Aaron Sorkin, Matthew Perry, everyone had high hopes for this can't miss NBC show, right? Not me. I knew what would be wrong with it before it was ever made. Aaron Sorkin can't do comedy.
It's not that he's not funny (he is) or that he's not talented (see The West Wing) but he can't just be funny. Aaron Sorkin has to give you a serious method. Even when the actors that he's working with are Tom Cruise and Demi Moore he has to be serious. He has to tell us that "we can't handle the truth."
The truth is that The West Wing was brilliant for the same reason that Studio 60 and Sportsnight were not, it was meaningful. Of course there were funny moments in the West Wing and there were fleshed out characters that were fun to watch. But what made it brilliant was how it could create moments of passion and inspiration that are too often lacking in real life. In the West Wing there was truly something at stake, and that gave it great meaning.
In one episode Martin Sheen (AKA the President) tears a radio personality a new one for hating on gay people. She says that she doesn't hate gay people, the bible does. He quotes to her all the rules from the bible which are so arcane that they are long forgotten to mock her hateful following of the one which says a man shall not lie with another man. He quotes the bible at her in an inspired flurry of taunts and mocking. But when he's finished a serious point has been made. He's clever, and funny, but ultimately the strength is in the passion and importance of the topic.
Sportsnight and now Studio 60 bring that same passion and sense of importance to a sports show and an SNL type show. But sadly, when Aaron Sorkin tries to impose grand meaning on the small ups and downs of a TV show, the emotion falls flat. When Sorkin is doing a show about a TV show he can't imbue it with the same passion and meaning which he gave his show, The West Wing. Hey Aaron, can you handle that truth?
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