"TV has a very measurable effect on our national mood. When TV gets bitchy and pissy, you find Americans getting bitchy and pissy too."

Aaron Sorkin had one of the most anticipated and big-budgeted series of the past season with Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, and with comic actors like DL Hughley of Cloud 9 and Matthew Perry among the ensemble cast, the West Wing creator with the druggie-hooker tabloid past seemed to have a no-brainer hit on his hands.

Until it premiered. Because with its dreary dark colors, soapbox speechifying, desperate flailing between social issues and screwball stage comedy--and a disconnect from the world it supposedly portrayed (see Rescue Me or Ugly Betty for cool fakes of backstage reality)-- the show was a dud from the start.

Even so, Studio 60 was our favorite bad show of the past year (NBC, feel free to use this for the DVD: "Our favorite bad show of the season! -- Tabloid Baby).

At one point, Sorkin even blamed bloggers for his bomb, but now that NBC gave him the honor of filming the remainder of the season order after the series was shitcanned, and now that he's back in the movie-writing world with a new Tom Hanks flick and three-picture deal with Dreamworks, it's safe for Sorkin to take the blame himself.

And according to today's LA Times, Sorkin takes the blame for 'Studio 60'. At least in the headline. Because if you read the article, you'll see that he blames the tabloids-- and the audience!

Continue reading "Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip: Sorkin blames audience for Studio 60" »

Posted by Tabloid Baby at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The final episodes-- including a bunch that NBC respectfully allowed Sorkin to film even after the show was declared dead-- won't hurt the network because Sweeps ended last night (for all it matters, they could be scheduling double runs of Thank God You're Here).

And returning to the NBC on Sunday for a summer run is...

Continue reading "Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip: The last hours of Studio 60" »

Posted by Tabloid Baby at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Aaron Sorkin's serio-solemn take on life behind the scenes of a live network comedy series was yanked after 16 episodes in February and replaced with The Black Donnellys-- which was cancelled earlier this month, and replaced by The Real Wedding Crashers, which isn't exactly the new America's Funniest Home Videos (evidently because Studio 60 had cursed the timeslot).

Our pal Ray Richmond (Hey! Second plug today!) reported about a month ago that Sorkin and company had gone back into production to finish off the entire first-- and most likely, final-- season.

While the series is getting more respect than other failures that are burned off online, the NBC website shows that Studio 60 will return when it can't do any more harm:

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Posted by Tabloid Baby at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

But it lives! Our pal Ray Richmond, the best entertainment columnist in the business, says he's got it on very good word that the show is back in production!

"A rumor had been going around (imagine that -- a rumor on the Internet!) that after having gone back into production earlier this month on episodes 17 through 22, the show had ceased production and the plug finally, irrevocably pulled," writes Ray. "WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! (Imagine it -- an inaccurate rumor on the Internet!) I got the scoop...

Continue reading "Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip: Studio 60 refuses to die!" »

Posted by Tabloid Baby at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The network was set to the shelve the show indefinitely and replace it with the New York City Irish mob drama, The Black Donnellys, on March 5th. But now the Donnellys premiere has been moved up a week. So it gets the prime 10 pm slot after Heroes, beginning February 26th-- the night after The Oscars®.

They're probably hoping to catch some Academy Award® draft, seeing that Donnellys comes from last year's Best Picture® producers, and Martin Scorsese is expected to get a best director statue® for his Boston Irish mob flick, The Departed (which could even maybe possibly win for Best Picture®-- but you'll have to ask Sutter Cane about that).

Continue reading "Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip: 'Black' hole for Studio 60" »

Posted by Tabloid Baby at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)