Sork of July – Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip 1.8

Dylan as "Mexican Santa" via mralphafreak.wordpress.com

I can remember when NBC announced that they were doing both Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and 30 Rock.  I don't think anyone expected Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip to be the one glaring mark on Aaron Sorkin's resume.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was supposed to be a success.  But man, did it flame out.  Oh well.


Because yesterday's episode was Nevada Day part I, today is Nevada Day part II.

Host & Musical Guest: Jessica Simpson (as host and musical guest)

# of references “Crazy Christians”:  1

Sketches Referenced: Mexican Santa Claus, Visa Customer Service, News 60, Lifetime Movie Awards

Sketches Shown: Visa Customer Service (a dress rehearsal) 

It’s still Nevada Day and Tom’s still arrested which means that characters are still laughing at the way Pahrump sounds. 

Harriet’s entire story this episode is devoted to gay marriage.  It was her comments in the previous episode that set off the entire chain of events and this episode sees consequences.  For starters Jordan politely asks that Harriet drop out of the Women United Through Faith concert series she had set up.  Jordan’s problem is that the group opposes gay marriage, which will feed into story that Harriet is a homophobe. 

But Jordan is also concerned with Harriet’s career; she doesn’t want Harriet labeled as a gay basher, like Anita Bryant.  Anne Coulter also gets name checked.  Matt even tries to talk her out of it which allows him to soapbox about gay marriage. 

Of course the irony is that Women United drops Harriet’s concerts because of her vague acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle.  See, you straddle the fence you get it from all sides. 

Also in the studio, because Matt doesn’t know if Tom and Simon will get back in time for the show, he begins doling out their parts in the show to the other two male cast members.  Dylan gets the call to fill in for Simon on News 60. 

Dylan is unsure of himself but mostly he doesn’t want to take Simon’s place because “it’s Simon’s chair.”  That seat holds such reverence for Dylan, which is weird, because Simon’s only had the gig co-anchoring New 60 for a month. Literally four weeks.  Whatever. 

Back in Pahrump is so down-homey Judge Robby Bebe gets hungry and takes everyone to the diner across the street from the jail.  There’s a plot point about the date of Tom’s speeding ticket jogging the judge’s memory; see he was called to Clark County to help out because of Nellis protests (which is absurd because Clark County is Las Vegas.)   

The judge eventually deduces that Tom was speeding because he was trying to get his brother back to the base.  He wasn’t a big shot Hollywood speeder, he was a military family speeder, which makes all the difference.  He dismisses all of the charges in his jurisdiction, which means the drug charges and speeding go away, but presumably the assault sticks around because it took place in L.A. 

After doing his best at damage control, including dropping Kim’s digital camera “accidentally”,  Jack finally loses it on Zhang when he says that Jordan has brought dishonor to the company.  Jack’s rant is all for nothing though, because Kim mistranslated, Zhang said that Jordan’s ex dishonors himself. 

Speaking of Jordan, Danny continues to be her advocate to Jack and look out for her.  Realizing this, Jack tells Danny that Jordan needs to start playing ball or else she’s going to be out of a job via a vote of the board. 

This episode does a few notable moments; Samantha finally gets a prominent part in a sketch and it’s a features a pretty painfully stereotypical Asian accent.  The episode also sees the debut of the Lucy/Darius team. 

I've got to say that Judge Robert Bebe continues to be a mystery.  One minute he's fascinated by Simon's hair, almost as though he's never seen a Black person before, the next he's spouting off specifics about Tom's brother's military unit and what they do in Afghanistan.  He is quite the oddity.