JPTV: What I'm Watching Tonight

The summer's Studio 60 eps have been hit and miss. One "experimental" installment centered on Timothy Busfield as the show's producer, leaving Matt and Danny out altogether and, as a diverting bonus, allowing for some pleasantly familiar frisson between Busfield and his The West Wing co-star, Allison Janney. Yay instant nostalgia! Of course, that same episode closed with Busfield reminding Janney that a bad night in the entertainment industry is still better than digging holes for a living -- a condescending sentiment that, while true, couldn't have gone over well with the hole-digging demographic segment of Studio 60's audience. (Just kidding: If anyone's watching that show right now, it's unlikely to be a blue-collar crowd.)

More recently, the prolonged plotline featuring Tom's (Nate Corddry) Airman brother being held hostage in the Mideast has been similarly mixed. Good for Corddry, showing some dramatic chops to go along with his well-established comedic skills; fie on Sorkin for letting the show adopt a ripped-from-the-headlines tone that makes this inappropriately serious series even more dour. And while I prefer Harriet (Sarah Paulson) and Matt (hew Perry) when they're getting along -- her character's stridency is grating, the mirror subplot featuring Danny (Bradley Whitford) and Jordan's (Amanda Peet) emergency trip to the hospital is dull and tuneless.

So: good and bad. Frustrating, given Sorkin's proven potential for knocking material out of the park. Still, I wish the show hadn't been canceled: good writing (even in service to bad plots) is rare in TV these days.