You should consider yourself very lucky, because this is the last time I’ll write about Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip…at least until the DVD set comes out. That’s right; last night was the season and series finale of Aaron Sorkin’s erstwhile series about the behind-the-scenes drama of a late-night sketch comedy show hampered by conservative America. The final six episodes were a strange mix between limping to the finish line and going out in a blaze of glory; the same can kind of be said of the entire series. Marketed as a comedy at the same time as a show with an identical ad campaign (30 Rock, which will be coming back for a second season), Studio 60 was never presented to audiences the proper way. At the same time, Sorkin never managed to spread out his political sermons among stories that could keep the show moving at a good pace.
Sorkin is not gone from the pop culture landscape quite yet. His movie Charlie Wilson’s War is in post-production and his stage play The Farnsworth Invention will come to Broadway in November. That should keep him busy enough to stay away from television for a little while, letting the networks clean their palates. But he’ll be back, believe you me. After all, Joshua Malina’s gotta eat.