Mark's TV Review: Sports Night

One of the earlier works of Aaron Sorkin, Sports Night follows the cast and crew of a Sports Center-esqe show on a third rate network in NYC. Casey McCall (Six Feet Under's Peter Krause) and Dan Rydell (Dead Poets Society's Josh Charles [I refuse to use SWAT to reference this man!]) are the fast-talking witty best-friend co-anchors of Sports Night which could be seen as an early frame for Matt and Danny of "Studio 60". (Both shows were pre-maturely cancelled). I've had Kyp's box set of this show (that yes, we'd already watched in college) kicking around the apartment for a while, and decided to pop in the first disc and see if it was something I could watch again and still enjoy.... I burnt through the first disc in one sitting. You find yourself so wrapped up in the strong story lines, and incredibly fast paced "Sorkian" dialogue that before you know what happens the episode is over.

New T.V. writers could take some notes from Sports Night on how to do things well. We have reveals, relationships, realizations all done superbly. From the reveal of a man's death through a simple graphic in the background, to Casey's ranting about a college football coach leading him to realize he had mis-judged the man he had spent the entire episode attempting to rip apart.

However, more than anything else, the show allows you to identify with the characters, and you become invested in them. What's truly amazing about this is the speed with which it happens. The viewer is literally thrust into the middle of the late night sports show atmosphere where if it takes more than 10 seconds, you've missed the shot, and you've messed up the show. Plain and simply, Sorkin goes above and beyond developing his characters quickly, and making you like them, and more than anything making them Human. The characters are incredibly believable, go through struggles that you and I very well may have gone through, and have feelings just like you and I.

Now; how does Sports Night measure up to Sorkin's other works? (TV Shows, will pass on movies and stage shows)

The West Wing; Studio 60 and Sports Night. West Wing i think can't be beat. The story arcs were always dead on; and as soon as he left the show... the show started to crumble. Studio 60 was great, i loved it, but it couldn't last. Sports Night easily takes the cake over Studio 60 and I think holds a strong place next to, not below, West Wing.

All of that is terrific, honestly, there's not much i would change to this show; the ONE thing i NEED to change however is a biggie... and i know Kyp will back me up on this.

LAUGH TRACKS SUCK.

mm out

Scrubs Cast Helps Man Propose

I'm a sucker for proposal videos and this one involves the cast and crew of one of my favorite shows!

Kyp Reviews Enchanted

I am a man. The prospect of a Live-Action, Disney, Fish-Out-Of-Water story does not interest me in the bloody least. So why is it that I loved everything about Disney's Enchanted? Stay tuned after these messages to find out.

Buy Coke.

And we're back. Enchanted takes every Disney cliché and turns it on its head. From the talking animals, to the evil sidekick, to the random outbursts of song, everything is done with a self aware humor that makes the movie both hilarious and satirical. If you love Disney movies you'll love Enchanted.

More Bale Love

Watch Al Roker interview Christian Bale on set and notice a few things. 1) Al Roker talking about Batman Begins: "When we last saw Batman, we had gotten rid of the ... villains. There was a homicidal ... guy ... with the Joker out there. Where do we pick up here?" Awesome description, Roker, awesome. 2) The picture they show for Heath Ledger as the Joker is a fan mock up that has been circulating the interweb for about a year now. 3) Christian Bale is British. Yet he does interviews for the Batman movies in an American accent. Personally, I think that's awesome.

Do You Like Movies?

So do these guys. A lot. Filmspotting is a weekly Podcast about movies. They review a new movie and then spend the rest of the show answering emails, performing in Massacre Theatre (where you could win a free DVD) and end with a top 5 list. It's a pretty good time for a movie lover. This weeks show: Margot at the Wedding and Top 5 DVDs of 2007.