Studio 60: B12 is Mmm-Mmm Good

I really enjoyed last night's Studio 60. Heavy on character drama, somewhat light on polemics (okay, not really, but they didn't stand out as much), and a return appearance by Christine Lahti!

It's raining in LA, and the whole cast has a death virus which requires a magical Hollywood curative: a shot of vitamin B12 in the keister. Fab.

Unfortunately for Jordan, when it rains it pours (couldn't resist). Not only is she probably getting fired, but when she tries to save her job with an interview in Time magazine, she ends up calling the reporter a hairdresser/gossip-monger. She later writes it up to hormones (yep, for those of you who were spoiler-free, Jordan's pregnant), but Sorkin Jordan makes a fair point about reporters basically writing their own news by creating rumors out of thin air. I'd find that frustrating, too.

Sorkin Danny later expresses his frustration with the fact that newspapers can quote the opinions of random people from the internet instead of, I don't know, a carefully selected focus group or something. Oh no, wait, he hates focus groups too, remember? So...yeah, okay. I guess only Aaron Sorkin and highly qualified professional critics are allowed to have opinions. Noted.

The two new writers are totally growing on me, and they almost get to have a sketch on the air this week! If only a hostage-taking murderer hadn't made it in bad taste, and required a last minute sketch about spit-takes. Charming. Now can anyone tell me who played the depressed veteran writer helping them out? I totally recognized the actor, but can't place him for the life of me. It's Mark McKinney from Kids in the Hall--thanks, Joe R! Apparently Mark's a writer/story editor on Studio 60, in fact.

Next week looks like some Matt/Harriet holiday drivel, so let's just power through and look forward to the New Year!