Thumbs up on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Tonight was the premiere of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and I give this show a definite thumbs up (so far). The standout of this show for me is the character of Jordan McDeere, new President of NBS studios played by Amanda Peet. Jordan is a strong female lead who is smart, sharp, classy, empathetic, confident without being arrogant, and likable. Here is a person in a position of power in a cut throat, unseemly industry and so far she is playing the game with style and creativity. If the writers of this show keep it smart, we get to see an example of power with integrity in a female lead. Woo-hoo! I get excited when that happens.

Even better, Jordan has not used her obvious beauty to get what she needs. She uses her brain. She does get information from an ex-boyfriend on things she shouldn't have knowledge of, but even then she uses said information with discretion. She could exploit it more but does not. Again, my hope is that the writers do not use the beauty and slut card as the impetus for Jordan's success's and/or failures. I look forward to seeing the evolution of Jordan McDeere.

The chemistry between Matthew Perry as Matt Albie, the writer, and Bradley Whitford, as Danny Tripp the director  is like Ying and Yang. These two compliment each other very well, and honestly I was expecting Matthew Perry to blow chunks, but to my happy surprise he was quite entertaining. And although these guys are rocking successful, the plot is already pointing at substance abuse as a means to deal with fear of success and/or failure. Again, I enjoy the fact that here's a storyline that shows that pretty and famous people do not have perfect, magical lives.

My favorite part of the show was the impromptu on-air rant of current, and oh-so fired Studio 60 Exec Wes Mendell played by Judd Hirsch. He tells America to turn off their tubes because TV sucks. He went on basically about how the quality of content has gone downhill and that the TV industry is stooping to "making content to appeal to 12 year-old boys, and not even the smart ones, but the dumb ones."

Wes goes on to rant about the stupidity of reality shows, and the suppression of creativity because of corporate over-lordism. He was so right on. I agree! I enjoy the blog world because here (as of yet) there is no censorship by corporate hounds. And really, Mr. lost-his-mind Producer is right, do we really need to see another season of people trying to be Donald Trump's bitch.