Studio 60 pilot
* Thoroughly watchable from an intellectual standpoint, but hasn't engaged my emotions yet at all.
* Amanda Peet seems like a particularly affectless mannequin to me -- I am mystified as to why Sorkin wanted her for this role.
* Jeez, could you at least make us *work* a little for the slash? It's no fun when you hand it over on a plate, unless you start playing the Xena game of "Is it subtext, or honest-to-god *text*?"
* Timothy Busfield -- 100% less annoying than usual! Go, Tim! I really like seeing him play a relatively self-effacing character.
* I proclaim Suzanne the P.A. to be my favorite character.
* Am v.v. worried about how they're going to handle Harriet's character. I hope Sorkin has a practicing Christian or two on hand to advise him on the nuances, or maybe better yet a particular person he's using as a model. Because if he's just drawing on popular stereotype, he's going to end up conflating a bunch of issues that in reality are quite separate. To wit, these three things are NOT THE SAME: (1) how politically liberal or conservative she is; (2) how theologically liberal or conservative she is, and (3) the style of Christianity she practices. And none of these three things are unitary in themselves, either.
For example, she might support, say, universal health care and strong environmental protection laws (politically liberal positions), but still believe that non-Christians aren't going to heaven (a theologically conservative position). Or she might be flamingly liberal politically *and* theologically on every subject you could imagine, but still practice a very open, emotional style of Christianity more commonly associated with conservative evangelicals -- public prayer, talking about her relationship with Jesus, singing praise songs at worship, etc.
I worry that Sorkin is just going to bounce around from week to week, having her do or say whatever is convenient or interesting for that week's plot, making assumptions about consistencies where there don't *need* to be any, and missing them when they ought to be there. And that's really going to annoy me.
* Amanda Peet seems like a particularly affectless mannequin to me -- I am mystified as to why Sorkin wanted her for this role.
* Jeez, could you at least make us *work* a little for the slash? It's no fun when you hand it over on a plate, unless you start playing the Xena game of "Is it subtext, or honest-to-god *text*?"
* Timothy Busfield -- 100% less annoying than usual! Go, Tim! I really like seeing him play a relatively self-effacing character.
* I proclaim Suzanne the P.A. to be my favorite character.
* Am v.v. worried about how they're going to handle Harriet's character. I hope Sorkin has a practicing Christian or two on hand to advise him on the nuances, or maybe better yet a particular person he's using as a model. Because if he's just drawing on popular stereotype, he's going to end up conflating a bunch of issues that in reality are quite separate. To wit, these three things are NOT THE SAME: (1) how politically liberal or conservative she is; (2) how theologically liberal or conservative she is, and (3) the style of Christianity she practices. And none of these three things are unitary in themselves, either.
For example, she might support, say, universal health care and strong environmental protection laws (politically liberal positions), but still believe that non-Christians aren't going to heaven (a theologically conservative position). Or she might be flamingly liberal politically *and* theologically on every subject you could imagine, but still practice a very open, emotional style of Christianity more commonly associated with conservative evangelicals -- public prayer, talking about her relationship with Jesus, singing praise songs at worship, etc.
I worry that Sorkin is just going to bounce around from week to week, having her do or say whatever is convenient or interesting for that week's plot, making assumptions about consistencies where there don't *need* to be any, and missing them when they ought to be there. And that's really going to annoy me.