Rapid-fire thoughts
I had some intention of posting a review for Studio 60, as I did last week, and also for Heroes, but the simple fact is that the Eagles were playing last night as well. It was just Green Bay, though, as much as you can say "just" for any team with Bret Farve at quarterback, so I put the game in picture-in-picture and mostly paid attention to the shows, but not enough to have insightful thoughts. (That's the first time in the two years I've had the TV that I've really tried to use the picture-in-picture, and it wasn't half bad, although I wouldn't do it on a regular basis.)
In any event, Heroes was mostly slow and dull, I thought. If you're going to have a series with eight characters who all start out separated, they're each going to get about five minutes of plot per week until you can get them all joined up, which should happen as soon as possible. And doing "previouslies" on each plot-line ate up too much of the five minutes, so I feel like I got a half-hour's worth of show. Hiro's five minutes, though, blew my mind -- I never saw that coming. That gets me for one more week, but if it goes back to being slow again, I don't know.
Studio 60 seemed to settle down to business as usual, as not a whole lot seemed to go on, but hey, we got to see some sketch comedy! And you know, not too bad, really. I thought the game show was reasonably funny, and was that supposed to be Tom Jeter doing the impersonations? Because his Tom Cruise wasn't half-bad, his Nicholas Cage was all right, and his Ben Stiller made me laugh out loud. Yes, they relied on absurdly exaggerated body language, but that's what spoofy impersonations are like. Although the sketches aren't super-funny or amazingly edgy, they're pretty much what I'd expect from SNL. Although the idea of the "Commedia Dell'arte" sketch made me roll my eyes -- aren't we cerebral? -- the three seconds I saw of it made me think that it might actually be funny, if not nearly as brainy as they made it sound.
Sadly, Harriet still isn't impressing me as a funny person (or else her Holly Hunter was so rich and subtle that I didn't get it). Danny's character, unfortunately, is coming across like a big jerk. If I weren't transferring all the goodwill I have for Josh Lyman to this character, I'd probably hate him. Josh was frequently annoying, but also vulnerable and enthusiastic and passionate, so it all balanced out. Danny, so far, is just manipulative and autocratic. I get that he loves Matt like a brother, which is great. But I haven't seen that he likes anybody else he's working with. And I think his pulling a holier-than-thou on Jordan at the party was way out of line, especially since she's his boss.
For those playing along with "Aaron Sorkin plot bingo," you can check off "power failure" now -- we did that on Sports Night when Jeremy tried to fix the Y2K bug by himself (one of the worst plotlines that character ever had), and on West Wing on the night of the State of the Union, where Josh was badgering Joey Lucas for the polling numbers instead of just asking her out, like he should have. Fortunately, the power outage plot thread here was quite minor, but having Danny ask Jordan for the numbers later on, plus Marlee Matlin appearing in a commercial, added up to slightly surreal. And speaking of ads, the commercial for 30 Rock, where Alec Baldwin think he's actually starring in Studio 60, was priceless. I think maybe Studio 60 could use some of that kind of self-deprecation, but I don't think it's likely.
In any event, Heroes was mostly slow and dull, I thought. If you're going to have a series with eight characters who all start out separated, they're each going to get about five minutes of plot per week until you can get them all joined up, which should happen as soon as possible. And doing "previouslies" on each plot-line ate up too much of the five minutes, so I feel like I got a half-hour's worth of show. Hiro's five minutes, though, blew my mind -- I never saw that coming. That gets me for one more week, but if it goes back to being slow again, I don't know.
Studio 60 seemed to settle down to business as usual, as not a whole lot seemed to go on, but hey, we got to see some sketch comedy! And you know, not too bad, really. I thought the game show was reasonably funny, and was that supposed to be Tom Jeter doing the impersonations? Because his Tom Cruise wasn't half-bad, his Nicholas Cage was all right, and his Ben Stiller made me laugh out loud. Yes, they relied on absurdly exaggerated body language, but that's what spoofy impersonations are like. Although the sketches aren't super-funny or amazingly edgy, they're pretty much what I'd expect from SNL. Although the idea of the "Commedia Dell'arte" sketch made me roll my eyes -- aren't we cerebral? -- the three seconds I saw of it made me think that it might actually be funny, if not nearly as brainy as they made it sound.
Sadly, Harriet still isn't impressing me as a funny person (or else her Holly Hunter was so rich and subtle that I didn't get it). Danny's character, unfortunately, is coming across like a big jerk. If I weren't transferring all the goodwill I have for Josh Lyman to this character, I'd probably hate him. Josh was frequently annoying, but also vulnerable and enthusiastic and passionate, so it all balanced out. Danny, so far, is just manipulative and autocratic. I get that he loves Matt like a brother, which is great. But I haven't seen that he likes anybody else he's working with. And I think his pulling a holier-than-thou on Jordan at the party was way out of line, especially since she's his boss.
For those playing along with "Aaron Sorkin plot bingo," you can check off "power failure" now -- we did that on Sports Night when Jeremy tried to fix the Y2K bug by himself (one of the worst plotlines that character ever had), and on West Wing on the night of the State of the Union, where Josh was badgering Joey Lucas for the polling numbers instead of just asking her out, like he should have. Fortunately, the power outage plot thread here was quite minor, but having Danny ask Jordan for the numbers later on, plus Marlee Matlin appearing in a commercial, added up to slightly surreal. And speaking of ads, the commercial for 30 Rock, where Alec Baldwin think he's actually starring in Studio 60, was priceless. I think maybe Studio 60 could use some of that kind of self-deprecation, but I don't think it's likely.