December 8, 2005

[live from the sunset strip ... in houston] ^{11:32 PM}

So, I'm in Texas. Houston today, Austin tomorrow for my sister's college graduation on Saturday. Christmas came early and I'm now typing on my new laptop!

I'm sure all that was blog-worthy, but what I really want to write about is Aaron Sorkin's new show Studio 7, whose pilot script I read on the plane (Thanks Magic Elf!)

Curiosity has abounded ever since Sorkin announced he was coming back to television, and I'm pleased to report that even though the man may have kicked coke, he hasn't kicked his talent (I love when geniuses aren't chemically dependant).

So how is it? It is The West Wing meets Sports Night. Only instead of the White House staff we have agents, actors, writers and studio executives, and instead of a cable sports show we have a network variety show (UBS's Studio 7, which has much more than a passing similarity to SNL).

The main ingredients of the Sorkin stew are here: The High Position of Power (The new President of the network), the crackerjack duo (a writer/director team), The Super Players (the three power leads of S7), and the sassy, supportive assistants (PA's) all fighting for change and quality. Fans of Sorkin (and Schlamme) will be able to virutally watch the pilot in their head from the script, all that's missing are the key talking heads (rumors of Matthew Perry possibly taking the lead: these are good rumors).

The standard addage for screenplays is "a page a minute," therefore a the teleplay for a standard drama can run some odd 40-60 pages. The rapid-tongued Gilmore Girls can exceed 80 pages for an hour, and the pilot for Studio 7 hits the 75 page mark.

One benefit of the show-within-a-show concept that hadn't occured to me was the role of a guest host each week for the fictional live friday night broadcast of S7. In the pilot the guest host is Felicity Huffman, a friend (and former Sports Night lead) of Sorkin's who will most assuredly tear up her image off Wisteria Lane. This is exciting. Can you think of how many "name" people would be willing to drop by an Aaron Sorkin dramedy for a day's work playing and poking fun at themselves?

For Sorkin fans, S7 offers more of the same, which far from a bad thing, and I'm sure everyone will be intriuged what sort of thinly veiled Hollywood truths present themselves on NBC this fall. I want more, yet couldn't have asked for anything better.

Name:


Email Address:


URL:

Remember personal info?
YesNo
Comments: