10.17.2006

Studio 60, losing steam?

I know it's only been a few days since I used this space to sing the praises of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and I'm still (mostly) enjoying the show, but I do have a quibble: the show-within-a-show's just not funny.

Which is a problem, considering the premise of Studio 60 is that these two mega-talented guys have been brought in to retool a tired sketch show, and that their retooling is working. Everyone in the Studio 60 universe seems to think the show is just hilarious, never been better, gut-busting and side-splittingly funny. Except, actually, not so much.

One of the great touches of the first episode was the sample sketch used to give us a feel for the state of the show. You didn't even need to watch a snippet of the sketch; you heard the sketch's title -- Peripheral Vision Man -- and you know exactly what sort of animal you were dealing with.

Maybe it's just easier if the show-within-a-show is supposed to be bad. On the "new and improved" Studio 60, we've seen:

--a Nancy Grace sketch that was a less funny version of the one that appeared on a recent episode of SNL.
--an unfunny Juliet Lewis impression.
--a fake gameshow.
--a very unfunny Nic Cage impression.

And this is different than Peripheral Vision Man how, exactly?

2 comments:

Dan said...

But Mike, I'm sure whatever that lobster costume was used for was HIL-arious.

I've been disappointed with that aspect of the show too. They're shooting for better than Saturday Night Live, but they're delivering MAD TV.

TMC said...

A very valid criticism; imagine if "Itchy & Scratchy" had never been funny? At least Krusty is supposed to be a hack; it would just be downright confusing if I & S wasn't at least mildly entertaining.

ps- I really love the word "downright."