and then the writer says yes. Apparently Danny has street cred after all! Sting, on his lute, plays Fields of Gold. During which Matt and Harriet have a balcony romance scene, in which they both ignore their feelings for each other. Now normally, on again off again relationships drive me crazy, in both television and real life, but something about them just seems so authentic.
The Wrap Party: This show takes place at the wrap party directly following the show we just watched. The wrap party is in the studio, which is always fun I’m sure. As Cal yells “Suzanne, tarps over everything!” Teehee. We follow Jeannie all the way through the studio in one of those beautiful long walk and talks sweeping camera shots. Just to find Harriet who has just almost kissed Matt. Tom’s parents are visiting, and they are from the boondocks of Columbus, Ohio, and they don’t really “get” what Tom does. Simon and Matt are going to a comedy club to check out a guy. Matt and Lauren Graham (as the guest host) have a tete-a-tete in which she has to go back for his number. Danny introduces him to a couple of young hot things one of whom is named Treasure. They are dumber than a box of rocks. Luckily Simon steals Matt away to go see this guy at the comedy club. Simon suggests that Matt needs to diversify the writing room, and he convinces Matt to see the guy. The guy they’ve gone to see is…well…not funny. Simon is disappointed, and pissed off about the level of comedy that guy is doing.
While they sit at the bar, we learn more about Simon’s rough childhood in South Central LA. He was saved from a life, and feels beholden to save as many other youth he can. Then they hear the silence of a comedian who is bombing, in that bomb though, they find genius in Darius. So they go backstage and hire him on the spot to start writing for Studio 60.
In one of the BEST side stories of the season, Cal intervenes when he sees an elderly man being escorted out of the building. Security is taking him out because they don’t know how he got backstage and he was just trying to take a picture and keeps saying “tars and spars.” He appears to have Alzheimers or something, but Cal leads him to a room to try and find out who he is. When Cal asks for his name, he gives him three names, which turn out to be the names of six of the Hollywood ten. Who were the big names in comedy in the 1940’s. Turns out he is a WWII veteran who was at the landing of Normandy, he was also a comedy writer on the original show who got one sketch on the air before the blacklist took everyone’s job away. Matt, Danny and Cal spend the rest of night talking to the old man. He starts to describing everyone in the picture to them, and he talks about Rosemary and how the only sketch he got on the air is because he was trying to write well enough so she would notice him. Sound like anyone we know?
Tom is giving his parents a tour of theater, most of the name-dropping he does goes straight over their heads, they’ve never heard of “Who’s On First.” Through Tom’s tour we learn about the history of the theatre. Tom is incredibly defensive; because he can’t live up to his little brother is a soldier in the post 9/11 war. As predicted Tom’s father asks him if he needs money before they leave, which Tom can’t see is his way of showing his love. Tom gives his Dad an LP of “Who’s on First” and tells him he loves him.
Jordan goes to the girls of the cast, because she has no friends. Jordan makes a fool of herself, and is asks if Harriet’s baseball boyfriend will sign a ball for her. When she finally tracks him down, he asks her about the clubs, and then discovers that he wrote his phone number on the ball. Ick!
So that’s another two episodes! In them we learn a lot about the Big Three and where they’re coming from. What do you think? Are you as obsessed as I am? Leave your Two Cents!
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TheTwoCents 
Every time I see Sting on ANYTHING now, I always think of that Family Guy joke: “You can only understand every third word he says.”
These were two really good episodes, and I think they show what Studio 60 could have been if it had been allowed to develop more. The genius of Sports Night, IMO, was partly because we didn’t know who the heck these people were – unless you count Robert Guillaume and to a lesser extent Felicity Huffman – and so the show was full of unknowns, left to develop on its own, not even really pushed. Studio 60, with all the hype and big-name casting in some parts, made me feel sometimes like NBC was trying to force The Next Big Thing instead of letting it just be.