Studio 60 1.11 - The Christmas Show
Dec. 5th, 2006 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caz963Okay, this would be the part where I jump up and down and say that I called it right about the Daddy!
Sorkin always did give us a great Christmas show, and this was no exception. Another really good episode that flew by and I liked it a lot. The end was fabulous – I had a lump in my throat listening to the music and looking at those images.
Anyway first, Jordan’s visit to the OBGYN – which takes place the Monday after the Friday at the end of last week’s show (I think).
Jordan: Why are you here?
Danny: Morale.
Jordan: I really don’t need help.
Danny: Not now, but you will soon, ‘cause this says you’re gonna have to make a journey of twelve-hundred miles to bury your eggs in the warm mud.
Danny’s in protective mode again when he asks Jordan who the baby’s father is:
Danny: I don’t want to know him.
Jordan: How do you know?
Danny: Because if he was someone I wanted to know, he’d be here.
And eventually she tells him it was the ex-boyfriend at the insurance company.
Matt is determined to get everyone into Christmas mode and spread a little seasonal cheer throughout the team! Helped later, not at all ably by Tom and Simon.
Matt: I carry with me the true meaning of Christmas.
Darius: You carry with you a dead Christmas tree.
Matt: Okay, Ebenezer. First of all, all Christmas trees are dead, they’ve been chopped down; second of all, I forgive you for slagging my tree because I carry with me the true meaning of Christmas.
Matt wants to do a proper Christmas themed show this year, despite the fact that Wes always ignored it:
Andy: LA just doesn’t feel like Christmas.
Matt: We’re going to make it feel like Christmas
Lucy: We can put your tree on the stage and it’ll be just like Dickensian London
Matt: Hey, that happens to be a noble fir – those things grow to be two hundred feet tall.
Darius: Yeah, I don’t think that one’s going to make it.
(Andy’s still here – yay! Hope he’s staying for longer!)
There’s been an earthquake in Fontana (?) and a couple of warehouses have collapsed, including the one storing all Studio 60’s set dressing stuff – so Cal comes up with an alternative way of faking snow – using coconuts. That’s a great scene between Matt, Danny and Cal – they’re all bouncing off each other really well (as you’d expect) and Brad was doing the thing with the pushed up sleeves and glasses perched on the end of his nose which means I got distracted. (And that little lisp is very sexy… um… where was I?) Oh – the coconuts! A good idea, until all the flakes melt together under the lights during the show and the backstage team has to frantically shave more coconuts!
Danny then tells Matt and Cal that Jordan’s pregnant and that he went to her doctor’s appointment with her. Then Matt asks the question:
Matt: Danny? Why were you at the doctor?
Danny (trying to look innocent and failing miserably) Hm?
Matt: Why were you at the doctor?
Danny: Because I wanted to be.
Matt gets a knowing little smirk on his face and nods.
I get the feeling from that, and the other bits and pieces throughout the show that he’s seen this before… like later when he asks Danny when the baby’s due and what Jordan’s going to do about the upfronts.
Matt: Danny? You’re caring more about other people than you usually do.
Danny: You’re the one who just said what’s she going to do about the upfronts -
Matt: It was just an idle question, then I moved on to other things in my head (Gotta love the recyling!)
Danny: So was mine.
Matt: No it wasn’t, it was genuine interest.
Another knowing look and Matt leaves, coming back when he hears Danny smacking the desk in exasperation.
Matt: What?
Danny: Nothing
Matt: Say it
Danny: Nothing
Matt: Just say it out loud
I think we all know what Matt’s trying to get Danny to admit to -and he's clearly having a lot of fun with it! Yeah, he's definitely seen this before.
Danny’s still smacking the desk when Harriet goes to see him about the movie she’s been offered:
Matt: I’m an executive producer, too
Harriet: Yeah, but I need to talk to the one that’s important
Simon and Tom are very sceptical about Christmas, and although Matt initially tells them to give the writing team (which is still Lucy, Darius and Andy) a hand, they end up bringing them over to the “Dark Side”, so all they’ve done for two days instead of writing is look stuff up on the internet, about how the Star of Bethlehem was actually a comet, there weren’t actually three wise men and Jesus was born in 5BC, and not in December. Tom and Simon are preoccupied with the “logic” rather than the “magic” of Christmas, it seems!
Why do men always assume that pregnant women eat like horses? Speaking from my own experience and that of friends and thinking about other people I know… I never did it (and believe me, I have a pretty healthy appetite!), friends never did it and people we know never did it. I did get the odd craving, but really, stuffing your face like that? Someone’s now going to tell me that they were like that, or their friend was, but it just seems like a total cliché to have a pregnant woman eating everything in sight.
Was it me or was the fact that Danny knew where Jordan was born and where she went to school a little… odd? It was probably just there to show that his “I know you” comment in the opening scene had foundation, but I still thought it was strange – I didn’t know stuff like that about my last boss and I worked for him for three years!
I have at least to give Jordan credit for checking out Danny’s ass at the end of that scene. She’s not completely, clueless, then!
I thought the Santa sketch was funny (at last! A funny sketch!) – reminds me of one of Jasper Carrott’s (I think it was him) monologues about Santa. How we tell our kids all the time to be wary of strangers… but then tell them that at Christmas, late at night, in the dark, when they’re asleep this funny man with a big white beard will come down the chimney into their bedroom... no wonder kids don’t sleep on Christmas!
My love for Jack grows by the week. Really. He’s in the shit with the FCC through no fault of his own, (someone said the word “fuck” on a news report when they were under fire in Afghanistan) the network is looking at losing a lot of money in fines and yet – when Jordan tells him she’s pregnant, he’s calm and sweet and congratulates her.
Beautifully done.
This –
You have to understand – that pro-family groups support our troops in this time of war – just as long as we don’t have to see or hear what our troops fighting a war looks and sounds like.
- was perfect, by the way.
And Jordan showed some of that spunk Jack professed to dislike when she told him to lawyer up and fight.
So he offers his resignation to Wilson White, because the FCC could block the Macau deal. To Jack’s (and probably our) surprise, White backs him and is ready to battle with the FCC in the courts. This is the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life.
Harriet forgets her name after Matt kisses her! Can’t say as I blame her, mind you – I’m amazed she could stand up!
And then the final montage – Holy Night played by the band from New Orleans with black and white pictures projected in the background. The one that really got me was the one that said “All I want for Christmas is my city back.”
It’s during this that Danny slips away to finally “say it” to Jordan – who still hasn’t stopped eating – and looks like a hamster during this:
I’ve been married twice before and I’m a recovering cocaine addict and I know that’s no woman’s dream of a man… or a father. Nonetheless, I believe I’m falling in love with you. If you want to run I understand, but you’d better get a good head start, ‘cause I’m coming for you, Jordan.
See here’s my problem. Brad saying something like that, with that look on his face and in that tone of voice just melted my brain – and other parts of me. But there’s something that doesn’t sit quite right yet with me, and I’ve spent most of the day trying to come up with what it is. But I can’t. I sat here and wrote loads and deleted it and wrote more and deleted that, so I’ve decided I’m going to reserve judgment and see how it plays out. Sorkin’s going there and doesn’t care whether I like it or not – and to be honest, I’m pretty ambivalent at this stage – I’m willing to be convinced (*rolls eyes at Sal and Linz*). Brad is of course completely adorable and pwns me totally, so I’d watch whatever he did and enjoy it. I love him, I don’t hate her – I do think things are being rushed (which I think is part of the problem), but hopefully Sorkin will come up with something unusual and surprise me.
So now, a five – or is it six? – week break until January – then we get seven weeks followed by a ridiculous mid-season break before the final four episodes. I’ve said this elsewhere, but can I just say again what a completely stupid idea that is? Thankfully, we don’t do that sort of thing in the UK – which is probably why we get shows after they’ve aired in the US (I think S60 starts here in Jan sometime) – that way at least we get the whole run straight through. But really, what on earth are the guys at NBC smoking? I know Studio 60 isn’t the only show to suffer this treatment, but surely, given it’s in its first season and has had a very shaky start (to say the least) it makes little sense to treat it in the same way as established shows such as ER or Lost. I can’t see that an interruption of up to thirteen weeks in the scheduling would do much for those shows either, but at least they’ve been around a while and already have big audiences… they can probably afford to lose a few viewers! To speak nothing of losing the plot! (Do they show repeats during the hiatus?)
So we’re exactly half way through Season One of Studio 60 now. And it’s nice to be able to say that, given the way things were looking a few weeks back. I think it’s getting better and better each week – if the word could get out and bring in a few more viewers, that’d be good too! As presumably, would be some GG nods. I’d think Matt Perry would be up for Best Actor in a Drama, because I don’t think he’s ever been better and he’s really showing people who may only really have seen him as Chandler that he’s capable of much more. Brad hasn’t been given a great deal to do, even though he’s always excellent, so I can’t see anything happening there – maybe Steven Weber will be up for Best Supporting Actor? Pure speculation on my part and probably completely wrong.
Anyway, I think I’ll use the Christmas break to watch from the pilot again – I haven’t really had a chance to re-watch any of the episodes since they aired, so that’ll give me something to do in between shopping, cooking, working and all the other festive season stuff that’s going on!
Sorkin always did give us a great Christmas show, and this was no exception. Another really good episode that flew by and I liked it a lot. The end was fabulous – I had a lump in my throat listening to the music and looking at those images.
Anyway first, Jordan’s visit to the OBGYN – which takes place the Monday after the Friday at the end of last week’s show (I think).
Jordan: Why are you here?
Danny: Morale.
Jordan: I really don’t need help.
Danny: Not now, but you will soon, ‘cause this says you’re gonna have to make a journey of twelve-hundred miles to bury your eggs in the warm mud.
Danny’s in protective mode again when he asks Jordan who the baby’s father is:
Danny: I don’t want to know him.
Jordan: How do you know?
Danny: Because if he was someone I wanted to know, he’d be here.
And eventually she tells him it was the ex-boyfriend at the insurance company.
Matt is determined to get everyone into Christmas mode and spread a little seasonal cheer throughout the team! Helped later, not at all ably by Tom and Simon.
Matt: I carry with me the true meaning of Christmas.
Darius: You carry with you a dead Christmas tree.
Matt: Okay, Ebenezer. First of all, all Christmas trees are dead, they’ve been chopped down; second of all, I forgive you for slagging my tree because I carry with me the true meaning of Christmas.
Matt wants to do a proper Christmas themed show this year, despite the fact that Wes always ignored it:
Andy: LA just doesn’t feel like Christmas.
Matt: We’re going to make it feel like Christmas
Lucy: We can put your tree on the stage and it’ll be just like Dickensian London
Matt: Hey, that happens to be a noble fir – those things grow to be two hundred feet tall.
Darius: Yeah, I don’t think that one’s going to make it.
(Andy’s still here – yay! Hope he’s staying for longer!)
There’s been an earthquake in Fontana (?) and a couple of warehouses have collapsed, including the one storing all Studio 60’s set dressing stuff – so Cal comes up with an alternative way of faking snow – using coconuts. That’s a great scene between Matt, Danny and Cal – they’re all bouncing off each other really well (as you’d expect) and Brad was doing the thing with the pushed up sleeves and glasses perched on the end of his nose which means I got distracted. (And that little lisp is very sexy… um… where was I?) Oh – the coconuts! A good idea, until all the flakes melt together under the lights during the show and the backstage team has to frantically shave more coconuts!
Danny then tells Matt and Cal that Jordan’s pregnant and that he went to her doctor’s appointment with her. Then Matt asks the question:
Matt: Danny? Why were you at the doctor?
Danny (trying to look innocent and failing miserably) Hm?
Matt: Why were you at the doctor?
Danny: Because I wanted to be.
Matt gets a knowing little smirk on his face and nods.
I get the feeling from that, and the other bits and pieces throughout the show that he’s seen this before… like later when he asks Danny when the baby’s due and what Jordan’s going to do about the upfronts.
Matt: Danny? You’re caring more about other people than you usually do.
Danny: You’re the one who just said what’s she going to do about the upfronts -
Matt: It was just an idle question, then I moved on to other things in my head (Gotta love the recyling!)
Danny: So was mine.
Matt: No it wasn’t, it was genuine interest.
Another knowing look and Matt leaves, coming back when he hears Danny smacking the desk in exasperation.
Matt: What?
Danny: Nothing
Matt: Say it
Danny: Nothing
Matt: Just say it out loud
I think we all know what Matt’s trying to get Danny to admit to -and he's clearly having a lot of fun with it! Yeah, he's definitely seen this before.
Danny’s still smacking the desk when Harriet goes to see him about the movie she’s been offered:
Matt: I’m an executive producer, too
Harriet: Yeah, but I need to talk to the one that’s important
Simon and Tom are very sceptical about Christmas, and although Matt initially tells them to give the writing team (which is still Lucy, Darius and Andy) a hand, they end up bringing them over to the “Dark Side”, so all they’ve done for two days instead of writing is look stuff up on the internet, about how the Star of Bethlehem was actually a comet, there weren’t actually three wise men and Jesus was born in 5BC, and not in December. Tom and Simon are preoccupied with the “logic” rather than the “magic” of Christmas, it seems!
Why do men always assume that pregnant women eat like horses? Speaking from my own experience and that of friends and thinking about other people I know… I never did it (and believe me, I have a pretty healthy appetite!), friends never did it and people we know never did it. I did get the odd craving, but really, stuffing your face like that? Someone’s now going to tell me that they were like that, or their friend was, but it just seems like a total cliché to have a pregnant woman eating everything in sight.
Was it me or was the fact that Danny knew where Jordan was born and where she went to school a little… odd? It was probably just there to show that his “I know you” comment in the opening scene had foundation, but I still thought it was strange – I didn’t know stuff like that about my last boss and I worked for him for three years!
I have at least to give Jordan credit for checking out Danny’s ass at the end of that scene. She’s not completely, clueless, then!
I thought the Santa sketch was funny (at last! A funny sketch!) – reminds me of one of Jasper Carrott’s (I think it was him) monologues about Santa. How we tell our kids all the time to be wary of strangers… but then tell them that at Christmas, late at night, in the dark, when they’re asleep this funny man with a big white beard will come down the chimney into their bedroom... no wonder kids don’t sleep on Christmas!
My love for Jack grows by the week. Really. He’s in the shit with the FCC through no fault of his own, (someone said the word “fuck” on a news report when they were under fire in Afghanistan) the network is looking at losing a lot of money in fines and yet – when Jordan tells him she’s pregnant, he’s calm and sweet and congratulates her.
Beautifully done.
This –
You have to understand – that pro-family groups support our troops in this time of war – just as long as we don’t have to see or hear what our troops fighting a war looks and sounds like.
- was perfect, by the way.
And Jordan showed some of that spunk Jack professed to dislike when she told him to lawyer up and fight.
So he offers his resignation to Wilson White, because the FCC could block the Macau deal. To Jack’s (and probably our) surprise, White backs him and is ready to battle with the FCC in the courts. This is the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life.
Harriet forgets her name after Matt kisses her! Can’t say as I blame her, mind you – I’m amazed she could stand up!
And then the final montage – Holy Night played by the band from New Orleans with black and white pictures projected in the background. The one that really got me was the one that said “All I want for Christmas is my city back.”
It’s during this that Danny slips away to finally “say it” to Jordan – who still hasn’t stopped eating – and looks like a hamster during this:
I’ve been married twice before and I’m a recovering cocaine addict and I know that’s no woman’s dream of a man… or a father. Nonetheless, I believe I’m falling in love with you. If you want to run I understand, but you’d better get a good head start, ‘cause I’m coming for you, Jordan.
See here’s my problem. Brad saying something like that, with that look on his face and in that tone of voice just melted my brain – and other parts of me. But there’s something that doesn’t sit quite right yet with me, and I’ve spent most of the day trying to come up with what it is. But I can’t. I sat here and wrote loads and deleted it and wrote more and deleted that, so I’ve decided I’m going to reserve judgment and see how it plays out. Sorkin’s going there and doesn’t care whether I like it or not – and to be honest, I’m pretty ambivalent at this stage – I’m willing to be convinced (*rolls eyes at Sal and Linz*). Brad is of course completely adorable and pwns me totally, so I’d watch whatever he did and enjoy it. I love him, I don’t hate her – I do think things are being rushed (which I think is part of the problem), but hopefully Sorkin will come up with something unusual and surprise me.
So now, a five – or is it six? – week break until January – then we get seven weeks followed by a ridiculous mid-season break before the final four episodes. I’ve said this elsewhere, but can I just say again what a completely stupid idea that is? Thankfully, we don’t do that sort of thing in the UK – which is probably why we get shows after they’ve aired in the US (I think S60 starts here in Jan sometime) – that way at least we get the whole run straight through. But really, what on earth are the guys at NBC smoking? I know Studio 60 isn’t the only show to suffer this treatment, but surely, given it’s in its first season and has had a very shaky start (to say the least) it makes little sense to treat it in the same way as established shows such as ER or Lost. I can’t see that an interruption of up to thirteen weeks in the scheduling would do much for those shows either, but at least they’ve been around a while and already have big audiences… they can probably afford to lose a few viewers! To speak nothing of losing the plot! (Do they show repeats during the hiatus?)
So we’re exactly half way through Season One of Studio 60 now. And it’s nice to be able to say that, given the way things were looking a few weeks back. I think it’s getting better and better each week – if the word could get out and bring in a few more viewers, that’d be good too! As presumably, would be some GG nods. I’d think Matt Perry would be up for Best Actor in a Drama, because I don’t think he’s ever been better and he’s really showing people who may only really have seen him as Chandler that he’s capable of much more. Brad hasn’t been given a great deal to do, even though he’s always excellent, so I can’t see anything happening there – maybe Steven Weber will be up for Best Supporting Actor? Pure speculation on my part and probably completely wrong.
Anyway, I think I’ll use the Christmas break to watch from the pilot again – I haven’t really had a chance to re-watch any of the episodes since they aired, so that’ll give me something to do in between shopping, cooking, working and all the other festive season stuff that’s going on!
