(no subject)

[serene]

Going to bed in a minute, but wanted to get this down before I forget:



I should say right up front that I like Studio 60, and liked tonight's episode a lot.

Still.

These guys used to piss me off on The West Wing when they created female characters who were WAY too dumb, especially women who behaved inappropriately in professional situations. Ainsley Hayes dancing around her office in the West Wing in her bathrobe? Hel-LO?

They're still doing it.

Tonight was a really egregious example of this, if you ask me. From the three women -- women *actresses* -- who were too stupid to know what a WRITER does? Um, what? to the NETWORK PRESIDENT who goes around from lackey to lackey begging them to be her friend. It was really cringingly bad.

This is not to say there aren't good female characters on the shows, both of them. Hell, Ainsley was a good character. But must we have C.J. Cregg do a pratfall on her treadmill over some guy? Must we?

Comments

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Sorkin has, for better or for worse, set the bar for himself impossibly high with The West Wing, and while I like Studio 60 I find that it has a lot of his irritating tics without being as gripping -- but of course WW dealt with issues at a level that there's no way this show can approach. Actually Studio 60 is more like a revisit to his Sports Night, which I actually think was better, in part perhaps because it wasn't trying so hard.

I'll confess I hadn't thought about it, but I see your point about the three stupid women. I'm not wure they were really supposed to be actresses -- I got the impression they were actress-wannabes, presumably a fairly common species in LA -- and the point is more that Danny is trying to distract Matt from Harriet, and failing miserably, but yeah. To be that dense about what a writer "does"?

I have to say that I don't really get Jordan's character. She doesn't seem like my idea of a network president at all.

Yeah, it was annoying that C.J. had to have those goofy moments. It doesn't seem to me that he ever did anything like that to Abby Bartlet, though.