| Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip | |
|---|---|
Title Card |
|
| Format | Comedy-drama |
| Created by | Aaron Sorkin |
| Starring | Matthew Perry Amanda Peet Bradley Whitford Steven Weber D. L. Hughley Sarah Paulson Nate Corddry Timothy Busfield |
| Composer(s) | W.G. Snuffy Walden |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 22 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Thomas Schlamme Aaron Sorkin |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 43 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 18, 2006 – June 28, 2007 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is an American dramedy television series created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It ran for 22 episodes.
The series takes place behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show (also called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip or Studio 60) on the fictional television network NBS (National Broadcasting System), whose format is similar to that of NBC's Saturday Night Live. National Broadcasting System is owned by the TMG Corporation. The show-within-a-show is run by executive producers Matt Albie (Matthew Perry) and Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford). Matt acts as the head writer and Danny produces the show.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip aired on NBC from September 18, 2006 to June 28, 2007.
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Studio 60 employed a broad ensemble cast that portrayed the rotating personnel involved in the production of a late-night comedy show.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip premiered in 1986, created by veteran comedy writer Wes Mendell, who had written for such comedy greats as the Smothers Brothers, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.
By 1999, Wes had set up a system where he, as head writer, wrote most of his material solo, while assistant head writer Joe was left in charge of the writers’ room, where the rest of the writers would brainstorm and submit ideas they had come up with individually. This was the year in which Wes hired two unknowns who would eventually become members of the “Big Three”, the three most popular and powerful cast members: Yale School of Drama graduate Simon Stiles, and improv veteran Harriet Hayes. Harriet’s addition to the cast was especially important, since it attracted the attention of two freshman writers, Luke Scott and Matt Albie, neither of whom had yet been able to get a sketch on the air. Luke and Matt quickly developed a rivalry for Harriet’s affections, which they expressed partially by writing material specifically for her. Although Luke was the one having succeeded in writing Harriet’s début sketch, it was Matt Albie whose writing made her a star. Harriet alternately dated both writers, until Luke left, having fallen into Matt’s shadow. Luke soon became a success as a director and writer for motion pictures.
By 2001, Studio 60 had become the flagship show of NBS, impressionist Tom Jeter rounded out the Big Three, and Matt had become enough of a success that he had replaced Joe as assistant head writer. In fact, according to producer Danny Tripp, Matt had actually been writing the show since 1999, while Wes spent most of his time in his office "getting old." When Wes was temporarily hospitalised by a cigarette-related heart attack, he left the show in the hands of Matt and Danny. The duo strenuously objected to having to produce a season première in the immediate wake of September 11, but their objections were overruled by network chairman Jack Rudolph. He gave them strict instructions to stay away from "anti-American" political satire and to focus on Hollywood. Matt wrote an opening sketch satirizing a meeting between Karl Rove and movie executives. Jack objected to the sketch, while Matt defended it because it made fun of Hollywood. Making a deal with Jack, Danny and Matt agreed to pull the sketch if the representatives of their sponsors objected after seeing the dress rehearsal. None of them did, the sketch made it onto the show, and there was an immediate conservative backlash. As a result, Jack threatened to fire Matt and Danny unless they apologized for the sketch. They refused to apologize and expected Wes to stand up for their decision. Instead, Wes decided to issue an apology on the show's behalf. Realizing Wes had buckled under perceived pressure from the network, Matt and Danny quit the show.
These decisions caused Wes to begin doubting himself, and, by 2006, he had more or less unofficially handed artistic control of the show over to assistant head writers Ricky and Ron, best known for their unfunny recurring sketch Peripheral Vision Man. Prolific but untalented, Ricky and Ron led the show into an artistic slump. When Wes tried to shake things up by opening the new season with “Crazy Christians”, a sketch that was written by Matt before he quit, he was overruled by Standards & Practices. Wes responded by interrupting the opening sketch with a live, on-air rant about network sensibilities and how they had sapped the quality out of Studio 60 and television in general. The network, under the leadership of newly appointed president Jordan McDeere, responded by firing Wes and bringing back Danny Tripp as executive producer and Matt Albie as executive producer and head writer.
During their time away from Studio 60 Matt and Danny found success as a writer/director filmmaking team, a success culminating with a WGA award for Matt. Still stung by the betrayal of Wes and angry at Jack for refusing to side with their artistic integrity five years earlier, Matt and Danny, nevertheless, accepted the job as show bosses when Danny failed a drug test and, thus, could not get insured for their next movie.
Matt’s return to the show reunited him with Harriet, with whom he had recently broken up. This reunion, coupled with Harriet’s casting in Luke’s latest movie, reignited Luke and Matt’s rivalry for Harriet’s affections. Meanwhile, Danny began to develop a romance with Jordan McDeere, who continued to rile Jack with her distaste for unscripted television and commitment to cerebral programming.
In the writing room, Matt benched Ricky and Ron, partially in retaliation for a post-9/11 snub, but mostly because Matt held the nearly-universally shared view that they were hack writers. Bitter, Ricky and Ron walked out to write for the Fox network production of their optioned Peripheral Vision Man, taking with them all but two of the writing staff. The only writers remaining included Matt as the head writer, the inexperienced Lucy Kenwright, who had never had a sketch on air and the unsuccessful stand-up comedian Darius Hawthorne, whom Matt had only recently hired in response to Simon’s request for more black writers on the show. Realizing that they desperately needed help, Matt hired veteran Studio 60 writer Andy Mackinaw as a writing advisor. Andy, who had retired from comedy after his family was killed in a car accident, then decided to remain on staff as assistant head writer.
On December 2, 2006, NBC announced that Studio 60 would be sharing the Monday at 10 p.m. timeslot with The Black Donnellys. To accommodate this NBC scheduled Studio 60 to take a 7-week hiatus between December 4, 2006, and January 22, 2007.[5] It was then scheduled to run non-stop until February 26, 2007, when it would take another hiatus.[6]
On February 13, 2007, NBC announced that Studio 60 would go on hiatus one week early, and that the last episode would air on February 19, 2007. This was at least partially due to the show's delivering its lowest ratings to date on the Monday preceding the announcement.[7]
During the hiatus on NBC, The Black Donnellys (premiered February 26), Thank God You're Here (premiered April 9), The Real Wedding Crashers (premiered April 23, after Thank God You're Here moved to Wednesdays),[8][9] and Law and Order: Criminal Intent (aired its last two episodes of the season starting May 14) occupied the Monday 10 p.m. time period.
On April 2, 2007, NBC announced that Studio 60 would not reclaim its Monday at 10 p.m. time slot at the conclusion of The Black Donnellys run and that The Real Wedding Crashers, a reality show based on the popular movie, would occupy the timeslot from April 23, 2007, through the end of the TV season. However, on April 26, NBC announced that Studio 60 would return from its hiatus on Thursday, May 24, at 10:00 p.m.
Studio 60 was officially canceled on May 11, 2007 during the NBC upfront presentation.[10]
Studio 60, previously known as Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip during its development stage (and likely renamed because of Studio 7, a game show that aired on The WB in 2004), was already the subject of much discussion before its first episode had aired. NBC and CBS had staged an intense bidding war for the rights to the show in October 2005, with NBC agreeing to a "near-record license fee" in order to obtain the rights.[11] It was the show most anticipated by media buyers prior to the network upfront presentations, according to MediaLife.[12] Among the online public the show was also highly anticipated, receiving the most online "mentions" and the most positive sentiment of any new 2006 show.[13] The positive reception extended to television critics, who named it their "Best Overall New Program" in a poll conducted by Broadcasting and Cable,[14] based on the pilot episode. In their 2006 year end issue, NY Daily News listed Studio 60 as number 6 on their best "Series of the Year" list, and was also listed in best standout performances as number 9 for Matthew Perry.[15] Glenn Garvin of the Miami Herald named Studio 60 as number 2 on his list of best "Series of the Year."[16] Studio 60 earned a collective rating of 75 out of 100 based on 33 reviews by TV critics and received 8.2 out of 10 from 276 votes by users on Metacritic.[17]
The pilot was seen by an average of 13.4 million total viewers in its initial airing on NBC, although it experienced significant viewer falloff from the first half-hour to the second half-hour,[18] and the second episode's Nielsen ratings were down by 12% from the pilot.[19] The erosion continued through episode 5, with a 43% viewer drop off from its premiere, but subsequently leveled off. (See U.S. television ratings below.)
On October 27, 2006, NBC gave a conditional "vote of confidence" by ordering three additional scripts on top of the initial order of 13.[20] Despite the order, Studio 60 performed poorly in the ratings, which led to speculation that the network was seriously considering canceling the show.
Roger Friedman of Fox News reported on October 30, 2006, that cancellation of the show was imminent.[21] This was denied the next day by an NBC representative who stated that the show "is profitable at this point" and that rather than a cancellation, it is more likely that the show's time slot will change.[22]
On November 9, 2006, NBC announced that the show had been picked up for a full season, citing its favorable demographics as the reason.[23] According to NBC's press release: "Studio 60 has consistently delivered some of the highest audience concentrations among all primetime network series in such key upscale categories as adults 18-49 living in homes with $75,000-plus and $100,000-plus incomes and in homes where the head of household has four or more years of college."
In its December 17, 2006, issue, Time listed Studio 60 as one of "5 Things That Went From Buzz to Bust", sharing the distinction with other "phenomena that captivated the media for a spell, then turned out to be less than huge."[24] Entertainment Weekly named Studio 60 the worst TV show of 2006.[25] Comedy writers have been largely disdainful of Studio 60, with comments like "People in television, trust me, are not that smart", "(Sorkin) wants to get big ideas across and change people's minds. No comedians work that way. They go for the laughs first and the lesson second", and "(Saturday Night Live) is so dark, they could never show what actually happens there."[26]
On July 19, 2007, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced their nominations for the 2007 Primetime Emmy awards. Studio 60 was nominated in five categories. The pilot episode earned three nominations: Outstanding Directing (Thomas Schlamme), Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-camera Series, and Outstanding Casting in Dramatic Series. Both John Goodman and Eli Wallach were nominated Outstanding Guest actor in Dramatic Series. Studio 60 Emmy nominations surpassed several other shows, such as Friday Night Lights and Dexter, which got two and three, respectively. The show also tied with CSI and 24.
The pilot both alludes heavily and refers directly to the film Network. In early development, Studio 60's network NBS was called UBS, as was the corporation in Network.
As is typical for Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, the crew contains a number of people linked to their previous shows (Sports Night and The West Wing). Bradley Whitford, Timothy Busfield, John Goodman, Evan Handler and Matthew Perry all have a history with The West Wing. Busfield also directed two episodes of Sports Night. The show's first guest host (appearing as herself) is Felicity Huffman, who starred in Sports Night and did a guest spot on The West Wing. Cast member Mark McKinney wrote an episode of Sports Night.
Sorkin draws from his own experience as a writer in creating the characters. In "The Focus Group", Ron says, "Nobody can write 90 minutes of television every week by themselves. They'd be dead by the sixth show." Sorkin is known for having single-handedly written a majority of the episodes during the first four seasons of The West Wing.
The show also uses the now familiar "Walk and Talks" (also called "pedeconferencing" in fan circles) used so frequently in both previous shows as well.
The Harriet/Matt relationship is based on Sorkin's relationship with Kristin Chenoweth, who played Annabeth Schott on The West Wing.[27] In Studio 60's pilot, one of the reasons that Matt and Harriet broke up was Harriet's decision to appear on The 700 Club to support her Christian music album. In 2005, Chenoweth made a similar appearance on The 700 Club, sparking a negative reaction from some of her gay fans because of the views of 700 Club host Pat Robertson.[28] Unlike Matt and Harriet, Sorkin and Chenoweth did not work together on The West Wing. Sorkin left after The West Wing's fourth season and Chenoweth joined the cast during season six.
The Jordan McDeere character is loosely based on former ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses, who was a consultant on the show.[29]
The conflict between NBS and the Federal Communications Commission regarding uncensored language of American soldiers in Afghanistan parallels the decision by a small number of PBS affiliates to air the documentary Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience in full, despite potentially hefty FCC fines for unedited obscenities used by American soldiers describing their experiences in Iraq.[30]
Two shows debuting on 2006–07 NBC lineup, 30 Rock and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, revolved around the off-camera happenings on a sketch comedy series. Similarities between the two led to speculation that only one of them would be picked up. Alec Baldwin, of 30 Rock said "I'd be stunned if NBC picked up both shows. And ours has the tougher task, as a comedy, because, if it's not funny, that's it."[31] Kevin Reilly, then president of NBC Entertainment, was supportive of Fey, describing the situation as a "high-class problem":
| “ | I just can't imagine the audience would look at both shows, choose one and cancel the other out. In some ways, why is it any different than when there have been three or four cop shows on any schedule, or Scrubs and ER, which are totally very different?[32] | ” |
Evidence of the overlapping subject matter between the shows, as well as the conflict between them, arose when Aaron Sorkin, the creator of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, asked Lorne Michaels to allow him to observe Saturday Night Live for a week, a request Michaels denied.[31] Despite this, Sorkin sent Fey flowers after NBC announced it would pick up both series, and wished her luck with 30 Rock.[33] Fey said that "it's just bad luck for me that in my first attempt at prime time I'm going up against the most powerful writer on television. I was joking that this would be the best pilot ever aired on Trio. And then Trio got canceled."[31] Fey wound up "beating" Sorkin when Studio 60 was canceled after one season and 30 Rock was renewed for a second. Though 30 Rock's first-season ratings proved lackluster and were lower than those of Studio 60,[34] Studio 60 was more expensive to produce.[35]
The series finale of Studio 60, "What Kind of Day Has It Been," bears the same episode title as the season 1 finales of both The West Wing and Sports Night.
In a tongue in cheek reference to the cancelled Studio 60, Aaron Sorkin appeared in Season 5 of 30 Rock (Episode 18, "Plan B") as himself looking for work alongside the also struggling writer character of Liz Lemon. Lemon and Sorkin both apply and interview with Nick Lachey for The Sing Off. While listing his achievements to Liz:(The West Wing, A Few Good Men, The Social Network), she pipes up with "Studio 60?", to which he replies "Shut up".
Weekly rankings based on Fast National ratings.[36][37][38][39]
| # | Episode | Air Date | Rating | Share | 18–49 Demographic | Viewers (in millions) | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | September 18, 2006 | 8.6 | 14 | 5.0 | 13.14 | # 22 |
| 2 | "The Cold Open" | September 25, 2006 | 7.5 | 12 | 4.4 | 10.82 | # 33 |
| 3 | "The Focus Group" | October 2, 2006 | 6.0 | 10 | 3.5 | 8.85 | # 47 |
| 4 | "The West Coast Delay" | October 9, 2006 | 5.8 | 9 | 3.8 | 8.66 | # 51 |
| 5 | "The Long Lead Story" | October 16, 2006 | 5.3 | 8 | 3.1 | 7.74 | # 55 |
| 6 | "The Wrap Party" | October 23, 2006 | 5.1 | 8 | 3.2 | 7.72 | # 60 |
| 7 | "Nevada Day (1)" | November 6, 2006 | 4.8 | 8 | 3.3 | 7.67 | # 56 |
| 8 | "Nevada Day (2)" | November 13, 2006 | 5.0 | 8 | 3.2 | 7.58 | # 58 |
| 9 | "The Option Period" | November 20, 2006 | 4.7 | 8 | 3.1 | 7.17 | # 60 |
| 10 | "B-12" | November 27, 2006 | 4.8 | 8 | 3.3 | 7.27 | # 60 |
| 11 | "The Christmas Show" | December 4, 2006 | 4.9 | 8 | 3.0 | 7.33 | # 52 |
| 12 | "Monday" | January 22, 2007 | 5.3 | 8 | 3.2 | 7.25 | # 48 |
| 13 | "The Harriet Dinner – Part I" | January 29, 2007 | 4.8 | 7 | 3.0 | 6.86 | # 53 |
| 14 | "The Harriet Dinner – Part II" | February 5, 2007 | 4.6 | 7 | 3.2 | 7.00 | # 59 |
| 15 | "The Friday Night Slaughter" | February 12, 2007 | 4.3 | 7 | 2.8 | 6.39 | # 68 |
| 16 | "4AM Miracle" | February 19, 2007 | 4.1 | 7 | 2.6 | 6.10 | # 63 |
| 17 | "The Disaster Show" | May 24, 2007 | 2.7 | 5 | 1.7 | 3.90 | # 76 |
| 18 | "Breaking News" | May 31, 2007 | 2.9 | 5 | 1.6 | 4.08 | n/a |
| 19 | "K&R" | June 7, 2007 | 3.1 | 5 | 1.7 | 4.35 | # 66 |
| 20 | "K&R - Part II" | June 14, 2007 | 3.0 | 6 | 1.7 | 4.25 | n/a |
| 21 | "K&R - Part III" | June 21, 2007 | 3.0 | 5 | 1.8 | 4.42 | # 53 |
| 22 | "What Kind of Day Has It Been" | June 28, 2007 | 2.7 | 5 | 2.0 | 4.20 | n/a |
Key: Rating is the estimated percentage of all TVs tuned to the show, share is the percentage of all TVs in use that are tuned in. Viewers is the estimated number of actual people watching, in millions, while ranking is the approximate ranking of the show against all prime-time TV shows for the week (Monday through the following Sunday).
While the show premiered with high ratings, there was a large drop during the second half. This trend continued through nearly every episode of the show.
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on NBC:[40]
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season | Timeslot (EDT) | Series Premiere | Series Finale | TV Season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
18-49 Rating/Share (rank) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monday 10:00 P.M. (September 18, 2006 - February 19, 2007) Thursday 10:00 P.M. (May 24, 2007 - June 28, 2007)[41] |
September 18, 2006 | June 28, 2007 | 2006-2007 | #61 | 8.5 | 3.6/9 (#41) |
On December 29, 2006, Nielsen Media Research reported the results of having, for the first time, monitored viewers who use a Digital Video Recorder to pre-record shows for later viewing. According to the Nielsen numbers, adding these viewers increased Studio 60's ratings the most in percentage terms of all network shows. These ratings, called "live plus seven", include all viewers who use a DVR to record the show and then watch it within a week of its initial airing.
According to Nielsen, Studio 60 adds nearly 11%, or almost a million viewers, to its total every week as a result of these "live plus seven" viewers.[42]
According to Medialife Magazine, "The live-plus-seven-day rating for NBC’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” is 136% higher than its live rating in DVR homes."[43]
Studio 60 has been removed from Netflix's Watch Instantly program and is only available via DVD. Studio 60 was one of a group of NBC shows during its season, some new and some returning, which was available on one or both of NBC's online forums for alternative distribution of television: free with commercials on NBC.com and hulu.com, and for pay download without commercials at Amazon.com and the iTunes Store. Studio 60 was also added as a download option via the Xbox 360 video download service. There is no published record of its popularity at the NBC website or on the Xbox, but several Studio 60 episodes have been among the ten most popular on iTunes. The Studio 60 season pass has also steadily remained in the Top 20 since it was made available. The first nine episodes of Studio 60 were also made available on the launch of Xbox Live Media Downloads in fall of 2006, and the service continues to offer the new episodes weekly (3–4 days after the airdate). All episodes of the program have also been made available on CTV's online broadband network. Episodes are currently being added to the Channel 4's 4oD, a broadband on-demand service, in the UK, as the episodes are broadcast on More 4.
NBC made the pilot episode of Studio 60 available on DVD to Netflix subscribers on August 5, 2006. The DVD also includes the pilot episode for Kidnapped, another show which aired on NBC in the fall and also got canceled. AOL also premiered the first episode of Studio 60 in its entirety on its online television channel.
The pilot episode was screened to the general public for the first time at the 31st MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, a British industry and media event held annually over the August bank holiday weekend (25–27 August 2006). The pilot episode was screened outdoors on a "giant billboard style screen" in Conference Square, next to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.[44]
On June 27, 2007, the day before the airing of the show's final episode, Warner Home Video announced an October 16 release date for the Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Complete Series DVD set.[45]
| STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP | ||
| EPISODES | CHARACTERS | ||
| Primary Characters |
Matt Albie | Danny Tripp | Jordan McDeere | Harriet Hayes Tom Jeter | Simon Stiles | Jack Rudolph | Cal Shanley |
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| Secondary Characters |
Ricky Tahoe | Ron Oswald | Wes Mendell | Martha O'Dell Jeannie Whatley | Samantha Li | Alex Dwyer | Dylan Killington Darius Hawthorne | Lucy Kenwright | Andy Mackinaw | Wilson White |
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| Key creators | Aaron Sorkin | Thomas Schlamme | W. G. Snuffy Walden | |
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