Im a hueg fan of Aaron Sorking - just finshed watching all 4 seasons of the West Wing (what there was more?:) and I love all his movies (Charlie Wilson's War was brilliant)...the dialogue..the subtle humor...the social commentary..amazing.

Hell I even liked Studio 60 - thought it was badly marketed by NBC (they kept pushing it as a "wacky" comedy - which it wasent - it was a drama with humor) and I still think the pilot is one of the best hours of television in recent memory.

Ive never seen Sports Night but have heard good things...is it worth renting/buying?

Keep in mind i have ZERO interest in sports (except for Hockey)...dont know the teams, players, etc in football, baseball, etc...i know zip, nada..and dont want to know either..will i still like it?

Thanks in advance!!

Sports Night is amazing. Great cast, great writing, and requires little to no interest in sports to enjoy it. The first season is a little rough to do one of the most obtrusive laugh tracks ever, but it's still worth watching.

Does it deal with the goings on behind a TV show like studio 60 did? Is Sorkin's writing good or in its early stages??

2 season right?

I've seen only a couple of episodes, but enjoyed them.
A friend of mine used to love this show—"the best TV show ever" I think he used to
say. Well, before he discovered Firefly anyway.

Yes, it's very good, and yes.

It's set behind the scenes of a SportsCenter type of show and the main cast is the two anchors, the producer, the assistant producer, a writer, the executive producer, and assorted random folks. It's kind of the Sorkin staple of people who are good at their jobs and love doing it, while dealing mostly with the character interactions.

[Edited by Sorkin]

Great, great series, one of my favorites. I have near zero interest in sports, but that didn't matter. Highly recommended.

It's the best thing he's done, and I don't think you have to like sports.

Cool...thanks guys..ill have to check this out.

I'd opine that you give it a couple episodes to get going. I agree with the sentiments that it's a great show, and that an interest in sports is not at all a prerequisite. But the first three episodes or so are a bit clunky.

If you liked Arliss, you'll LOVE Sports Night!

I have the box set and it's AWESOME!!! Well, the show is AWESOME. The production on the box set leaves something to be desired. They put a ton of episodes on 6 discs and you can see the error bits because of it. But the show is so well put together that it's worth it.

In what must be the oddest coincidence I've run into in a while, I just started re-watching this series (for about the third time, I think) this morning, on the same day that you started this thread, JV. Weird.

Just to pile on, you don't need to know jack shit about (or care about) sports or ESPN or anything of the sort to enjoy the show. Early episodes contain a laugh track, which sucks...but it does go away pretty soon. You will especially enjoy -- or perhaps be annoyed by -- the multiple bits and names and situations from SPORTS NIGHT that were later "recycled" in THE WEST WING and STUDIO 60.

I envy your first-time viewer status!

heh

Frank - synchronicity bud!

Great album.

I didn't like it, but I didn't like West Wing or Studio 60... and, honestly, didn't think that highly of A Few Good Men, which is really only watchable because of Jack.

And I don't think anyone knew how to sell Sport's Night. This was one of the ads.



There's two really funny things about that ad.

1) They're using an analogy that inadvertently brings to mind a rather silly show that is not synonymous with quality.
2) It's doesn't exactly get the point across. Charlie's Angels *was* about law enforcement... it just wasn't an accurate representation. First & 10 was about sports the way Charlie's Angels was about law enforcement. Charlie's Angels was about catching the bad guys and putting them in prison. First & 10 was about athletes winning and losing games. Sports Night was attempting to use the backdrop as a source of comedy and/or drama without the sports being at all important.

They probably should have said something like "It's about sports like Mary Tyler Moore was about news reporting".

That actually would put forth the proper relationship and bring to mind a respected show.

"It's about sports like Too Close For Comfort was about cartooning" would probably be bad, too.

It's about sports. The same way Cheers was about running a bar.

It's about sports. The same way Night Court was about the criminal justice system.

It's about sports. The same way Barney Miller was about law enforcement.

See, those are all pretty decent examples of getting across what Sports Night was like. It's definitely involves sports a lot, but really only uses it for color.

Of course, calling the show "Sports Night" is one of those bad, bad, bad ideas that immediately requires you to explain to your potential audience that your show isn't about the very thing that's in your title. Only Night Court gives the game away in the title and you just need a commercial with a few good gags in it to get the flavor of the show across.

It's about sports. The same way Happy Days was about Chuck Cunnningham.

Okay, that one doesn't come close to working, because they were always talking about sports on Sports Night.

Thinking about, whoever came up with the name "Sports Night" should be fucking shot. That's the absolute worst name you could think of, because it actually causes confusion with a completely different type of television program. It's not that viewers are stupid, it's that they're generally have a lot more important things occupying their time than the contents of a particular show. They just scan the TV Guide for stuff that piques their curiosity. A show with the title "Sports Night" would be an instant skip for absolutely everyone. If you're a sports fan, you'd think it was a sports program and not read the description (then likely get annoyed when it turned out to not be a sports show). And if you're looking for an entertainment show, you'd skip the description because you'd figure it was just another sports show. It would be like calling your show "The 8 o'clock News" and getting indignant that people thought it was a regular news program.

Shows like News Radio wouldn't have that problem because you don't expect to see a television show called "News Radio". You see the name and think "what is that?" and might decide it sounds like something you'd like.

Sports Night... just a shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty name.