Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
By Cory Peynado, Blockbuster.co.uk

“Look, I hate Los Angeles just like everybody else, but I have to work here because in any other part of the country I'm unemployable.”

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is the new TV series from the creator of The West Wing and Sports Night. The man in question is a Mr Aaron Sorkin, and having built up such a unique reputation for producing such high quality television its no wonder that his latest effort is such good viewing.

The series starts as Wes (Judd Hirsch), the long-time producer of the titular late-night sketch show, finally cracks after years of putting up with the lowest-common-denominator nature of network TV, and breaks into the show with a rant that shakes up the network and costs him his job. Unfortunately for Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet), the new head of programming for the network, this happens on her first day on the job, and her boss Jack (Steven Weber) is looking to her to fix everything.

Her solution is to turn to Matt (Matthew Perry) and Danny (Bradley Whitford), two former producers on the show, to take over. They are flawed people, but that's the only reason they would come back anyway, especially since Matt has a messy history with the show's female lead, Harriet (Sarah Paulson.) In coming back, they find things have changed, but are very much still the same.

"Studio 60" has two story tracks that intersect again and again to create the overall plot. Jordan's battles with the corporate suits sit alongside Danny and Matt's struggles with the show, with the various personal relationships between the characters tying the two threads together.

The Matt/Harriet story is standard Sorkin love/hate fare, as his liberal mindset clashes with her conservative Christianity, while a slowly emerging Danny/Jordan concept doesn't hold enough water to be interesting until late in the season, when they both get to be real people. The rest of the crew, including Nate Cordrry and D.L. Hughley, isn't tied down by relationships (for the most part), and is thus free from the story expectations they carry.

It may have had a short life on TV, but "Studio 60" is in no way a bad show. It's in fact a very good show... on a topic few people care about: the intricacies of network television production. This is an excellent choice for a finite dramedy series and If you enjoy good TV "Sports Night" in particular, give this show a look.

Episodes Included on this disc:

1. Pilot
Mad as hell: An on-air diatribe puts NBS in damage-control mode - and puts two ex-staffers in charge.

2. The Cold Open
No sweat, fellas. Just be sure your first show - just five days away - is a smash. Plus: Jordan won't kill a controversial sketch.

3. The Focus Group
Life in a glass house: Jordan's DUI surfaces. And focus-group data are in (don't tell Matt!).

4. The West Coast Delay
The staff scurries to correct an error by breaking into the show's West Coast feed with a rewritten, live segment.

This title has been rated 26 times.