Studio 60 1.19 - K&R

[caz963]

I’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.

Comments

[susied23.livejournal.com]

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?

My first thought was "hey they've been watching The Colbert Report!" I know Stephen is a satirist but he has a point and when Brad was on his show back in November 05 he played along so much so I think he kind of believes it.

I can't get over how cute Danny was this week. Even if (and there is where I am sure I am the only person who had this reaction and hide) before he proposed and Jordan was looking really ill I said out loud "Let's kill Jordan! That'd be fun." We know it won't happen but heck we'd see some kick ass darkDanny if it did. I also had a bit of John Wells hatred during the whole Danny/Jordan thing (though any time other characters on TV shows say it I tend to mumble about how it never happened for J/D as much as I believe it was wordlessly said in the finale).

A few WW refs this week too - Matt and Danny in the flashbacks (and someone cares about continuity because like in the photos around the studio Danny had dark hair back then) was like Sorkin post 9/11 and how we got Isaac & Ishmael. Matt not being able to tie his bow tie. Andy's baby was called Millicent (D/J's baby called Donna maybe? I would get a kick out of that before it got weird). The company Trask, the student doctor in Noel was Katha Trask (I'm pushing it with that one maybe) and soldier #2 who came to see Tom was reporter Mark.

Also Matt/Harriet didn't bug me. One of the few episodes where this is true and Nate Corddry and Steven Weber continue to impress.

I won't see the next two episodes until June 23rd. :( How will I survive?

[digitalred93.livejournal.com]

Yeah, BW just knocks out of the ballpark and into our hearts every week, doesn't he?

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).

[rentypoo.livejournal.com]

caz, thanks for writing what I was feeling, especially the part about wanting to have a little chat with John Wells.

I confess I groaned over the bowtie thing, it just seemed a bit much for me. But Brad, oh my Brad, what are we going to do without you? So real and so manly and...muh...guh...squee...

You know what I'm trying to say.

[kayla7509.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad other people can put together coherent thoughts about these last few episodes. I try and all I come up with is, "But...it was soooo good! DAMN NBC!!!"

I still think they got together too quickly, but I guess that doesn’t matter so much now.

I hear you. Considering that we only have one season to watch it play out, I'm ok with it. It does feel rushed, but I guess I'll choose that over no closure. Also - I won't complain about any opportunity I get to see Brad smile or laugh. Of course I'm also ok seeing him yell or brood or, well, do anything! DEAR GOD THAT MAN IS HOT!

I'm also with you on the John Wells bitterness. I really feel like, at least in TWW-world, Wells and Sorkin kind of needed each other. I would have loved to see some kind of Josh-Donna declaration, but I wanted AS to write it. I have a feeling if Wells had done it, it wouldn't have come off right.

As for Matt and Harriet: I sincerely hope that there is no reconciliation. Even though they really try my nerves on occasion, I loved the argument sequence. It was just brilliantly executed by Perry, Paulson, Busfield, and Sorkin. To me, it underscored the point that some people shouldn't be together, regardless of how much they love each other. I guess we will have to wait and see where Aaron is headed with that one.

[ozzyols.livejournal.com]

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?

Points to Paris Hilton's home detention anklet - need I say more? (unless that has changed while i have been asleep :D )

[flippet.livejournal.com]

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’.


I might not mind them getting together after all...because I'm not so convinced that their opinions are 'diametrically opposed'--I do believe that's the impression that Matt has been pushing, but with that last little bit...I don't think he's been completely truthful with himself.

Perhaps they don't/won't view things the same way (who does, really, anyway?), but Matt's last gesture shows that he's got more faith than he'd like to let on, even to himself. (As I think Tommy said in the Keytus thread, as it turns out, Matt's not an atheist, he's a skeptic.)

I was impressed with them this episode, whereas I'd only been sick to the back teeth of them in episodes previous.

(And that lisp is sexy; but I’m a crazed fangirl, so, you know, you don’t have to agree with me!)

It's not a lisp, precisely...or maybe it technically is, but we tend to think of a 'lisp' as having some kind of sibilance....that 's' sound, and Brad's doesn't, really. It is a tongue thing, however. It's on the plosive consonants (maybe just 't'), IIRC--he uses more tongue than is necessary--touches a wider range of teeth, or simply pushes his tongue just a mite further forward, and you get that adorable sound.

(Note how I'm not going dirty with this. What the hell is wrong with me???)

It's really noticeable and cute in his old Tales From the Darkside episode that was floating around recently.

[zinke.livejournal.com]

(Unlike Donna, Harriet doesn’t appear to be able to tie a bow tie.)

Thank God. I know Sorkin likes to recycle, but still that just didn't quite sit right for me.

I’ve said before that I love Jack, right?

Jack is such an interesting character; one second I want to throttle him, the next I want to hug him. He's complex, and complex characters make me happy.

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.

Damn skippy. Honestly, I was a fangirly mess from the moment Danny ran into the hospital, past Jordan's room, and then tried to slip in while acting all calm and collected. How is it possible tobe such a dork and so hot at the same time? It's a mystery.

I think you're right; Brad's portrayal throughout the episode was just so real and honest that it was impossible not to be drawn into the experience. I've struggled all along with how quickly the Danny/Jordan relationship developed (despite being aided by your most helpful and wonderful fill-in-the-blank fic *g*) but in this episode despite my misgivings I still found myself rooting for the 'yes'.

But really, how could anyone say no to a face like that, weilding a diamond like that? Not to mention the wit, the dimples, the eyes, the hands....

Yeah, you get the picture.

[crossmymind.livejournal.com]

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 don't see how it can work out, either. Plus, we have only ever seen them argue. That is all they have done with each other from the very beginning, so I find it very hard to believe that they can be in a happy, long-lasting relationship. Keyword there being happy. It would be nice if they could wise up and see that maybe, even though they love the hell out of each other, they can only ever be friends because if they are more than that, they will just drive each other completely insane. I doubt that's what is going to happen, but still. Regardless of how irritating I find that couple, Matt continues to blow me away every time he's on screen.

And really, all I can say about the Brad fangirling is WORD.

[bingblot.livejournal.com]

I just watched 'K&R' and oh my God, I thought I couldn't hate NBC more after 'Breaking News' but now I find that I can. THIS got cancelled?!!!! In what universe does that make any sense?!!

The Matt/Harriet bow-tie thing I absolutely could not appreciate fully because all I saw in my head was Josh and Donna- who do the bow-tie thing much better. ;-)

Can I just say that I love seeing Brad act a hospital scene? He just does it so well. I can't explain it but you know what I mean, right?
That proposal just killed me. And I hate John WElls forever for not giving us Josh telling Donna he loves her. Come on, we deserved that, after 7 years!!! (Thank God for your fics where we can have that...)

I love Cal being the voice of reason; I love him cracking a joke about Harriet going out dancing to try to make Tom smile. Just love him.

This might have been the first time I've been glad lawyer-chick was around, irritating as I find her.

Tom broke my heart (again) in this ep. Harriet kneeling down to pray made me love her. LUke was being a jackass, as usual, again, whatever, makes me question Harriet's sanity.

(How is it possible for one man to have so much charm? Seriously, someone needs to start a scientific study or something.)
I don't know but I'll join you in calling for a scientific study. In fact, I think a 'scientific' study that requires watching WW and S60 for hours is just the thing.