A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

YOUR BROTHER IS STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF AFGHANISTAN: We may have long ago said everything that we can possibly say, so we turn to the AV Club's Nathan Rabin to figure out why everyone kept talking about about Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip so damn much:

Here’s the ultimate tragedy of Studio 60: For decades, comedy lovers have bemoaned that comedy is never taken seriously. Comedies are ghettoized. They’re ignored at the Academy Awards and dismissed by critics. So it should have been a good thing when a serious man finally came along to take comedy seriously. But Studio 60 takes comedy so seriously it goes full circle and becomes comic...



We know that one of the things Studio 60, the show within the show, does is tell people what’s cool, because one of the characters says, “One of the things this show does is decide what’s cool.” And what does Studio 60 think is cool? A good illustration of the show’s sensibility can be found in its guest stars. Even in the lean years, Saturday Night Live is able to get big names that almost invariably skew young. In Studio 60’s world, the kids are apparently crazy about guest stars like Rob Reiner (the show gets its best ratings in 14 years for an episode Reiner hosts), Felicity Huffman, a lute-playing Sting, Corinne Bailey Rae, Allison Janney, and the Asian guy from Heroes, who was once apparently big enough to be faintly plausible as the host of a popular late-night sketch show.

These are not the entertainment choices of young people. These are the entertainment choices of a wealthy, middle-aged man. That speaks to another of Studio 60’s fatal flaws: It’s too old. Saturday Night Live does not represent the sensibility of Lorne Michaels. It represents the combined sensibilities of a bunch of hyped-up, oversexed twentysomethings desperate to impress the big boss. Studio 60, in sharp contrast, has the sensibility of a wealthy middle-aged man desperately trying to channel the personality of hyped-up, oversexed twentysomethings desperately trying to impress the big boss.