Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Failure of a TV Show

I wanted to like "Studio 60." It was created by Aaron Sorkin, whose work ("American President", "West Wing") I've enjoyed in the past. When I saw a clip of the pilot episode on Youtube last year, I was excited by the possibilities. A network TV show that skewers network television written by one of the more astute writers of our generation? It sounded like a good idea to me. But somewhere along the way, the show fell flat fast and apparently most Americans agreed. After its successful debut, its ratings went south. The show has since been canceled, though the final episodes the network ordered will be aired during the summer.

What hurt its chances? A lot of the show's most ardent fans claim it had to do with its time slot or lack of support from NBC. "Studio 60" aired immediately after the hit show "Heroes," putting it in a perfect position to gain viewers. But the show's ratings actually dipped in its timeslot, even when Heroes was bringing in good numbers. The programs NBC replaced "Studio 60" during its numerous hiatuses with "The Black Donnellys" and then "The Wedding Crashers," but these replacements also fared poorly in that timeslot, which suggests that Monday nights at 10:00 pm could compete with Friday nights at the same hour for bad timeslots.