Tuesday, September 19, 2006

NBC helping me feel slightly less jealous of friends with HBO

I'm not normally much for TV shows. Not to say I don't watch TV, because everyone watches TV. Want to spot a pretentious liar? Ask someone if they watch TV, and if they say "no," you've got your liar. But for the most part, I'm more of a sports watcher than a show watcher.

Anyway, I watched the premiere of
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip last night on NBC, and what can I say, I loved it. Matthew Perry and Brad Whitford are a good foundation, Amanda Peet is smoking hot, and there seems to be fertile ground for comedy, drama, and social commentary (which, unlike the rest of the world, I think is actually a good thing). The Post review was fairly negative, but I disagree. Tom Shales said it was "more ho-hum than ho-ho," but I noticed that rather than go directly for laughs, the show tried to do things like "develop the characters" and "establish the story" in this first episode. Maybe the first episode isn't the best place to do that? Hey, I'm no high-salary TV critic.

Also this week is the season premiere of
The Office, also on NBC (I'll take that payment in cash, thanks, NBC). This is probably my favorite show on TV right now. Hilarious, believable, relatable, and affecting. What more could you want? Plus, with Jim confessing his feelings for Pam, I haven't been this emotionally involved in a romantic subplot since Kevin Arnold wooed Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years. Couldya die?

So it should be good. Hey, with the way football season is shaping up so far, I could use some new TV diversions.

Hyperlinks:
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Not Live! Not From New York! It's 'Studio 60'... [Washington Post]
-
The Office [NBC]
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Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip [NBC]

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3 comments:

Masterlock Jr. said...

not big on many shows either, but i'll tell ya, The Office is effin great. not just from relating to working in "Lumberg" hell, but the characters are money...esp "Dwigt", and the comedy is NOT your standard issue of wisecracks and family laughers. one show i will definitely be watching.

good luck with the skins too.

Train Wreck said...

Dude, just watched the "encore" presentation of Studio 60 and it was FUCKING AWESOME. Really. I am totally hooked. Aaron Sorkin doing exactly what he was born to do. You can see all the usual themes (drug addiction, liberals taking a stand, hot-ass conservatives, etc.) as well as many of the old characters (josh and danny from the west wing, and even felicity huffman from sports night). I gotta say, I wasn't all that excited for any new show this season, but this one is fucking good.

MSH said...

Felicity Huffman was in Sports Night?