What Kind of Day Has it Been?

I originally posted this last week and then re-named this blog...

For many years I was a huge fan of "The West Wing" because of its compelling storylines, deep character development, snappy dialogue and how its relationships were developed. It was a crime that it ended after 7 years when it continued to have a lot of potential.

The saving grace was that NBC was bringing back the original writer/creator Aaron Sorkin and his best director, Thomas Schlamme, for a new series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" for the 2006/07 season. Much the same as the West Wing, it had character development, interesting storylines (making of a show within a show) and spent a good amount of time developing the relationships between its characters... particularly the friendship and history of the two lead characters Matt (played by Matthew Perry) and Danny (Bradley Whitford - also the best character on WW).

I'm writing about this because they featured the Series Finale of this show last week... cancelling after one season. I'm not sure why it didn't get the ratings (or seemingly didn't)... apparently it was the most PVR'd (or TiVo in the States) show but those don't figure into the ratings of a show. I always think it's a shame when the intelligent, well-written shows get cancelled. The finale featured several scenes where you could feel the depth of friendship between Matt and Danny and cared about what happened to them.

Why must the good shows get cancelled or not supported by their networks? Did this show hit too close to home for Hollywood establishment in how it described the inner workings of an SNL-type show?

Paris Hilton gets reams of attention for god-knows-why but intelligent stuff like this gets tossed aside?

The writing of these relationships mirrors how I value my relationships... with my wife, my friends, and the values that make those bonds strong.

"What kind of day has it been?" has been the title of the first season finale of each of Aaron Sorkin's tv series (Sports Night, West Wing, Studio 60).