The first recording today starts with the end of Property Ladder.
Then, another episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and as usual, I seem to have missed the second part of the previous episode, so we’ll never know if Jordan and Danny got off the roof. This episode is The Friday Night Slaughter.
This episode features Matt having a flashback to 1999, which the programme illustrates with a news image referencing the Y2K bug. Matt’s remembering when he was a new writer, not getting his stuff into the show, and another writer leaves because he was fired for taking pills. This memory might have been triggered by the fact the Matt has started taking pills, presumably because he and Harriet properly broke up in the last episode.
The man running the writers’ room in 1999 is Joe, played by Stephen Tobolowsky who gets to be mean to Harriet, who’s just joined the show, for being late, and Matt, who’s still a new writer, for paying more attention to Harriet than him. “If you pay attention, I think you still have an excellent chance of not getting a sketch on the air this year either.”
Matt talks to Harriet and suggests he writes something for her, then they can pitch it. I’m sorry, but the backwards baseball cap thing is just Steve Buscemi saying “How do you do, fellow kids?”
In the present there’s a running thing with Tom and Dylan who are desperate to get a sketch called Metric Conversion onto the show.
Past Matt rather messes up when he pitches an anti-evangelical sketch to Harriet. “Okay, so here’s the pitch. You as a crazy Christian radio host who believes in the literal truth of the Bible.” So she has to tell him that she’s one of the 68% of people who believe in literal angels. Incidentally, I can’t believe I’ve got this far into the series without connecting Harriet’s character to Kristin Chenoweth, with whom Arron Sorkin had a relationship, and some things that happened to Harriet in the show came specifically from her life.
Matt goes to talk to his office-mate Luke. “I just went down to Harriet’s dressing room.” “Harriet?” “Hayes.” “I had my eye on her.” “I went down there to pitch a sketch.” “Yeah, I’m just sayin’ I had my eye on her and I’ve got seniority.” Nice to see Luke thinks his seniority should take precedence over, I don’t know, Harriet’s preferences. The irony of all this, of course, is that Luke is the man that Harriet is now going out with. (Maybe, I can’t be sure, but present Matt sure is massively jealous of him.)
Matt is still remembering Tim Batale, who was sacked for taking pills, but whenever he asks Danny or Cal or anyone else about him, nobody remembers him.
While Matt and Harriet are done, Danny and Jordan look like their time on the roof has been a net positive to their relationship, although she’s nervous about him kissing her in his office. “There are public sight lines this way, this way, that way, that way, this way. There is a dead space under your desk, but there isn’t room enough for the both of us so just cool off.”
Past Matt meets Simon Stiles, who is there for an audition with Wes Mendell, who’s kept him waiting for six hours. “Wes likes to screw with people he likes to see how they do with chaos.” “Mm! How long would I be sitting here if I was somebody he didn’t like?” The amount of toxic management bullshit here, while I’m sure it’s fully representative of the typical behaviour in TV, still amazes me.
Matt’s been listening to the musical guest doing a sound check and goes to ask her advice, because all her lyrics about about being sad. She spots that his eyes are dilated, and offers him eye drops, then gives him some pills that will help him. This scene explains why the featured musical guest this week isn’t actually a real person, as they usually are, as I don’t think any musical guest would be comfortable playing themselves handing out drugs to Matthew Perry.
Hallie, the head of reality programmes, is there with Jordan to try to persuade the grandmother of a young paraplegic medical student to take pert in her programme about “healing”. But the grandmother won’t budge, and Jordan realises that she’d made up her mind a week ago, and Hallie had waited until now to make the call precisely because she knew she couldn’t persuade her. “Go with the porn star and the swim coach.” “It’s a blessing in disguise. It’s so much more promotable than a guy in a wheelchair.” “I know that. So do you. That’s why you waited a week to tell me.” I hate this habit male writers have of always pitting two women against each other. Again, I’m sure it does happen, but I bet it’s nowhere near as common as men talking over, ignoring, belittling and taking credit for women’s contributions, but I guess it’s not as sexy as a cat fight.
The mysterious Tom Batale is there when the board with all the sketches that made it on to the show comes out, and a sketch he’d written didn’t make it, his last hope to maybe come back. The scene ends with Matt saying to him “You know, I can’t remember how we met.”
The episode ends with Matt, still unable to find anyone who remembers Tim Batale – “For a year he wore a blue Oxford shirt and khakis. Wes fired him because he knew he was taking pills” – looking at old pictures of the crew from different years and finds himself in the 1999 picture wearing a blue Oxford shirt and Khakis. I have no idea what this ending means.
Media Centre Description: Drama series about a late-night comedy sketch show. Matt, during a bout of self-medication, has to decide which sketches will make it to air. Tom and Dylan subject him to particularly intense lobbying.
Recorded from More 4 on Thursday 1st November 2007 21:58
After this, the recording stops during the start of a Channel 4 at 25 showing of the last ever episode of Cheers.
The next recording starts with the end of Newsnight, featuring Jeremy Paxman doing another of his regular dismissals of the whole idea of the internet.
There’s a trail for Capturing Mary.
Plus a trail for Visions of the Future and the public safety film about Sparklers.
Then, a repeat of Heroes – Company Man
Media Centre Description: Drama series in which people all over the world deal with the newly-discovered superpowers they possess. H.R.G.’s past catches up to him as Matt and Ted Sprague come to Texas looking for answers and take him, his wife, son and Claire hostage, leading to a tragic and explosive showdown. Secrets are revealed and new threats to the heroes are introduced.
Recorded from BBC TWO on Thursday 1st November 2007 23:18
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Thursday 1st November 2007 23:20
After this there’s a trail for The Tudors and a trail for Jimmy McGovern’s The Street.
Then the recording stops with the start of a movie called Breaking Up starring Russell Crowe and Salma Hayek.
Here’s the ad breaks in Studio 60 (minus an ad for an Eagles album that cause YouTube to block the whole thing).
Adverts:
- Phones 4U
- Sainsbury’s Insurance
- Eagles – Long Road Out Of Eden
- trail: True Stories: Promises
- Jeremy Isaacs on Philip Roth
- trail: Cheers
- Post Office – Westlife
- esure – Michael Winner
- UBS
- MFI
- Rennie Dual Action
- E.on
- moneysupermarket.com
- Saab 9-3
- trail: Britz
- trail: The Sopranos
- Confused.com
- B&Q
- American Airlines – James Gandolfini
- First Direct – Matt King
- MBNA
- Complete Clapton
- Vauxhall Antara
- trail: Film 4
- trail: Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
- Sony Centre
- Renault Laguna
- Philips Sonicare
- Gillette Fusion
- Asda
- BT Vision – Kris Marshall
- Ing Direct
- Puzzleball
- trail: Cheers
- trail: The Secret Millionaire
- Specsavers
- Sharwoods Thai Range
- American Airlines – James Gandolfini
VHiStory 