Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (Aaron Sorkin) - Why It Failed 

I will NEVER EVER forgive NBC for canceling Studio 60

Matthew Perry was on the West Wing multiple times so it's a bit strong to say he didn't have experience with Sorkin. He wasn't the problem, and was a nice balance with Bradley Whitford's character.

Sorry, but Matthew Perry was brilliant in this role

Have to disagree about Matt Perry. This was a great role for him and he crushed it.

This show had one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen. The way every character was introduced and you instantly understood everyone’s relationships and intentions yet it left you wanting more. That’s so hard to do in one hour. Most pilots utterly fail at it, but Sorkin did it here flawlessly. I disagree though, I think Matthew Perry was wonderful in this, especially the chemistry he shared with Bradley Whitford. It wasn’t his first shot at a Sorkin drama. He did 3 episodes of west wing and received two Emmy nominations out of it. It’s true though, Studio 60 was ahead of it’s time, it would’ve thrived in a streaming universe.

Can't believe you don't like Matthew Perry in this! He nails that part in a way that very few could.

Matthew Perry and Sarah Paulson were the reason I was a loyal viewer of this show. To say Perry was doing Chandler Bing and didn't know how to perform Sorkin material is completely untrue and unfair. Not only was Perry able to do Sorkin material he was actually nominated for an Emmy for his guest performances as Joe Quincy on The West Wing. Never once did I see Chandler Bing in Matthew Abbie. The only thing I'll agree with is that Studio 60 deserved a second season.

Killing this show was the biggest mistake in the history of television. As we mourn the passing of Matthew Perry today, I still look back on his Studio 60 performance as a hallmark insight into his life and career. The drug addicted, neurotic Matty in Studio 60 wasn't Chandler. It was the unspoken truth of Perry himself. RIP.

It is a shame that streaming platforms didn't exist at that time. This would've been an amazing show in services like Netflix or Prime Video or Hulu

I found out about the premier of Studio 60 while watching the premiere of Heroes. I loved both shows right out of the gate. It hurt my feelings when Studio 60 got canceled and I blamed it on the general public being too dumb to understand or enjoy it’s caliber of writing. I own Studio 60 on dvd, bought it for my mom and still watch RU-vid videos about it, wishing it had more seasons.

Studio 60 was both my wife and I's favorite show during it's run. We couldn't believe it wasn't given a 2nd Season with all that on-screen talent available, Sorkin's track record, and already airing several episodes with some pretty terrific scripts.

This was the biggest travesty in broadcast television since the invention of the television. My heart was broken. It’s remains to this day my favourite show.

I was impressed with Mathew Perry’s performance.Trust me he was not the problem. The expectations were high, maybe too high.. The public was looking for a comedy show which it wasn’t. I kept seeing comments like where are the skits? It was a serious show that had funny moments. Some people didn’t get it and of course didn’t like the politics. I LOVED IT!

This show was beautiful! I think that the biggest mistake was the fact that it should be an HBO show instead of a NBC show

WOW! I couldn't disagree with you more about Mathew Perry! He was amazing in this show. He really showed his range and proved that he could carry a show. I watched this show from the word go, and I never missed an episode. I still refuse to watch a second of 30 Rock, simply because it was chosen and Studio 60 wasn't. In fact, the clips you showed on here are the most I've ever seen of that show.

I’m a huge fan of Friends and Chandler Bing is my favorite character. I don’t see Chandler Bing in Matt Albie. BTW I’m also a huge fan of studio 60. I worn out the DVD. I never watch West Wing (not interested in political drama, also the English in that show is too hard for me, a non native speaker), but as far as I know, Mathew Perry appeared in West Wing for a few episodes, I believe Perry already “figured out” what to do in Aaron Sorkin’s shows, otherwise Sorkin wouldn’t have insisted to have him playing Matt Albie.

The other big failure is that the comedy of the show with in a show wasn't funny. It is hard to do a show about a comedy show where everyone is suppose to be brilliant comedians and no one is funny when push comes to shove.

It is now and will always be one of my favourite shows of all time. I have watched it over and over and whilst I disagree that Matt Perry was still Chandler, I do think all the obstacles against this show caused its inevitable ratings decline. However I wish in the ongoing era of reality TV this type of show still existed.

It was too smart for 2005 TV.

I’m sure I sound a little crazy, but I think this show could totally take off with a second chance. Here me out y’all: A new cast of up-and-coming featured players, plus the old squad. Sarah Paulson is super famous now so can be recurring and play Harry out making movies and coming back to guest host and generally hanging around the studio more than a celeb should (the Scarlett Johansson of studio 60, if you will) Amanda Peet doesn’t have an active project (and she and Sarah are best friends so it's a cool excuse to hang out), and the fact that Jordan was the youngest network president AND a woman would be a bigger deal today (plus 49 is still really young to be the head of a network) - she'd be an icon. Matthew and Bradley are at the perfect ages to be seasoned head writers/producers of a show that is practically an American staple, and Jordan and Danny having a Gen Z kid walking around would be inevitably chaotic in a Sorkin way (not to mention the fact that the age gap and the reversed power dynamics of their relationship would launch a billion Twitter threads and RU-vid videos). The public is absolutely in the mindset to examine SNL and late night tv in genera. Everybody’s bored with traditional tv shows because all they did was stream them during the pandemic, and this would be something different and interesting.. Plus, even with undoubtedly talented staples like Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, and Kate McKinnon, tons of people think SNL isn’t funny anymore. I think an examination would be welcome. Lorne isn’t in a position where he holds leverage like he did then, and NBC now has Peacock to use as its back up. Studio 60 was popular for a good while, even then, and I think now it’d be more relevant than ever. Not to mention that Sorkin hasn’t done anything of note in a while, but the West Wing special was a big deal, and it did a good job of reminding people of how good the show - and Sorkin as a producer - was. Besides that, Scarlett and Colin Jost have brought more attention to what happens behind the scenes of a sketch show than ever before. Get a few good comedy writers for the sketches, and it’d be golden. The sketch comedy sibling of The Morning Show. Oops. Now I’m invested.

My favorite show of all time. Matthew Perrys best work... Ten million times better than 30rock... The Christmas episode is the best episode of any show ever, to this day it's not Christmas to me til I've watched it lol... arguably the best work of every actor that was involved... Loved this show so much Ps, I watched both heroes & studio 60, people have varying interests... It only failed cuz it wasn't given a fair shake

Finally, I have an answer to this vexing issue. Thank you. I was working at Hammacher Schlemmer in midtown Manhattan when Bradley Whitford came into the flagship store to purchase a humidifier for his dressing room. He was starring on Broadway (Boeing Boeing 2008). I did bring up the topic of Studio 60's cancellation and he replied with a "it is what it is" type of answer and then encouraged me to come see his new play. I disagree regarding your analysis of Mathew Perry. He has a sadness to him (like a comedians dark side) that was spot on for this show. He and Sarah Paulson's chemistry of a broken, bitter sweet relationship was great.

It was actually quite good. Couldn't believe they didn't even give us a 2nd season. I'm pretty sure, it would get better. Even Parks and Rec need the 2nd season before it got really good.

I loved that show back then, and still do today

Great video. Thank you!

What's funny is Sorkin did a "walk and talk" on 30 Rock about four years after Studio 60 got canned

Matthew Perry said that the fatal weakness of the show was that the big conflict was putting out a show every Friday night. There just wasn't enough conflict to be relevant to viewers. People would just say, "Eh, if you don't write a show, so what?"

I remembering watching (and living) this show when it aired in the UK. I was new to working in television at the time and it gave me a huge appreciation for the unsung roles behind the scenes. It's plausible depiction of how things ran just felt incredibly real, engaging and sophisticated. Like Firely, I was utterly saddened to discover it was a one and done season. I've never watched 30 Rock, however I know that Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin have a ton of charisma. It's a shame these two polarising shows wound up cannibalising eachother. Totally agree with a comment above, that Studio 60 would've had a better chance on HBO.

In my opinion, Studio 60 (like other good shows) got "NBC'd": When NBC execs (or someone else who wields a lot of power at the network) doesn't like a show or the show runner, or any main aspect of it, they torpedo it by nefarious means such as moving around the timeslot, or the timeslot of its lead-in shows/programs, or pressure/influence the production in some way as to make it fail. The same thing happened to Conan, Southland, and The West Wing after season 4 when it became too cliche and stopped winning Emmy's. If you want a show to succeed, don't pitch it to NBC.

This is fascinating :o i was pretty upset when last man on earth got cancelled oh and Santa Clarita’s Diet! Such original comedies

It was a great show, and Matthew Perry did nothing similar to Chandler in this. The show was simply too good for the moment, such a pity. For me the only thing not good in the show was that the comedy (the show in the show) was not at all funny. They should have hired a specialized writer to do the sketches for the supposed show. It is a serious mistake. But it is the only one I've found.

Studio 60 AND 30 rock are two of the best shows in history. Heroes, on the other hand...

I may be the only one in the audience who not only watched, but taped both Heroes and Studio 60. And yes I still have a working VHS along with complete DVD’s for both shows.

The problem with Studio 60 is that it was a drama about a comedy show. TV audiences can accept a drama about police, a hospital, even politics. Those are supposed to be dramatic situations. But a drama about a comedy show was confusing. The dramatic parts came across as smug while the comedy parts weren't that funny.

Such a great show.

Amanda Peet played the part of "THE NETWORK PRESIDENT". Imagine if Mr. Aaron Sorkin made this a movie and Jordan McDeere was at the center of the story like Michael Douglas was for "THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT". LOL

make the video on The newsroom, as you mentioned in this video Great video btw

I truly loved this show. I watched it as it was broadcast then bought the series then shared it around with friends. It is amazing to think back to both West Wing and Studio 60 and superimpose them on the zenith of craziness the country is at now. When West Wing started, Cinton was President. When Studio 60 aired, Obama had not yet been elected. If only episodes of any of these could be used like book clubs with people on all sides of the spectrum talking together, maybe we could learn to actually address disagreements and find common ground. The dialogue and pace of both shows makes me wish I could be a screenwriter "when I grow up." (I am 66.) When I get time I want to take Sorkin's master class. And to meet him.

I adored Studio 60! Still sorry it was canceled

While I enjoyed your review, I think you are being a little hard on Perry. As someone who watched the entire run of "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip" during it's original run, I loved the show. It wasn't flawless, but bumpy, at times. However it was unfortunate that the show canceled. I wish Sorkin and Lorne Michaels could have gotten along. I also think it would be fun to have seen STUDIO 60 on a premium channel, like HBO or Showtime.

I agree w/ all of this except the Matthew Perry stuff. Perry was great in this. And his character’s hidden drug was was a decade ahead of its time. Also, Perry had worked w Sorkin in a handful of episodes on the West Wing as Joe Quincy. This, to me, was Sorkin’s best writing, but it’s also where he started putting his politics above the content.

With both the final Sopranos episode (worst ending ever in a series) and the cancelling of studio 60 coming in the same month (June 2007) it would be a loooong time before I would invest time in ANY television show. While I do get the comments about Matthew Perry, I believe that was far more true of "the whole nine yards" movie. His chemistry with Bradley W was on point, and although there were very funny moments throughout I enjoyed the dramatic story lines much more from all the actors. Steven Weber was excellent. Was teased for so long that it might be picked up somewhere else but it wasn't to be.

There’s very few shows that I rewatch on the regular and Studio 60 is one of them.

I know this video is two years old.. but had to post... I love this video! And I LOVED Studio 60!!! Always makes me sad knowing how great it was and only lasted 1 season

I not only own the who West Wing series, but I recently purchased the whole Studio 60 series and am watching it with eager fervor! I LOVE Aaron Sorkin! I wish Studio 60 lasted more seasons and I DO remember watching it on its original run, buy yeah, when Heroes came on, I was enthralled by it and completely ditched Studio 60.

just goes to show ... critics are critics for a reason ... and have zero monopoly on truth. Studio 60 was superior in every measurable way. still is nearly 2 decades later. it was too smart for many - a Sorkin thing. i could barely get thru a 30 R episode - i can still watch Studio 60. again and again.

the prequel to Newsroom It was great

The fact that 30 Rock, which started the same week as Studio 60 became a hit, says everything you need to know. Studio 60 was too smart for viewers, one of the best written shows I've ever seen. Matthew Perry's best work. And as a bonus, the skits they showed being developed or performed on the show were much funnier than anything on SNL at that time.

You should make why it failed a regular series

How about Brooklyn South? LOVED it......had one season?

nice video. what about "the shield"?

Nope, there wasn't one bad actor or actress on the show. The only problem was that Judd Hirsch didn't have a bigger role in the show.

This is the last show I ever watched. I wanted to like it, but got up to episode 5 or 6 and that was it. I've not watched another network show since.

This is one of my favourite shows ever. Better than Newsroom, which lost my interest after just a handful of episodes. I never watched much friends and therefore have no idea what Chandler is like - but I really liked Matthew Perry in this show. His performance was believable to me. Season 2 would have been great.

How about a “Why it failed” on Showtimes “Roadies”. I loved it and thought the Music Industry marketing ties ins were smartly done and effective. Thanks.

Studio 60 was so cheesy that I could not shit for a week after watching it.

So odd to me that NBC would greenlight two shows with a very similar and very specific premise at the exact same time. Obviously totally different vibes but I can’t recall many times that’s happened before

It IS a memorable series

New goals in life

Loved this show! I was totally heartbroken when it got cancelled. Another show I loved that I can't find anywhere was Justice. I think it was on Fox. Starred Victor Garber. It revolved around a group of lawyers. Started with a dead body, but unlike every other show, at the end they would show you what really happened. Did they get a murderer off with a not guilty? Or lose when the defendant was innocent? Or, did they get it right? This was an amazing show too. Do you know anything about why that ended?

Having watched Studio 60 on demand years after it's television run, I would agree with @Nikunj Dixit on the main reasons the show failed. I didn't know it was released at the same time as 30 Rock. I didn't really paid attention to it acknowledging the existence of SNL. And yet I wasn't shocked it didn't get a second season despite the good and even excellent aspects it may had. What was told about the show-within-the-show and what you got later when you watched the sketches may be the biggest dissociation I've ever seen on a TV screen. The very opposite to "show-don't-tell". I remember thinking once "I don't want to know how lame Peripheral vision man would be if this is the brilliant stuff". And it was more noticeable and weirder because the non-sketch related things had quite funny things, especially from Perry and Whitford. The way the show wanted to make this comedy thing look as not quite less than one of the foundations of american democracy gave that feeling an extra layer of uncanniness. Other thing I think was detrimental to the show, at least in my opinion, was the way Sorkin stuck to the "bigoted conservatives" issue on a level that looked almost obsessive. I understand it was relevant to the story because of Matt-Harriet relationship, and a major theme on american society even to this day, but even being basically on the same page with Sorkin it got tiresome at some point. At least I can say Harriet had a few good comebacks on the subject, but the insistence on it seemed excessive anyway. It's a pity, because the show had not few excellent things. I loved all the main characters, Matt, Harriet, Danny, Jordan and Jack, I liked their acting and I enjoyed a lot of things on the writing, but these aspects were sometimes too distracting.

I enjoyed Studio 60 a lot, but my big problem with it was some of the characters were odd. Also, I'm not religious, but got tired of the chronic put downs toward those who are. But I have watched it twice, so can't complain too much. Thanks for showing this.

0:37 I could have totally seen Fred Armisen parody Sorkin on SNL during this time.

Not sure but did you mention that Perry was on West Wing as well?

Loved it how dare they.

Man! Haha I always hoped TV networks would release canceled shows 😂 just so I can criticize 😂😂 & at the end of the show be like..."ahhh that's why they canceled" 😂😂😂

I was surprised Matthew Perry didn’t mention this series in his book, because like most commenters- I loved the series. Suggestion for the next “why it failed” episode: Lipstick Jungle. I don’t know if it will hold up to scrutiny, but at the time, I remember being annoyed it was canceled.

Disagree intirerly, Matthew Perry was the star of the show, plus his humour suited his character to the ground.

First, thanks for the video. This question has perplexed me since the show was pulled. BUT... A big swing and a miss on your comments about Matthew Perry or rather, let's just say I STRONGLY disagree, even the clip you showed he nailed. I was so glad to read so many comments from people that also were in disbelief about your criticism of him. He is such a great fit for Sorkin's style, on Studio 60 and West Wing. The is a lot of Perry in Chandler, and that's what you see in his roles. But he was one of the tippy top actors in Studio 60, and that saying a lot because the whole cast was AMAZING. I would go as far as saying Studio 60 is some of, if not his very best work.

I wasn't aware of this video until today (10/24/22), and it just so happens that I was emailing a friend earlier today about the subject of chemistry (in light of a New York Times article on George Clooney and Julia Roberts). Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford were a tremendous "bro" couple, so to speak. I also thought Perry was excellent in the show (sorry, I wasn't much of a fan of "Friends"; Perry's character on that show always seemed too snarky and glib). As for "The Newsroom", Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer had zero chemistry. For the life of me, I don't see how Sorkin thought there was some heat between Daniels and Mortimer. There never was. Of the two series, I preferred "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."

I fucking hate that this show was so early if this was made a few years later Netflix would’ve probably picked it up I fucking loved this show it’s my favorite Arron Sorkin show!!!

Bradley Whitford is who killed the show for me. He was incredible during the last season of The West Wing. Then the following fall he's starring in this show. All I could see was Josh Lyman. Sorkin should've cast somebody else.

💯 cancelled the wrong show. This was great. 30 Rock was Pedestrian

I really liked Studio 60 when I watched the pilot and the first few episodes but after about 7/8 I was starting to get bored of it. For me the issue was that the show seemed to have veered in the direction of a romance series that happened to be set on a comedy show. It was a bit like running on a treadmill for an hour. After 20 minutes you hate it and only continue so you can say you did it for an hour. I started watching the series again a few days ago and I got to Episode 15 I think. Even then, from Episode 10 I was less enamoured of it. On the subject of the cast I actually liked Matthew Perry even though Matt Albie basically was Chandler, because the character seemed to fit for the job he was doing. I love watching Bradley Whitford. Overall I think Studio 60 would have benefited from being about 6-10 episodes per season instead of 22. It seems like the kind of show that is better off using a less is more approach.

I associate that general time period with NBC's "Fear Itself" and "30 Rock", and my mom liked "Journeyman".

ok, a couple years late for suggestions, but tell us about "The Black Donnelys"(extra points for explaining the connection to "The Pacific") . that seems to be a period when if i really liked a show, it didn't last past one season. along with "studio 60", which from my non up-scale view point, was awesome; Black Donnelys, Life, Human Target, Burn Notice...

I am so glad I finally found this review. I thought I was the only person who liked Studio 60. I absolutely loved the show, but it was snake biten. I periodically rewatch it. Only the multipart final episodes are disappointing, and I believe that is because they had decided to cancel the show and were wrapping up too many things at once. Anyhow, many thanks for this review.

I disagree I think Matthew Perry did great in this role (or at least a different role from Chandler) I really think it would've soared in the age of binge watching. I do think sometimes the show had too many major characters that made it hard to keep up with, first you had the leaders of the show Matt and Danny, plus Cal running the technical side, then on top of that you had the actual cast of the show where two or three of them would be relevant and the rest would feel like a prop to the main story in a quite odd way, and then on top of that you had the corporate shenanigans going on with Jordan Jack, Ed Asner's character etc. Plus on top of that you also had whoever was hosting/musical guest starring that week. When you can binge its not hard to follow the different storylines, but a once weekly show that doesn't even come on till ten? Its not hard to wonder why viewer retention was difficult.

There's also a thing to consider about the writing of the two shows . Aaron Sorkin's writing tends to give its subjects an over inflated sense of importance. You can even see this in things like A Few Good Men, where he writes being in command at the base of Guantanamo Bay as if its this important front of a warzone (when its probably one of the cushiest gigs you can have in the Armed Forces). Now this can work when its stuff like, say a show about the President of the United States and his staff like The West Wing but feels so out of place and smug when talking about late night comedy sketch shows or cable news like The Newsroom Contrast this with 30 Rock. That show treats TGS (the show within the show) as stupid dreck for the lowest common denominator that is ultimately an fairly unimportant cog of a larger corporate machine. This allows the show to focus the comedy on the actual characters and scenes that matter. Meanwhile Studio 60 builds up sketches as the funniest and most clever things on tv...only for it to be a parody of a Gilbert and Sullivan showtune. Simply put Aaron Sorkin isn't a guy who should be writing comedy.

The MAIN problem with Studio 60 was Sorkin's need to make complex multi-storylines right out of the gate. You had three main stories all running at the same time for a cast you did not have time to gain an interest in. Add to that the multiple multi-part episodes and people just did not have the energy to care. Sorkin dug his own grave here.

Do "Smash" it had a similar journey and ill fate of "Studio 60" also go back to the 80s and do an episode on "Oh, Madeline" movie star Madeleine Kahn's foray into a sitcom on ABC In 1983. Christina Applegate in "Samantha Who?" A sitcom about a woman with amnesia also on ABC.

🖤

The main problem was the brilliantly written and performed storylines did not fit into the premise of the show. These episodes were written for the Newsroom not a series about the behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show. Take the same cast and stories and put them into a Newsroom scenario everything would have worked better.

The biggest problems with S60 was that the “sketches” on the fake show were rarely funny. Otherwise, I loved it.

It was my understanding that it got cancelled because the network hated Sorkin exposing how stupid networks are and after cancellation he vowed never to work a mainstream network again. Hence the move to HBO

There were two fundamental reasons why the show got cancelled. First being that the characters were a bit too self important and a bit too big for their boots. They talked about what they did in the same manner characters on the west wing talked about their jobs and given that show was about people who actually ran the US government and this was about an SNL type comedy sketch show, the characters came off pompous and unlikable at times despite some terrific performances. The second big reason was that Sorkin couldn't write sketch comedy to save his life. Not only were the skits not funny, they didn't even seem to have the potential to be funny. A good deal of the show centered around Matt Alby being a fantastic writer. A concept that was difficult to buy given the quality of the skits we saw on the show. It neve rang true when we saw everybody praising or laughing at the sketches when we never did. The drama aspects of the show were first rate and the witty banter type humor was also excellent. Perry and Whitford had incredible chemistry where you could really buy them as friends and partners.

Seems that I like the "highbrow" stuff better than the fluff aimed at 12 to 24 year old imbeciles 30 Rock was a crock when compared to Studio 60 At least Studio 60 did not talk down to its audience like ALL the shows do these days (2021)

Two ways to be critical: one way is to simply poke fun and the other is to hold up people or ideas to ridicule. Too much of the latter tends to anger the thin-skinned.

great show - it should have been renewed...

The poor guy that was cast on the big bang theory but the series was picked up only later on...

NETFLIX should bring it back!!!

Take a look at these cable series which flopped but I enjoyed : VINYL; HUNG ; DEVIOUS MAIDS.

I honestly didn’t mind Studio 60 being cancelled. I mean, it’s not a bad show but had it continued it might have deprived us of a much better show in The Newsroom. Because of its topicality, The Newsroom works better than Studio 60. Plus I get to enjoy 30 Rock more.

I don't know. I thought the role was tailor made for Matthew Perry.

The biggest problem with this show was the tone. It was played deadly serious, like it was The West Wing. I';m sorry, but sketch comedy is not life or death, but everyone on this show treated it like it was. It had a great cast and a great premise, but the absurd GRAVITAS they tried to slather over everything was a bit much. They should have leaned into the comedy a lot more, more akin to Sports Night.

I thought that Matthew Perry was fantastic.

At it's peak 30 rock (literally) didn't get half the audience Studio 60 did - whilst it may have cost more to make they could also charge more for ads due to the nature of it's audience. Studio 60 was cancelled for the same reason Fallon got to stay on the air despite having an audience of 7.2 thousand people.

There’s one reason Studio 60 failed: a complete misunderstanding of comedy on the part of its writing staff. I had very high expectations and was astonished to watch unfold an amateurish collection of cliches. There were some good moments here and there, making it all the sadder.

I don't care why Studio 60 failed. I enjoyed every single episode of it. But Sarah Paulson was the main reason I watched it in the first place. She's just too adorable for words. She played Harriet Hayes so well. Harriet was also too adorable for words. Sarah has true talent. She beats all I've ever seen.

Studio 60 was just more preachy, moralizing crap from Sorkin that had about as much relation to late-night comedy as The West Wing or The Newsroom. Stock characters with no personalities other than "foil" come and go just set up the leads with lengthy speeches about politics, art, etc., that are in effect just fictional vehicles for Sorkin to share his own second-rate political and philosophical views. Oy! How do you waste actors like Michael Stuhlbarg like that? That so many people here think that this made the show "smart" speaks volumes about not only the showrunners attitudes, but the audiences at which they were aimed. Other shows can (and often do) make social commentary without beating the audience down with such oppressive obviousness and condescension. We're many times the better that 30 Rock was renewed instead of this. At least on that show, social commentaries about race, sex, wealth, politics, artistic responsibility, etc., were told with a modicum of, you know,... humor. I guess it's just hard to circle jerk how smart we all are when other people in the room are having a good time laughing. Ain't that a drag?!