12 TV Shows That Don't Live Up To Great Premises
4. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
A comedy drama about the inner workings of a Saturday Night Live style sketch show, written by Aaron Sorkin and starring Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry, sounds like nothing but good news. From the pilot episode, Studio 60 seemed like it was onto a winner. Then, it went very quickly downhill.
The issues were myriad. It was supposedly about a groundbreaking and hilarious sketch show, but none of the sketches they showed us were in any way funny or interesting. Sorkin, as per, could not resist taking potshots and swipes at his usual targets – Christians, people he had worked with previously, TV executives who had wronged him.
Studio 60, the show and the show within the show, took itself extremely seriously, turning the series from a comedy drama into Aaron Sorkin’s weekly sermon on why he, as a TV writer, was an incredibly important and vital voice in today’s crazy society.
The show was cancelled after one season; not to be deterred, Sorkin went on to make exactly the same mistakes with follow up The Newsroom. The latter show lasted three seasons, but only served to become even more annoying than Studio 60 – no mean feat!