retro TV Thursday: Studio 60

I would like to take a moment to thank the Univese for Aaron Sorkin.  I'm sure that most of you have seen the West Wing.  I am also sure that none of you saw the successor to the West Wing.  Aaron Sorkin sat down and created the behind the scenes show about the fictional late night comedy extravaganza Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is an American comedy-drama television series created and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin.

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 serves as the head writerand Danny produces the show.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ran on NBC for 22 episodes, from September 18, 2006 to June 28, 2007. It is Aaron Sorkin's only TV show not to air for more than one series.

  Studio 60 had trouble from the beginning.  NBC had signed two television shows about the behind the scenes running of a television show.  The other show was the Tina Fey masterpiece 30 Rock.  NBC knew that they would only be keeping one show and the ratings dictated that it would not be Studio 60.  

  Studio 60 was critical of the television industry itself, it explored the dumbing down and moral decay of the television industry.  In many way the series portrayed the fight to redeem network television.  It also spent a lot of time exploring how to entertain a nation that was becoming more polarized of various religious and political issues.

  I think the issue was that the network thought it was a comedy, and the show had it's share of humor, but the series was a drama about running a sketch comedy show.  Studio 60 was a victim of the very attitudes that it was flying in the face of.  The show was too smart and too real in it's portrayal of the polarization of America.

  The clip I've posted from the first episode is the breakdown of a television executive who is fed up.  The breakdown takes place live on camera.

  If you are a fan of the Newsroom. Sports Night, or the West Wing, you need to add Studio 60 to you DVD collection.  It is just another in a long line of television shows that was killed too early.

I've stolen stuff from Wikipedia like usual, but here is the link to the full entry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_60_on_the_Sunset_Strip

and here is the link to the videos on the YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vahmSjnpXgg&list=PLClk5iYCqY9YfSmp727W-sWzlzV-jgYW7