Initial Thoughts on "Studio 60"

Well, I was right. Sorkin's got another good show, complete with Felicity Huffman from his first one (and an added poke in ABC's eye for cancelling "Sports Night"). The two male leads will be good, alone but especially together, new characters, not Chandler and Josh. Amanda Peet has that freshly botoxed, Nicole Kidman-Halle Berry, skate on my forehead look, but she's still young enough not to be ruined by it. This was the best I've seen her, the coming post-feminist role model queen. (I'm wondering what they will do with her recently announced pregnancy.) I was one of the four people who watched her first show, "Jack and Jill," which also had Sarah Paulson, the only off-note in "Studio 60." ("J&J" also had Jaime Pressly--can't remember any of the guys' names, oddly, though a couple have moved on to other series.) The supporting cast was good, Judd Hirsch has to come back, and the young female assistant looks like she may be the one Sorkin turns into something more later, like Donna on "West Wing." Loved the anti-tv rants, of course, and, with hesitation, the shots at Pat Robertson, too. The hesitation is just that Sorkin seems to be pulling one of his "Jeremy dates a porn star" schticks here (see "Sports Night," Season 2), something clever and different with nowhere to go, which is where it will likely be in a couple of episodes. Could be wrong, though. The thing about Sorkin is no one ever got rich predicting what he'd do next. Which is why I'll watch.

For a while, anyway.