I'm not new to the forum. But yes I'm new to this Chat Box. 
Aaron Sorkin is the subject of an interview in GQ magazine in which he talks about all sorts of things, including Sports Night, the writer’s strike, and Obama. Also the implosion of Studio 60, for which he takes the blame. Here’s that part of the interview (questions in bold, Sorkin’s response following), though it’s worth going to the GQ site and reading the whole thing:
“Why didn’t Studio 60 work?
I made too many mistakes. I would give anything to go back and get another bite of that apple. Basically, to use a sports analogy, you can have the best team in football playing the worst team in football. But if the best team in football throws four interceptions, they’re not going to win.
“That sounds a little arrogant.
I’m helped by a staff of people who have great ideas, but the scripts aren’t written by committee. I was too angry when I wrote Studio 60. The show became like the cover of Abbey Road. Everybody was trying to figure out who this character was in real life or what that incident was trying to be. But the anger—it was a post-9/11 anger. We were going through a time when the television networks were so sensitive toward appearing patriotic. And patriotism was just being questioned all over the place. It just seemed like the wheels had come off our national culture.
“The Janet Jackson–FCC incident could easily be lumped in with that.
There was hysteria everywhere. Exactly. And the Internet [doesn't help]—it’s a bronchial infection on the First Amendment. Nothing has done more to make us dumber or meaner than the anonymity of the Internet.
“Do you feel guilty about Studio 60’s failure?
I felt like I had let so many people down—from Warner Bros. and NBC to the cast and crew. You live and die with these things. It is a feeling that you can’t look these people in the eye anymore. Someone like Matt Perry.
“It’s tough to feel bad for Matthew Perry.
Exactly. Yet you do.
“Does it bother you that Tina Fey is still taking shots at you on 30 Rock?
I shook hands with her once. I know she’s had some fun at my expense, and that’s what she does for a living. If I’m going to take shots at whoever I want on my show, she gets to take shots at whoever she wants on her show. I have nothing but admiration for Tina Fey.”
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I think Aaron is right in taking the blame for Studio 60. I really love his shows, but something was definately missing in the writing for some of the episodes. He had a brilliant group of actors and I don’t think he did them justice.
i feel bad for aaron. i thought he did an amazing job but there was something missing. dont get me wrong. studio 60 is a fantastic show and to have it fail like it did is just too unrealistic. but at the same time it felt like something was missing. i wish they would let him try to write the show again. he would make it perfect.
I don’t feel that the fault is completley Aaron’s fault. Though some of the scripts fell a little incomplete. However I do feel that his arrogance played a big part of the failure of the show. However NBC never gave the show a chance. Other show they move arround to see if they would better on a different night, maybe summer or a different time. However they never did this with Studo 60. I bought my Tivo so I could record this show.
I don’t think Aaron Sorkin is to blame but an audience that shows little interest in an intelligent tv-programm. And not to forget NBC which didn’t give the show the opportunity to gain more viewers during a second season – but sadly it all comes down to the green …
I think NBC should have shown the show at an earlier time and shown some repeats. People don’t always start watching shows when they are first on. I think Aaron should be able to look Matthew in the eye, a lot of people noticed how good an actor he was because of Studio 60.
I don`t think Aron Sorkin should take all the blame.. I guess some things could have been done differently. I truly belive that NBC should take most of the blame here..they seemed to be so proud of the show, and when the show failed on the ratings they gave up. If NBC has stood by the show and done everything in their power to save it and give a real chance who knows what would have happend.
I blame it on the stupidity of TV viewers today. People don’t want to think, they want to be entertained. Instant gratification. The other thing that made it fail was the cost. NBC was probably too shell shocked by the cost to give it much time if it wasn’t an instant hit. It’s always the bottom line you know. I too don’t think Aaron should be ashamed to look Matthew Perry in the eye. I think Studio 60 opened some peoples eyes to the fact the guy can be something other than Chandler. He most certainly proved it to me. Bravo Matthew for great acting and Bravo Aaron for your talent. Better luck next time. I know there will be a next time.
^well said Martha.:D
You are all right, Aaron doesn’t deserve all the blame. NBC and today’s viewers should equally share in the Blame. I think he should be able to look Matthew in the eyes, but I still believe his writing was missing something.
I don’t think I could blame Sorkin. I put the blame on NBC. I mean, they went from a network that vowed never to put reality shows on to a network that does nothing but reality shows. And they never gave this show a chance. I mean, they were orginally going to have the show up against CSI & then Grey’s Antomy moved to that time slot so they moved it but in a bad way by putting it up against another version of CSI! I say that if the show was on another network (Fox comes to my mind since they are doing a brillant job with shows like House) or cable, it would of worked.
This was an amazing show even if Aaron Sorkin did a ‘bad job’. Just think what it would have been like if he did a ‘good job’. The program was shown much later in England than what it was in America (I don’t know about other places around the world), I think it was about 6 months and it was on late at night too. I wish NBC would give it another go but we seen the last episode, it tied up the whole thing. If I could say it to him, I would praise Aaron Sorkin on his job. (I don’t know if any of you would feel the same way, it might just be because we have rubbish TV over here in England)
I also think that if there were more romantic scenes in the show and it wasn’t so intellectual then it may have been granted another series.
Aaron’s bad job is twice as good as others good jobs. I think it was just missing something. It wasn’t up to his ususal standards.
well said Martha!
The thing with Studio 60 is that it’s incredibly difficult to parody a parody! A TV show about a TV show was always going to be a challenge. Aaron Sorkin set himself a big task and – probably driven by the success of WW and his post 9/11 anger he bit off more than he could chew.
I can see why he says that about MP. I mean, this was going to be the Matt’s return to TV glory.
But, art/writing is not an exact science, sometimes all the ingredients are right and the pudding just doesn’t rise. I think Aaron is being too hard on himself.
Sorry, should also say, I thought S60 was superb, it was just *missing* a little something – I think maybe humility.
But I DID LOVE IT!!!!
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