Studio 60 1.19 - K&R
Jun. 8th, 2007 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caz963I’m sure I’ve missed a lot, but the plot this week centered around the situation with Tom’s brother and Jordan in hospital. Not only, as I predicted, is it pre-eclampsa, but the baby has the cord wrapped around her neck. And we get some flashbacks to before Matt was fired – possibly we’ll find out why he was fired as well, but not this week!
Matt and Danny tell the rest of the cast what’s happened with Tom’s brother – Danny wants to cancel the party, but Cal disagrees – they should keep the fact that Mark is related to a celebrity quiet for as long as possible. Jack and some other guy at the office think the same, but as they’re talking it flashes up on one of the TV screens – too late. Some local news station has run the story and now all the others are picking it up.
Danny hasn’t said anything about Jordan – but he gets a call from her and rushes off to the hospital, leaving Matt to explain. Harriet just nods, says alright and kneels down to pray. I’ve not always been Harriet’s greatest fan, but she had a lovely, quiet dignity there.
There’s a lot of talk about what happens now with Tom – a couple of officers are on their way to talk to him, but they’re not going to tell him anything. Matt points out that one of the things in Mark’s favour is that he’s not Jewish.
Harriet: So, if it were you over there…
Matt: They’d be fed-exing my head over to my parents right now.
A nice scene between Matt and Harriet as she recalls the last time they had this fight, the day war was declared, a month after 9/11, the night the Emmys was cancelled.
Flashback – Matt can’t tie his bow tie and won’t wear a clip on. Heh.
I work in a building with fourteen professional wardrobe mistresses, I figured it wouldn’t be a problem.
(Unlike Donna, Harriet doesn’t appear to be able to tie a bow tie.)
Matt’s uncomfortable with the show going back on the air this week, given recent events – when Danny (in a tux – guh!) arrives to say he thinks it’ll be cancelled.
The war just started.
At the hospital, Jordan tells Danny about the baby – and the doctor says it’ll be fine and that baby will sort himself out. Danny tells him it’s a girl, but is clearly not happy. He wants to call a real doctor.
What’s your specialty going to be?
Sports medicine.
Okay, well if she tears a hamstring, we’ll give you a call Hee!
Jack is still trying to stop people broadcasting footage of Tom in reports about the hostages. But consensus is that it’s “out there” now, so it’s fair game. Jack grumbles that they’ve always found a way to keep things quiet when they needed to, and that this is because they’ve found a way to make the war fun again.
I’ve said before that I love Jack, right?
Tom points out that there are three hostages but that the headlines are saying “Brother of Jeter held hostage” – and that the other two prisoners have brothers, too.
The cult of celebrity indeed. Or rather, the cult of being vaguely connected to celebrity.
(For my British chums – just imagine the media frenzy if Prince Harry had been allowed to go to Iraq.)
So, another flashback, now to the televised bombings of Afghanistan. (And to Sorkin not wanting to jump right back into Season 3 of TWW). In the writers room, Luke is all for the opening that can of whoop-ass on the Arabs, someone else says it’s all about oil… Matt points out that Afghans, not Arabs live in Afghanistan, and that Afghanistan looks the same after being bombed as it did before.
He’s concerned about the fact that they have a show to put on on Friday where they have to be funny, which in the current climate is going to be difficult.
What are we supposed to joke about?
Them!
Who?
The bad guys!
Luke wants to do a whole show mercilessly skewering Arabs and comes up with a list of possible (completely un-PC!) – list of sketches they could do -
Good Morning Cave Dwellers, Judge Mohammed, One of my Wives is Missing…
Matt can think of plenty of jokes that are funny, I just can’t think of any that aren’t in bad taste.
Then Andy arrives, completely oblivious to it all.
Why are you almost smiling?
Because I’m a father.
A moment of normalcy that Matt clings to.
Back in the present, hot-lawyer-chick is still around and tells Matt that her lawfirm deals with a security firm who specializes in getting hostages back for ransom. Matt asks her out of curiosity to make a few calls and get some details.
Back at the hospital, Jordan wants to fight with Danny about the ratings, because it’s not like there’s anything else to do.
I loved the way he’s all “sure, sure, whatever you want,” trying to indulge her whilst trying not to laugh.
He insists he wasn’t trying to tell her anything at the party – rather that he was trying to not tell her things!
She warns him - We’re going to revisit this ratings issue.
Oh, good, can we? Heh.
(How is it possible for one man to have so much charm? Seriously, someone needs to start a scientific study or something.)
Skipping back four years again, to Matt and Danny meeting with Jack to tell him they’re not comfortable putting a show on the air that week – they want to postpone the season premiere.
(And how funny was the bit before with Matt picking out baby clothes!)
Jack says there’s no way. They need the ad. revenue.
I like this conversation so –
Jack – You can serve your country. You know what would piss off the Taleban right now?
Matt – Defeat?
Jack – Again, Danny, you’re funny.
Matt – And again, he’s Danny.
Jack – A bunch of jews entertaining America
Danny – See – but I think that’s going to piss off Americans, too.
Jack – Go back to work.
Matt points out that the show won’t be any good that week.
Jack – Doesn’t have to be good. Just has to be on.
And later says -
I know your politics. And I share them. Except for the loony irrational stuff. *snort*
Don’t take shots at Bush, don’t take shots at America. Feel free to make fun of Hollywood.
Matt – Hollywood’s in America.
Jack – No. It is not.
Wow. I’ve been trying to think of something profound to say about that last part, but I can’t come up with anything. Anyone out there want to take a crack at it?
Matt brings Cal in on the K&R idea. Cal, of course knows exactly what it means, thus saving a lot of exposition! Mary has made the calls – they need to bring in Jack. If they follow this idea through, it’s going to cost about $10m.
At the hospital, Jordan’s condition worsens and they (finally) think she might have pre-eclampsia. Tom returns to the theatre to meet with an officer and chaplain (one of the Sorkin players!) – and Matt and Cal take Jack aside to tell him about the K&R idea. Mary gives him statistics for Trask’s success rate compared to the army. Cal is sceptical – he says Mark isn’t kidnapped, he’s a prisoner of war. The voice of reason, he points out –
I’m sure the money we give them is never going to go towards capturing or killing other US soldiers. The money’s never going to be used to make bombs. They’re just going to spend it on science text books and milk.
But Jack still wants to explore the options.
Back at the hospital… the stuff with Danny and Jordan was lovely and cute and felt real. I still think they got together too quickly, but I guess that doesn’t matter so much now. I just wish all this had been happening at the end of S2 (*sigh*). But Sorkin’s timeline is soooooo screwed up. In Harriet Dinner, he’s got Jordan at around four months pregnant (although if I remember rightly, even thatdidn’t add up.) Then last week, she tells Mary she’s seven months… well, although we’ve had a hiatus, they haven’t – what was that line last week about Matt not having been able to write “until Wednesday”? Which I meant to point out last week and forgot – because I took that as a reference to 4am Miracle - which we know took place on a Wednesday. We know Breaking News was originally to have followed 4am, and clearly it took place the same week. And on the same night Jordan’s gone from being seven months pregnant (approx 33/34 weeks) to 37 weeks!
(Btw - I had Abigail at 35 weeks, my blood pressure was waaaay higher than Jordan’s – with blood pressure like I had, I should have been dead, apparently – and everything worked out fine!)
So here's where I get to behave like the ridiculous fangirl that I am. Don't say you weren't warned!
Anyway – Danny's exasperation when Jordan wants to talk about the show is cute – and his laugh… Guh. It’s crazy, but I’ve realized I’ve never actually heard Brad laugh all that often – he snorts and he giggles a bit, but the laugh… well. If you’re reading this, then you’re ‘one of us’, so I don’t really need to explain it to you, do I? Thought not.
Then the whole thank you for coming after me part, where Jordan tells him she loves him, arguing just a little bit about who chased who –
How fast did you come running…
I was just being polite
And the tone of voice he used when Danny proposed. That’s what reduced me to a quivering wreck – and I think I was finally dedded when he came up with the line about biology -
Biology’s just biology. This is my daughter. I want you to be my wife. I want this to be my family forever. No matter what happens. Sadly, "Guh" doesn't even begin to cover it, but it's all I got right now.
How could you not be completely won over by the conviction in his voice? (And that lisp is sexy; but I’m a crazed fangirl, so, you know, you don’t have to agree with me!) And I’m not even going to mention the look on his face when she said yes or I will be rendered physically incapable of typing anything else. (Oh. Wait.)
[And this is the part where, even though I was never a Wells-hater, I really feel like kicking John Wells, because, dammit, we should have seen Josh at least once get to tell Donna he loved her; and even though it would have been very different, this has made me realize just how pissed I was and still am that we never got to see it.]
*takes deep breath* Anyway.
It never occurred to you to check my ring size?
We can get it tightened.
Just how fat did you think I was?
Then, we get a montage of Matt and Harriet having their “fight” repeatedly in two millennia as Matt yells at one point.
Looks like Sorkin’s gearing up to put them back together (although, as I’ve already said, it doesn’t feel right to me) – but when two people have such diametrically opposed opinions about something so fundamental, I don’t see how it can work out. I mean, Harriet is very committed to her religion, and Matt is driven completely crazy by that. Neither of them are half-hearted about it, and it doesn’t look as though either of them is ready to compromise. They need to be apart for a while – properly apart. But again, I’m not a writer, so what do I know?
But it was a good section, nicely put together, and ended with Matt getting a call from Danny, and Matt and Harriet leaving to go to the hospital.
Matt looks up and smacks his chest. Show me somethin’.
Despite the poorer than ever ratings - well, how does NBC expect people to even find the damn show when they're not telling people it's actually on? - I think Sorkin's showing us somethin' now.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-08 06:22 pm (UTC)We know Breaking News was originally to have followed 4am, and clearly it took place the same week.
I'm gonna have to disagree with you here - I don't see it as being immediately after. What makes you think that?
On the lisp thing... huh? I've never noticed that Brad had a lisp. Is there a particular scene it's noticeable in?
The Hollywood conversation was brilliant, btw. I spent 12 years out there and it's true, it IS and it ISN'T America. It's the U.S. at its worst (hello, Paris Hilton) and at its best (Sorkin, Whitford, etc... and lets not forget all the charity work done by folks out there).
BTW, the ratings went up this week. I don't know why Lina hasn't released my posting about the ratings (or the fact that the two previous shows are still ranking very high in Itunes).
no subject
Date: 2007-06-08 08:26 pm (UTC)I didn't really get the feeling that BN was necessarily the same night as 4AM, but regardless, Aaron sucks at timelines. Jordan definitely went from 7 or so months to 37 weeks in a matter of hours.
BTW, I realize an emergency C-section will freak you out regardless, but my doctors have always told me as long as you make it to 36 weeks, you're good. Hell, I was induced at 37 weeks with my son.
I've never noticed that Brad had a lisp. Is there a particular scene it's noticeable in?
I've never noticed it either. Perhaps it is a British-American thing?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-08 10:37 pm (UTC)Oh, no, sorry, I meant I thought it was the same week, not the same night.
But yeah, thats "Sorkinuity" for you, and I guess it's all pretty academic now.
And oh the lisp? Okay, what is it with you people?? I'm going to give you a get out of jail free card and say I imagine you've not noticed because you're too busy looking rather than listening, but seriously, you've not heard it? It's sexy.
Listen to the "my daughter" bit - it's right there at the end "No matter what happens."
And as I said to
no subject
Date: 2007-06-09 01:38 am (UTC)Ok - well, firstly, thank you very much for that out of jail free card! Ha!
Honestly, I've never heard it before and I've now played this scene a good half dozen times on my ipod and I'm still not hearing it. Yeah, his voice sounds 'wet' but he's choked up and I'm getting more of the impression of someone holding back tears.
Can you give us an example from where BW wasn't portraying this sort of mood but it sounds this way?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-09 12:19 pm (UTC)Can you give us an example from where BW wasn't portraying this sort of mood but it sounds this way?
What??? You mean you want me to trawl back through all my WW DVDs and Studio 60s and watch all that Brad?
Heh. No problem! :)
(I have to say, that's one of the scenes where it's most noticeable. I was chatting to Linz last night and she's a
saddokeen researcher, like me, and she hears it too! But if you insist, I'll find you some more..)no subject
Date: 2007-06-09 01:14 pm (UTC)Someone else pointed out that maybe it's a Brit thing - I gotta wonder if any other Americans on hear can hear the lisp?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-09 02:19 pm (UTC)Well - I'm still not hearing it either, so I'm obviously going to have to take this opportunity to do some heavy Brad-research. YAY!!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-09 05:48 pm (UTC)I guess you could put it down to the fact that, as a musician, I have acute hearing. *g*
And not at all to the fact that I notice everything he does. Oh no. Of course not. *whistles*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 07:23 pm (UTC)I've been trying to find something for you that's easily accessible.
BW does it mostly on his /d/ and some /t/ and some /n/...all those forward alveolar stops and whatever the hell /n/ is. Like I said below, he uses more tongue than is truly necessary, and touches the teeth more than necessary (rather than just quickly tapping the alveolar ridge). So any of those sounds, especially the ones that are followed by a forward vowel (ee, oh, some ah) tend to take on more of a soft 'th' sound.
You can hear it a lot when Josh is yelling for Donna. Say 'Donna' with your tongue only touching the ridge behind your teeth. Now say it again, but this time start with your tongue touching the backs of your front four teeth. That's what he does.
I think that it's often chalked up to his Wisconsin accent, and that may be a little bit of it. (It's not technically a lisp--I just looked that up, and a lisp only involves /s/ and /z/ sounding like /th/.)
If you have the Tales From the Dark Side ep (someone had uploaded it recently, I can't remember who), you can really start to hear it in the scene at about 5:20 in...t's and d's and n's all over the place.
Otherwise, try the WW Star Trek scene, at about 1:55, the words 'don't do', and 'ten'. (It's pretty mild.)
WW Timezone scene At about :20 in, Josh says 'decent-sized whoop'---it's a good example on 'decent'.
WW I:OT and Philately scene Go to the philately bit, at about 3:50. At around 3:58, Josh says 'I don't'. That's a good one, too.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-08 10:19 pm (UTC)Really? It's slight, but it's there. And it's not "Danny", it's Brad, because Josh had it too. Go back to the "it's my daughter" part and listen to "No matter what happens." It's right there.
I'll put it down to the fact that you're too busy looking to listen too hard!
(And I noticed because I have a similar one, so hubby tells me, which I will deny to the grave...)
As to the timing - I just remembered that waaaay back before the hiatus, when the synopses for these eps came out, the final one was "BN" which was pulled when the hiatus began a week early.
But yeah, Brad was utterly fabulous. Touching, and romantic and REAL in those scenes at the hospital.
If I were an eskimo, he could sell me a fridge! :)