Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

It's hard to believe, but I started this blog almost a year ago, and in that time I've heard a lot of talk about Studio 60, some positive, some negative, and you know what... everybody feels differently about everything so for the most part negative comments about things I feel passionate about often just roll off my back. You'll notice very little has been said in this blog about the negative press Studio 60 has been getting in the recent months, and to be perfectly frank a lot of the reason is that I just didn't feel like getting into it. But enough's enough.

It is so hip and cool to trash Studio 60. "It takes itself too seriously", "It's arrogant", "The sketches aren't as funny as they should be", "Harriet's a bitch", "Sorkin needs to get over himself" It goes on and on. Some of these are valid points, some of these are idiotic, but either way I just have to point out the huge hypocrisy in the mob mentality warfare that is being waged on this show. There are few things I have read that are more self-aggrandizing than some of these "articles" written about how much Studio 60 sucks. It's disgusting. And some of these are in the guise of news articles, by reputable sources. Sorkin's never been short on ego, there's no doubt about that... but this is an intelligent, well-written, well-acted show. And any moron can and should be able to see it. But this show was built up so highly early on, that people couldn't wait to tear it down when it didn't live up to expectations. There's nothing people like better than the idea that they're superior to those who would ordinarilly be considered "better" than them, and that idea is proving itself over and over with Studio 60.

The worst of it all is some in the online community, and I hate to point fingers but, what the hell I'm going to. A big fat finger is being pointed at Television Without Pity. For those who don't know the site, it's actually a generally intelligent and occasionally humorous site which reviews the episodes of television shows and while the site obviously goes a little far out of its way to insult and snark on shows, (which is fine, the name tells you pretty plainly what you're in for) their attitudes toward this show and in particularly Aaron Sorkin have become absolutely venemous. Many of the posters are almost rabid in their hatred of it all. In some respects this is understandable, back when Sorkin ran The West Wing there was an incident where he lampooned the silly mob-like behavior at this site in a small subplot in the episode "The U.S. Poet Laureate" and no one likes to be insulted (despite the fact that his sentiments in the episode were pretty spot on.) but their attitude towards Studio 60 has become laughable. The Studio 60 forum on that site serves a little more than a Sorkin-hating circle-jerk. This is mainly the fault of the moderators who are very biased and quick to indiscriminately ban those who go too far out of the public opinion, but because the moderators set the standard for what should or should not be discussed on this board they seem to be encouraging vicious ad hominem hatred and, in my opinion, actively discouraging rational (and certainly *any* positive) talk on the show.

Maybe it's not in the best of taste to be so harsh on only one site (and Television Without Pity is really only one of many online forums behaving in this way, and most of the people on the site seem to be posting in good faith) but it's the one I'm more familiar with. I'm all for people putting their opinions online, hence this blog, and I'm all for healthy and constructive criticism but in my opinion most of the people blasting this show are full of shit and are positively orgasmic about the opportunity to seem superior.