Live, from New York.....

This post has been swirling around my head since Studio 60's "West Coast Delay". I've been waiting for the show to hit its stride. I've been blaming myself for not letting it stand on its own, outside of the shadow of The West Wing (The same actors, I get. The same cinematic style--sure. But really, c'mon, did you have to use the same typeface for the captions.)

To date, the show has not lived up to its hype. I keep watching because even the lacklustre episodes have had shining moments. The show obviously suffers from two problems widely discussed here in the blogosphere: a serious lack of gravitas complemented by a serious lack of funny. The show takes itself too seriously, as did the West Wing, but what in the West Wing came off as an unavoidable byproduct of a life lived entirely within the political arena comes off as mere pretention in the world of sketch comedy--pretention that keeps me from committing to and caring about the universe S60 has created for itself. Do you really expect me to believe the fate of an entire network revoles around the success of a Saturday Night Live esque sketch show? Seems a mite close to the kind of network hooey called to task by the series's opening monologue.

Secondly, the show routinely fails to bring the funny: problematic in a television world, helmed by Albee and Tripp, whom we are told, are the pinnacle of funny. Imagine a West Wing with a Toby and Sam who can't write a lick: who spend the entire episode trying to nail a birthday message or rewrite the state of the union or prep the president for a debate only to fail miserably at every turn. The show would have been telling us how fabulous President Bartlett was but in reality he would have come off looking like Bingo Bob or Governor Ritchie. Sorkin can write the blistering dialogue, the self-righteous diatribes, but as of yet, he can't bring the funny.

Those problems, however, aren't the real problem with Studio 60. The real problem was highlighted by "West Coast Delay" -- S60s first and only even-close-to-brilliant episode. The only episode so far that has had any energy to it.

QUESTION: Why did "West Coast Delay" succeed where the other episodes have failed (aside from the fact that it had a plausible, premise, one that could conceivably be worthy of all S60's manufactured fuss and hysteria)?

ANSWER: Perry and Whitford. Matt and Danny. Or, more specifically, Perry then Whitford. Matt then Danny. In "West Coast Delay" the two shared hardly any screen time. Hmmmmmmmmmm????????? There's been a lot of talk about the great chemistry between the two and how they are the best thing the show has going for it. And they might be the best things the show has, but as "West Coast Delay" made clear, at least to this viewer, they're even better playing off other castmembers than they are sharing the spotlight.