Studio 60 1.17 - The Disaster Show

[caz963]

I’ve missed my show. It’s sad that these are the last six episodes of Studio 60 we’ll ever see, so it’s a kind of bittersweet welcome back.

Anyway, this week…



The Good – Allison Janney and Tim Busfield – awesome.

The Bad – no Brad or Matt. (No Amanda Peet either, but that time I didn’t really care all that much…)

The Ugly – Simon and his dating habits. Meh. Whatever.


Cal tries to explain to the cast that the prop guys have gone on a “wild cat strike” – their contracts expire at midnight, but they’ve walked out because Danny said something a little“impolitic” and upset them.

What did he say?

He said ‘For the love of God, you’re just prop guys, you’re easily replaceable.’

Yeah, that’ll do it.

(I heard shades of Monty Python in that scene –

Cal: I can’t hear you if you all talk at once!

Everyone else in unison: WHY? (Hee! – “We are all individuals!”))

The cue card guys are part of the same union, and they’ve walked out as well.

So no props, no cue cards. This is, as Tom terms it later, a Disaster Show, something that happens every so often. When Allison says he seems pretty calm about it all, Tom points out - we know how to make it look like it’s your fault.

To make things worse, Jack arrives to inform Cal that a bomb threat was phoned into the studio – while Allison is doing her opening monologue without the aid of a net.

Seriously, has Allison Janney lost her mind?

(Quick expo to explain the absence of our guys - Danny’s in the parking lot trying some diplomacy and Matt is helping the cast write their lines on their hands. Apparently.)

Anyway, the bomb threat referenced a sketch featuring “Mohammed the Thin Skinned Prophet”, so they’re taking the threat seriously. Jack wants to clear the studio and air the dress rehearsal instead, but they can’t, because it didn't record properly. Red and green, but no blue.

Jack: If a bomb goes off after we got a warning, you know what’ll happen to our insurance premiums?

Cal: Yeah. Plus, people will get hurt.

Jack: I guess it would be fundamentally wrong of me to leave the building, get in my car and drive as far away as possible.

Cal: Yeah. I’m gonna go back to work.

Jack: You’ll try to broadcast in the full spectrum of colour?

Cal: Do my best.

Jack: Gonna be a good show tonight?

Cal: Don’t see how. (it’s all in the delivery!)

I’m gonna gloss over the stuff with Simon and the girlfriends, ‘cause, well. Meh. Although I just have to say this;

Lucy: You can’t just meet a girl and ask her to go to Hawaii.
Caz: No, that usually takes about nine years. :)

The bomb squad turns up with German Shepherd sniffer dogs who only speak German.

Jack turns up drunk.

I watched every episode, and ‘The West Wing’s’ never been better.

AJ: We’ve been off the air for over a year.

Jack: Loved you on ‘Chicago Hope’.

AJ: That was Christine Lahti.

Jack: Not my night.

Also – Harriet helpfully informs Jeannie that she can go out with Matt if she wants. Only, don’t go out with him. Except – yes, she can. But – oh, FFS, I’m with the cast, who don’t know how much more of this we can stand.

They got that right.

She says the reason she and Matt aren’t together now is because if a cast member was dating an executive producer, it would create tension.
Nobody thinks it would. No kidding.
Harriet thinks Matt doesn’t think that either. So it must be something else.

Please, God, let this part of it be over soon!

AJ as Miss Moneypenny – fabulous! She’s struggling valiantly with no props, no cue cards, no sound effects – the bit where she’s dressed as the gangster’s moll and fakes getting shot is hilarious.

I have to say I was delighted she was so well used in this – sometimes the guests are only in one or two scenes and it was great to have her on screen so much.

Anyway, they get the guys who phoned in the threat which was a hoax. When asked if they even know who Mohammed is…

Ali?

AJ loses it during the goodbyes when one of the sniffer dogs decides to sniff her crotch, and reels off the list of disasters that happened because Danny Tripp is an idiot! - but Cal turned her microphone off, so she’s coming off like a mad woman.

I loved that final scene. Between them, she and Tim Busfield kicked ass all episode, but that scene was just wonderful.

Tell me you still didn’t have the time of your life tonight

The look on her face when she smiles right at Cal through the camera and says thank you… I got a little teary, there.

A shorter episode than usual (36 minutes), but it still flew by. And I’d watch Allison Janney read the phone book.



One down, five to go…

Comments

[hooloovoo_42]

I loved it. Like you, the bit with Simon's dating habits didn't do much for me, but AJ & TB just rocked my world. I'm so glad I got to see it this morning, as it really set me up for the day (18 minutes to fetch it!!!)

[caz963.livejournal.com]

It was a great way for the show to come back, even without the boys. And clearly, Aaron knew it wasn't coming back so thought "to hell with it" and stuck all the WW references in.

I'm jealous you got it so fast - mine took about 3 hours! But I don't work on Fridays, so at least I got to see it as soon as it was done.

[zinke.livejournal.com]

Lucy: You can’t just meet a girl and ask her to go to Hawaii.
Caz: No, that usually takes about nine years. :)

BWAH!

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Heh. I thought my fellow obsessives would get that one!

[hooloovoo_42]

I nearly choked on my coffee at it earlier, but was too busy wiping it up to comment on it.

[zinke.livejournal.com]

I prefer to think of it as not beeing obsessive so much as....

*thinks*

Oh hell. Yes, I'm obsessive and damn proud of it.

[kayla7509.livejournal.com]

The look on her face when she smiles right at Cal through the camera and says thank you… I got a little teary, there.

That got me, too. You think maybe they'd put a show on the air of Allison and Brad taking turns with the phone book? It sounds better than the fall programs they are pimping right now.

[hooloovoo_42]

You think maybe they'd put a show on the air of Allison and Brad taking turns with the phone book?

Gets my vote!

[kayla7509.livejournal.com]

Me too! Hell, it would probably get half-way decent ratings, because "plainspoken" folks could understand it.

Yes, I'm a snob. I just don't give a damn anymore.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the ending was really lovely, I thought. The look on her face...

It sounds better than the fall programs they are pimping right now.

It really does. I gather the promos aired during the show were all for reality shows. So sad.

[kayla7509.livejournal.com]

They were! I kept imagining that Aaron was sitting somewhere fuming while Amanda Peet's voice looped in his head "They're gonna say he was right."

[gatsbyfan.livejournal.com]

Allison was fabulous. It almost made up for the lack of Brad. I agree with you Simon's dating storyline seemed like filler to me and I was not interested at all.

Aside from all the quotes you mentioned, I also loved Nate's and Allison's long walk and talk "this isn't your white house show where you get to do it again..." and then when asked why he looks so calm "We know how to make it look like your fault." I liked the inside references to WW and Christine Lahti. Poor Allison.

And I'm with you on the Matt/Harry dating storyline. Please MAKE IT STOP.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I liked the inside references, too. I guess having Brad there might have just overbalanced things a little...

Of course Sorkin knew the axe had fallen when he wrote this one (it was filmed out of sequence, wasn't it? when they were on hiatus already) - and it was as though he'd just thought "oh, to hell with it" when he included all the WW mentions.

As for the Simon stuff... I guess, with no Brad or Matt, they had to fill the time somehow. Although I would certainly not have objected to more AJ and TB!

[hooloovoo_42]

I suppose it would have been too much of a stretch of reality to get Mark Harmon to play Allison's bf, considering she has a real life bloke. But it would have been great to see.

[flippet.livejournal.com]

Really only 36 minutes?

Hm.

I wasn't on the 'they really and truly showed it out of order' bandwagon (thought they just switched titles by accident--go NBC), but if they did short it by 8 minutes, maybe they took out some order-sensitive scenes?

Hm.

I only missed Danny a little bit--Allison and Tim were so fabulous it was worth a lack of the rest. (I suppose I should say 'Allison and Cal' if I'm going to say 'Danny' for Brad...but it just feels weird using one real name, and one character name.) And I really didn't miss Peet at all. (I think that casting her was probably the worst thing for the show after the ridiculous over-hype-ment. She's done okay, but never really more than that.)

Also? Jack=Love.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

I think that casting her was probably the worst thing for the show after the ridiculous over-hype-ment.

Have to agree with you on that one. I wasn't keen on her in the pilot at all, but she sorta grew on me as she started to do better with the role. But she's not great. Good, but not great. I can't help but wonder what the storylines would have been had she not gotten pregnant, because I'm afraid I do blame that for the speed of the Danny/Jordan plot.

And the copy I have came in at 36 minutes, so unless there was something missing...

I don't think this was necessarily shown out of order, but it was shot out of sequence, which probably accounts for the confusion about the numbering. My guess is that Aaron knew well before that the show was being canned, so he wrote this one to be slotted in here - because the original synopses had Breaking News (next week's ep) as the one following 4am Miracle. So it might have been written and shot out of order, but it was intended to be placed there, if that makes any sense.

AJ and TB were just fabulous. And I love Jack, too.

[crossmymind.livejournal.com]

I just... really don't think the best move was to have the first episode after the hiatus be one that features none of the "stars" of the show. And why were Matt and Danny in the pictures for the episode if they weren't actually IN the episode? Argh. I'm still vexed about this whole thing.

Matt is helping the cast write their lines on their hands. Apparently.

It would have helped if, you know, someone looked at their hand like they were reading lines or something. But whatever.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

don't think the best move was to have the first episode after the hiatus be one that features none of the "stars" of the show.

I have to say that thought crossed my mind (!) as well. I think this episode was filmed out of order, probably after Sorkin knew the show wasn't coming back, because I'm sure that when the synopses for the pre-hiatus episodes were put out, the episode following 4am Miracle was to have been Breaking News, which is now next week's ep. And as someone here pointed out, Sorkin may have needed some filler as there was little point in starting any new plotlines that couldn't be carried over into S2.

I do feel cheated out of new Brad though...

[zinke.livejournal.com]

I just... really don't think the best move was to have the first episode after the hiatus be one that features none of the "stars" of the show.

I can't believe I am about to say this about a Brad-less episode, but I found it almost refreshing not to have the show bogged down by the Matt/Harriet and yes, even the Danny/Jordan storylines. As much as I like the D/J pairing, it seemed to dominate the show in the episodes right before the hiatus in a way that I don't think was all that helpful to moving the pace of the show along.

That said, if I don't get an extra dose of Brad next week, there'll be hell to pay!

[ozzyols.livejournal.com]

AJ loses it during the goodbyes when one of the sniffer dogs decides to sniff her crotch, and reels off the list of disasters that happened because Danny Tripp is an idiot! -

Awww... I want to see the blooper now where she MUST have said... "Because Bradley Whitford is an idiot" :D

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Or "because Danny Tripp is a Jackass"! :)

[bingblot.livejournal.com]

I shrieked when I recognized Allison Janney. And then I spent the entire time randomly squeeing over her and all the 'West Wing' references and loving all the AJ and TB interaction. Oh it's so good to see them act together; they must have had a blast!!

Simon's dating was the meh part for me too.

Every AJ scene stole the show; her as MoneyPenny was classic and I just LOVED her pretending to get shot. That was hysterical. I always forget what a great comic actress she is.

Loving Matt/Harriet the way I do, I enjoyed the conversation between Harry and the staff more-- but I want to SEE Matt. And Danny!

I seriously missed my Brad; kept on expecting him to show up (I want to see him act with AJ again) but alas...

That final scene got me too. Oh the look on her face... Priceless, indeed!!

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the lack of Matt and Danny was puzzling, but there was apparently some sort of deal done when the back nine were ordered that the three of them would sit one episode out. I don't know if it was intended to be the same episode, but having AJ in it did help soften the blow so to speak.

I'm really not fussed about Matt and Harriet. I've enjoyed the way they've played it, but sometimes it just got on my nerves. And I've gotten to the stage where I either don't really care any more, or am hoping that they won't be riding off into the sunset (!) together. If, as it seems, the D/J storyline is getting a happy resolution, it would seem a bit too neat to have the M/H one go that way as well.

Brad with Allison would have been wonderful... but with Tim there as well, plus all the references Sorkin threw in, it would probably have overbalanced the whole thing. On the whole it was probably for the best, but still, it would have been nice for them to have had a scene together - where she could have called him an idiot!

[digitalred93.livejournal.com]

You've got to wonder why NBC didn't promote the fact that AJ would be on. There were countless sound bites they could've used, like Tom's "You don't get to do this over again like in your little White House show."

I think ratings would've been higher if they'd done that.

36 minutes, huh? Yeah - it felt fast. Question is, was the show really that short or did NBC speed it up (as networks occasionally do - they have technology to speed up a show without making the actors sound like they're on helium).

Simon bored me - but he's never been a fav. Did you have trouble understanding Lucy's dialogue? It wasn't the accent that got me, it was as if she mumbled half her lines - or that the pitch of her voice didn't cut through the sound.

There's only one shot of Danny in the trailer for next week. I'll be seriously pissed if he's not used well. I'm sorry, Matt Perry is ok but I'm not watching the show for him!

[caz963.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about Lucy - for some reason, Lucy Davis has been using this very clipped, nasal tone and it did sound very odd this week.

NBC couldn't promote its way out of a paper bag, so I guess the lack of promotion for AJ isn't surprising. They lost interest in this show way back, and I would imagine it's only the fact that they have to pay whether they air the final six or not that actually has it back on the air at all.
Bunch of wankers.

Matt Perry is ok but I'm not watching the show for him!

Well yes, quite.

And hasn't Brad directed an episode? I'd guess it's likely that would be light on Danny :(