honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, September 18, 2006

Juicy tube

By MIKE HUGHES
Gannett News Service

Amanda Peet and Matthew Perry are TV players in "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the new series from Aaron Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing."

ART STREIBER | NBC

spacer spacer

'STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP'

Series premiere

9 tonight

NBC

spacer spacer

Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen star in "Smith," premiering on CBS.

CLIFF LIPSON | Associated Press

spacer spacer

Tonight — opening night of the fall TV season — viewers will get a jolt. A fictional character suddenly rants about television.

"We've all been lobotomized by this country's most influential industry," he fumes.

TV aims for stupid 12-year-olds, he says. "People are having contests to see how much they can be like Donald Trump ... We're eating worms for money." It's all become a "greed-filled whorehouse."

That's a fierce start to a powerful show — "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Remarkably, it's on NBC — the same network that has shows with Trump ("The Apprentice") and worm-eating ("Fear Factor").

"Those are two shows ... that, I'll be perfectly honest with you, I've never seen," said Aaron Sorkin, creator of "Studio 60."

Still, he knows the ideas behind them and he's not happy. "Television is a terribly influential part of this country," Sorkin said. "When things that are very mean-spirited and voyeuristic go on TV, I think it's bad crack in the school yard."

Now he's created a show that has drawn raves from critics. The same thing happened when Sorkin created "The West Wing." He produced its first four seasons, winning four straight Emmys; then he was fired, ostensibly for being late with scripts.

That was forgiven, however, when he wrote the "Studio 60" script. "CBS and NBC were bidding for it," Sorkin said.

NBC got it, complete with those anti-NBC assaults.

"We didn't take it personally," said Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment. "I think (he's making) social commentary at the culture at large."

The setting is a show a lot like "Saturday Night Live." The producer (Judd Hirsch) makes his rant on live TV; the director (Tim Busfield) refuses to cut away. "I'm waiting for him to say something that isn't true," he says.

Soon, the network chiefs (Steven Weber, Amanda Peet) need a new producer. They turn to an outspoken duo, played by Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry — two characters who are a lot like the real-life duo of Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme.

One (Sorkin in real life, Perry on the show), is a writer, outspoken and eccentric. The other (Schlamme/Whitford) is a director, solid and stable.

In the show, it's the director who has had a drug problem. In real life, it's the writer, Sorkin — who, moments after his "bad crack" comment about reality TV, said he regretted saying it.

In other ways, however, the characters reflect Sorkin and Schlamme. "It's a little weird," admits Whitford.

About the demands of an hourlong series, Sorkin quotes writer David Mamet: "Doing a play or a movie is like running a marathon. Doing a television series is like running until you die."

BEST OF THE REST

Other fresh shows premiering this week.

'SMITH,' 9 P.M. TUESDAYS ON CBS

  • The tag line you'll never see: Steal or no steal.

  • The basics: Bobby Stevens (Ray Liotta) is a doting dad and husband who travels a lot on business. Not for his day job — marketing plastic drinking cups — but to quarterback a team of professional thieves.

  • The lowdown: Producers John Wells ("The West Wing") and Chris Chulack ("ER") are seasoned storytellers. Their action-packed pilot depicts a fast-paced caper twice: The second run shows the missteps that could unravel the mission. But we've seen this theme before, in NBC's "Heist" and movies like "Ocean's Eleven." What's left to steal?

    'KIDNAPPED,' 9 P.M. WEDNESDAYS ON NBC

  • The tag line you'll never see: No serial offense here.

  • The basics: Manhattan power brokers Ellie and Conrad Cain (Dana Delany and Timothy Hutton) seem to live a charmed life — complete with the posh Upper East Side apartment, a maid and a teenage son who reads "Buddhist Epistemology." But the family's closet is packed full of skeletons. When young Leopold is kidnapped, the family's priority is to get him back while keeping secrets safely buried.

  • The lowdown: With Delany and Hutton signed on for just the first season, it seems this particular case will wrap up neatly by May sweeps. "Kidnapped" appears bound for very big things.

    'SIX DEGREES,' 9 P.M. THURSDAYS ON ABC

  • The tag line you'll never see: A web you won't mind getting caught in.

  • The basics: The lives of six New Yorkers intersect as they face the perils of love, loss, crime and infidelity — all while struggling to make a personal connection in a city of more than 8 million people.

  • The lowdown: Heavyweight executive producer J.J. Abrams ("Alias," "Lost") brings razzle-dazzle to yet another serialized drama by adding Hollywood glitter: Erika Christensen and Hope Davis. Strong acting should win fans this fall.

    'SHARK,' 9 P.M. THURSDAYS ON CBS

  • The tag line you'll never see: Legalese sleaze that's bound to please.

  • The basics: Sebastian Stark (James Woods) is a cutthroat defense lawyer who relishes winning in court — even if it means letting the bad guys go free. But when he finds himself playing for the other side — in the Los Angeles District Attorney's High Profile Crime Unit — Stark doesn't change his unscrupulous tactics. Instead, he teaches a rookie group of prosecutors his ins and outs of the legal system.

  • The lowdown: Woods is a pro, and he carries every scene in this one-hour drama.