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An NBC ensemble show that premiered in 2006 about life behind the scenes at a fictional sketch comedy show. No, not the one with Tina Fey. You're thinking of ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]''. This one was the one created by Aaron Sorkin, was an hour-long, had a much more dramatic slant, and ended up lasting only a single season.
After the creator of failing sketch-comedy show "Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip" is fired for launching into an angry improvised rant on the state of television during a live broadcast, former writers Danny Tripp (now a producer barred from his next Hollywood film for testing positive for cocaine) and Matt Albie (presumed [[Author Avatar]] for Sorkin) are called in by plucky new network executive Jordan McDeere and her amoral boss Jack Rudolph to save the [[Show Within a Show]], which stars Harriet Hayes (a fundamentalist Christian and Matt Albie's ex-girlfriend), Tom Jeter (all-American midwesterner with a brother serving in Afghanistan), and Simon Stiles (the [[Token Minority]] and not particularly pleased with it). Each week the cast deals with personal and professional issues in front of and behind the camera as they try to make sure the show gets off the ground. And politics. Lots and lots of politics. For some reason.
''Studio 60'' is mostly remembered as a self-important commentary on [[Writer on Board|Everything Aaron Sorkin Thinks Is Wrong With The World And Television In Particular]]. The dryness of the tone and style of ''[[The West Wing]]'' when [[Serious Business|applied to sketch-comedy writers]] seemed a bit incongruous. What's more, the fact that Harriet Hayes seemed a direct parallel to Sorkin's ex-girlfriend Kristin Chenoweth (with permission) often made it seem like the creator was choosing to air his relationship dirty laundry [[Fix Fic]] style across the airwaves (including such [[Real Life]] events as Chenoweth's appearance on ''The 700 Club'' and her decision to pose for FHM as plot fodder). All of this wasn't helped by how much of the comic relief of the [[Show Within a Show]] sketches fell flat, itself magnified by a number of characters talking about [[Informed Attribute|how brilliant they were]].
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That said, it did have some flashes of inspired wit, some eminently quotable lines (it's an Aaron Sorkin show after all), John Goodman won an Emmy for his appearance on the show, it had some great musical guests, and, if nothing else, the pilot episode seems to have gotten near-universal approval (which makes its ultimate fate even sadder).
In any case, after said [[Pilot]], the [[Ratings]] dropped every week. It was taken off the air after 17 episodes, and only came back for five more because its replacement rated even worse. (And, more than likely, because the network didn't want to piss Sorkin off too badly.) No one was too surprised when the expensive series didn't get renewed for a second season. It still has a loyal cult following among some [[Aaron Sorkin]] fans, but the general consensus seems to be that it had a lot of potential it didn't live up to.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Alliterative Name]]: Harriet Hayes (née ''Hannah'' Harriet Hayes), Simon Stiles, and even the name of the show itself.
* [[All-Star Cast]]: This was a TV show with a feature-film-worthy cast of regulars. A large part of the reason the show didn't get renewed for a second season was because the cast was just so darn expensive.
* [[As Himself]]: The celebrity guests are this [[Show Within a Show|to the power of two]]; Rob Reiner as Rob Reiner, as Rob Reiner!
* [[Author Avatar]]: Matt. Oh so very much
* [[Author Catchphrase]] (the very last episode was "What Kind of Day Has It Been" -- and there are likely others.)
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* [[Bilingual Backfire]]
* [[Cannot Tell a Joke]]: Harriet. You'd think this would hurt her career, but it seems she's mainly an actress/impressionist.
* [[Can You Hear Me Now?]]: An instance of double-cell-phone-failure is used to [[Hand Wave]] the obvious solution to the locked-out-on-the-roof plot.
* [[Casting Gag]]: Out lesbian Sarah Paulson as the Christian Harriet Hayes, whose ambiguous feelings about gay marriage factor significantly into the plot of "Nevada Day."
* [[Celebrity Paradox]]: The [[Show Within a Show]] has actors and comedians as celebrity guests, but not all of them are more famous than the show's own actors. Best way to tell is if you haven't seen them in a previous episode, they're [[As Himself|As Themselves]].
** Particulary weird was Allison Janney as herself, as she was (and is) most famous for her role on [[The West Wing]], a show written and directed by Sorkin which co-starred Bradley Whitford that had Timothy Busfield as a frequent supporting cast member and Janney's love interest.
** Even weirder: Janney indicated to another character that this person had her confused with Christine Lahti. Earlier in the season, Christine Lahti had guest-starred, playing a reporter.
* [[Company Town]]
* [[Completely Unnecessary Translator]]: The Macau investor.
* [[Crosses the Line Twice]]: Subverted (off-camera), and deconstructed in "The Option Period", when Matt complains about an (unseen) sketch, "[[Quentin Tarantino]]'s Hallmark Movie 'Turkey Won't Die'", that a clueless special-effects guy ruins by curtailing the scripted excessive blood, thereby un-crossing the second line, so to speak.
{{quote|'''Matt''': ''If [[Gorn|geysers of blood are gushing out]], then I get the Tarantino joke, and [[Bloody Hilarious|it's funny]]. If it's just a 'realistic' amount of blood, then it's ''[[Squick|extremely]]'' [[Kick the Dog|disturbing...]]''}}
* [[The Danza]] (Matthew Perry as "Matt")
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Many.This is a Sorkin Drama after all
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Although not for lack of trying. Sorkin did ask to observe a week of behind the scenes at SNL but was denied by Lorne Michaels who was developing ''30 Rock'' at the time. Most of Sorkin's ideas about what goes on at a SNL type show are more from his own experiences producing his own series. His ideas about why a comedy show has bad writing and how they deal with current events are questionable.
* [[Directed by Cast Member]]
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* [[Hideous Hangover Cure]]
* [[Hollywood Atheist]] - Heartbreakingly averted by Danny Tripp refusing to kneel to a god that would kill children, after getting the "foxhole" speech from Harriet and with his pregnant fiancee at risk of dying.
* [[How We Got Here]]: 'Nevada Day' - How Tom Got to a police station in Pahrump, Nevada, dressed as Jesus Christ and charged with drug possession, assault and speeding.
* [[Info Dump]]: Literally ''ten minutes'' of "The Long Lead Story" is Harriet describing her [[Backstory]] in detail.
* [[Informed Ability]] - Matt's sketch-writing
** Harriet's comedic talents and singing ability definitely count too.
* [[Knock-Knock Joke]]
* [[Locked in a Room]]: or roof, rather, with Danny and Jordan
* [[Metaphorgotten]]: Jack unwisely attempting [[Witty Banter]] with Danny.
{{quote|'''Danny:''' Don't we have bigger fish to fry right now?
'''Jack:''' No. We have ''many'' fish to fry, and this is one of 'em. And this fish... is a fish that... ''[angrily]'' I don't care about fish! }}
* [[Missing White Woman Syndrome]]: Parodied in-show, with a sketch about a newsflash for a [[Exaggerated Trope|Missing White Woman's]] ''[[Exaggerated Trope|Cellphone]]'' which makes a throwaway reference to a bunch of kidnapped black people.
* [[N-Word Privileges]]: Darius and Simon use this against each other, although it's meant to be antagonizing to make a point rather than friendly.
* [[Overly Long Gag]]: Danny parodies the "Banker" [[Padding]] segments of ''[[Deal or No Deal]]'' in a sketch with Howie Mandell.
* [[Playing Against Type]]: Matthew Perry in a serious role.
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* [[Show Runner]]
* [[Sorkin Relationship Moment]]
* [[Spit Take]]: there's a scene where all the comics compete backstage to deliver the best one.
* [[Stalker with a Crush]]: Danny is one of these to Jordan for a while, but {{spoiler|as soon as he backs off they get together anyway.}}
* [[Stop Being Stereotypical]]: Simon is disappointed and almost depressed that a heavily praised black stand up comedian he has gone to see performs nothing but cliched racial humor and [[White Dude, Black Dude]] jokes. However, the comedian who goes on ''next'', though not very funny in that particular performance, has legitimately witty things to say and is recruited onto the the ''Studio 60'' writing staff to help nurture his talent and bring a new perspective to the show.
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* [[Take That]]: All. The. Time.
** The entire concept of the pilot is a massive Take That towards ABC (which cancelled ''[[Sports Night]]'') and NBC (which ran ''[[The West Wing]]'', from which Sorkin ... "quit"). Matt Albie, the Sorkin self-insert, is an incredibly talented writer. People can't get over how talented he is. He's so talented and classy that they've just got to repeat it over and over again. Sadly, his intelligence and outspokenness are far superior to that of the network, which fires him, after which point his show steadily declines until they are forced to come grovelling back to him. Later, Jordan fights to pick up a pilot for a show written about the UN with striking similarities to ''The West Wing'', gushing over the excellent scripting.
** Aaron Sorkin based the character of Harriet Hayes (the ex-girlfriend of his self-insert character Matt) on his ex-girlfriend Kristin Chenoweth (with permission), and aims several Take Thats at Chenoweth through the character's interactions, specifically regarding Chenoweth's decision to appear on ''The 700 Club'' and an FHM bathing-suit photo-shoot of Chenoweth's, employing the other characters to lambaste Harriet for her decision to do a lingerie shoot.
** Also at former ''West Wing'' writer Rick Cleveland, with whom Sorkin had a public feud over "In Excelsis Deo", an episode which the two co-wrote. Cleveland is written into ''Studio 60'' as Ricky Tahoe. Ricky is time and again characterized as a hack, a nasty little man who publicly ostracized Matt over a controversial statement Matt had made. He ultimately leaves the show with a crappily written pilot script, petulantly taking the entire writing staff with him. In a rare moment of class just before Ricky departs, Matt secretly gives Ron suggestions on how to improve the problematic script.
** It's worth noting that even though they almost always eventually lose, the characters used for the Take That are usually painted as sympathetic and do have legitimate points that are acknowledged in universe.
** Matt gets plenty of atheistic Take That's in against Christianity, Christians, Harriet's faith, and people of faith in general. Everyone will tell you that. What no one seems to want to admit is that Harriet generally wins these arguments whenever she gets Matt to shut up long enough to EXPLAIN her position.
* [[The Teaser]]
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[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:Dramedy]]
[[Category:Studio 60
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