Tonight we watched a few episodes of the short lived TV series Sports Night on DVD. Its pretty good. First things first. Nate Fisher aka Peter Krause is in this show. I love him. I mean love. The guy is awesome. This could easily turn into a How great is Six Feet Under? Blog. But I wont do that. I think that guy is awesome. I'd love to put him in a movie. And he is fantastic in this show. That said. The show is a little weird. Its very funny. The dialogue is weird. It is real choppy, in that 30s and 40s "machine gun dialogue" sort of way. That makes it kind of cool. But sometimes its a little too obtrusive. It also has some very serious moments, which are good and bad. They are good because the show feels like more than just a sit-com. But they are bad, because they are a little awkward and a little too routine. I find myself saying I wonder what the moral of this episode will be. And somewhere about 2/3 of the way through I know the mood is about to change. It would be better if some episodes had very little seriousness and some had a lot. It would feel more natural.
I also think this show missed its window. In subject matter and style both. As far as being a show about the fun and craziness of sports anchors it came about 2 years after the "golden age of Sportscenter" on ESPN. Which might not be a problem if that Golden Age had lasted longer than about 1 year. Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann on the 10 o'clock show and Karl Ravech and Craig Kilborn on the late show. Keith Olbermann had already been fired from ESPN by the time the show aired. Kilborn had not only left ESPN but had gone on to invent the hilarious Comedy Central Classic "The Daily Show" Only to have that show destroyed by pretentious turd Jon Stewart. (More on that Later).
Additionally, the show was a little too early to for its offbeat sort of style. I think the show was cramped by shows like Seinfeld, Frasier and Friends that were on top of the charts at the time. In 2000, shows like Sex and the City and Ally McBeal had provided a model for the comedy/drama that does not fit the standard tv formula. Clearly this show had sort of a different thing going on. I think it probably just didn't get a chance to do its own thing. I also think it would have worked better as a 1-hour show. Its ok though. If the choice is more of this show or Nate being Nate on Six Feet Under, I'll take the latter.
Until Tomorrow
-T
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2 comments:
Thanks anonymous. I appreciate your reading my blog and taking time to respond. Your comments are both insightful and inspiring. I will continue to try to work hard to impress you.
A small correction. Keith Olbermann never got fired by ESPN. He was having problems with management that eventually erupted in his departure, but he was never fired, nor forced out. Unfortunately this is a myth people continue to believe about him, though.
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