Meme - 30 Days of TV Shows
Right, I never do memes but I thought this looked really interesting and a good way to procastinate with my exams looming, so I've stolen it from 2bluaeryn
Day 01 - A show that should have never been cancelled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this t.v season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite t.v show
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite t.v show
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best t.v show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First t.v show obsession
Day 29 - Current t.v show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death
I'd imagine that most people reading this would be expecting me to say Stargate Atlantis in answer to this, and yes it's true that it shouldn't have been cancelled and I still haven't forgiven the show runners for abandoning Atlantis to make Universe instead - it was a betrayal of the show, the cast and the fans. HOWEVER, Atlantis has enough fans to bemoan its fate, so I'm picking an entirely different show, one which most people have probably never heard of.
SPORTS NIGHT
Sports Night was the first TV show created by Aaron Sorkin. It was a half-hour format sitcom that ran for two seasons in the late 90s - here's the link to the imdb page.
I don't know how many people watched it in the States, but NO ONE has heard of it in Britain, for the simple reason that it was never shown over here, and aired before the days of streaming online. The only reason I've seen it is because I'm a massive Aaron Sorkin fan and borrowed the DVDs off of a friend.
Anyway, SPORTS NIGHT is set in the offices and studio of Sports Night, a fictional daily late-night sports round up show. It is presented and written by the two anchors Casey and Dan (Peter Krause and Josh Charles) - they are an hilarious double-act and best friends. The show runner is Isaac (Robert Guillaume) who is a grandfather figure to all of them. The executive producer of the show is Dana (Felicity Huffman) - she is a feisty and capable woman, and has known Casey since college; the two of them have a fantastic sexual tension that gives the show some of its very best moments. Her right-hand woman is Natalie (Sabrina Lloyd) who is in a relationship with another producer, Jeremy (Joshua Malina). There are lots of fantastic supporting characters as well. Since it's set around a sports show there is a lot of sports talk, but it's mostly about the relationships between the characters and how much they all care about the show. It's hilarious, it's heartwarming, it's dramatic, it's not cliched... it's written by Aaron Sorkin.
Given its subject material and that it's written by Aaron Sorkin it's easy to compare it to his latest show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which was cancelled after just one season in 2006. This is another show I love and which should never have been cancelled, but the reason I chose SPORTS NIGHT over Studio 60 was that Studio 60 was cancelled mid-season and therefore had time to finish the story it was telling. It did mean that the ending seemed rather too packaged and a little contrived, but at least it was an ending. SPORTS NIGHT ends on something of a cliffhanger... not an 'oh my god that building just collapsed on John and Ronon and Rodney and Lorne' kind of cliffhanger, but lots of things were happening and it was completely set up for a new season. It never came, and now we're just left to wonder. It's SO frustrating; much more than the end of, say, Stargate Atlantis. The end of SGA was a little strange, but it was, again, an ending. They knew they weren't going to have another season, so it was a definite SERIES finale. SPORTS NIGHT never got that.
Well, I've griped for long enough, and can only encourage you all to watch the show if you've never seen it. It's all on youtube, good quality, and definitely worth while.
Watch it here.
Day 01 - A show that should have never been cancelled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this t.v season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite t.v show
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite t.v show
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best t.v show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First t.v show obsession
Day 29 - Current t.v show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death
I'd imagine that most people reading this would be expecting me to say Stargate Atlantis in answer to this, and yes it's true that it shouldn't have been cancelled and I still haven't forgiven the show runners for abandoning Atlantis to make Universe instead - it was a betrayal of the show, the cast and the fans. HOWEVER, Atlantis has enough fans to bemoan its fate, so I'm picking an entirely different show, one which most people have probably never heard of.
SPORTS NIGHT
Sports Night was the first TV show created by Aaron Sorkin. It was a half-hour format sitcom that ran for two seasons in the late 90s - here's the link to the imdb page.
I don't know how many people watched it in the States, but NO ONE has heard of it in Britain, for the simple reason that it was never shown over here, and aired before the days of streaming online. The only reason I've seen it is because I'm a massive Aaron Sorkin fan and borrowed the DVDs off of a friend.
Anyway, SPORTS NIGHT is set in the offices and studio of Sports Night, a fictional daily late-night sports round up show. It is presented and written by the two anchors Casey and Dan (Peter Krause and Josh Charles) - they are an hilarious double-act and best friends. The show runner is Isaac (Robert Guillaume) who is a grandfather figure to all of them. The executive producer of the show is Dana (Felicity Huffman) - she is a feisty and capable woman, and has known Casey since college; the two of them have a fantastic sexual tension that gives the show some of its very best moments. Her right-hand woman is Natalie (Sabrina Lloyd) who is in a relationship with another producer, Jeremy (Joshua Malina). There are lots of fantastic supporting characters as well. Since it's set around a sports show there is a lot of sports talk, but it's mostly about the relationships between the characters and how much they all care about the show. It's hilarious, it's heartwarming, it's dramatic, it's not cliched... it's written by Aaron Sorkin.
Given its subject material and that it's written by Aaron Sorkin it's easy to compare it to his latest show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which was cancelled after just one season in 2006. This is another show I love and which should never have been cancelled, but the reason I chose SPORTS NIGHT over Studio 60 was that Studio 60 was cancelled mid-season and therefore had time to finish the story it was telling. It did mean that the ending seemed rather too packaged and a little contrived, but at least it was an ending. SPORTS NIGHT ends on something of a cliffhanger... not an 'oh my god that building just collapsed on John and Ronon and Rodney and Lorne' kind of cliffhanger, but lots of things were happening and it was completely set up for a new season. It never came, and now we're just left to wonder. It's SO frustrating; much more than the end of, say, Stargate Atlantis. The end of SGA was a little strange, but it was, again, an ending. They knew they weren't going to have another season, so it was a definite SERIES finale. SPORTS NIGHT never got that.
Well, I've griped for long enough, and can only encourage you all to watch the show if you've never seen it. It's all on youtube, good quality, and definitely worth while.
Watch it here.