Pitchin Woo on Sorkin: Me and My Big Yap, Agin

Well, what do you know. Looks like old Alex and I are quoted all over this Toronto Star article about the return of Studio 60. (Tonight in Canada, Tomorrow in 'Murrica.)

Ratings have been disappointing in the U.S. but the show does better in Toronto, frequently appearing in the top 30 rated shows for the week. That doesn't mean everyone's happy. The healthy audience includes Canadian writers – who are also bloggers – who have some constructive criticism for Sorkin.

"Most show take a while to find their feet," says Denis McGrath, a TV writer currently working on a vampire show called Blood Ties in Vancouver. He thinks the show has only started to find itself in "the last few episodes, once they started featuring the new writers and Mark McKinney got a recurring role."

Part of the confusion, he says, comes from marketing; the ads "made it look like a comedy, but it's not a comedy. It's a drama about making a comedy show."

"West Wing this ain't," says Alex Epstein, whose credits include Naked Josh and is the author of the book Crafty Screenwriting. "I stuck with it because of Aaron Sorkin," but in his blog he noted early on that the show "feels like it either needs to be funnier, or have higher stakes."

"The first few episodes," he says now, "were about how terribly important sketch comedy is, and the recent episodes have been about a bunch of people to whom sketch comedy is important." That's progress, he says, because "you're telling a story about a family – every good TV show is about a family."

Both of the writers love the addition of McKinney's character, an utterly melancholy writer.

"I thought the way he was introduced was so great, he was a comedy writer who knows funny but never laughs, and never finds anything funny. I've worked with those guys," says McGrath.

Epstein just hopes the show finds out what it should be. "If he keeps it to the level of the Christmas episode, he's going to have a great show. I think he has to try to not be too funny. Like that episode, it was funny in the way a drama is funny."

I think Alex is on the money about The Christmas Show. That one had the mix of shameless manipulation, heart tugging melancholy, and good banter back and forth that Sorkin does so well.

I just want to say for the record that I have no advice to give Aaron Sorkin, despite what the article says. I am not quite that cheeky. And I swear to God -- I don't think it's Mark McKinney's job to save the show. But you know how we like our Canadian angles...

Still, I think Raju, the article's writer did a very good job. The Heroes article in the same paper is great, too.

If anything, the thing that I think that could save Studio 60 most isn't the romance at all. As astute blogger Diane recently observed to me, "Sorkin is great at writing male friendships." They haven't mined the most important relationship in the show, yet: the friendship between the two main characters.

If Matt and Danny can approach the level of camaraderie of Casey and Dan (Sports Night) -- then they'll be cooking with gas.