While I'm on the subject...

Since I've been posting about the West Wing a bunch lately, I got to thinking about how it would have been a perfect show to have a spin off (a la Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice). I guess it was never tried because Aaron Sorkin was likely too looped on coke to be able to run two shows at once. [Rob Lowe did try to be a senator, I think, in a short-lived show called Lyon's Den, but it was no good -- and not a real West Wing spin-off anyway. I think it was on a different network, and I know it was on a different night with no tie in -- and different characters, etc., etc.]

Although the moment for a true spin-off is long dead, I have a modest proposal for the network execs at ABC. You see, network big wigs, you have already sort of created a little mini spin-off, what with Rob Lowe finally getting to play a senator and run for president and get good ratings. And you seem to have a relatively talented bunch of writers. So, I propose that you hire one more former West Wing-er to make the package more complete (and the homage more striking). My suggestion: woo Dulé Hill away from USA Network's Psych and bring him on as a young speech writer for Senator McDreamy. And maybe set him up as a solid, non-sleezy love interest for Emily VanCamp's Rebecca. (Emily has spooky incestuous chemistry with Dave Annable, who of course plays her half-brother... we need to nip that one in the bud, although apparently they are dating in real life.) Or you could go the other way with it and bring in Janel Maloney as, let's say, another attorney in Kevin's office (and have her fall for Justin). I don't know. But I think a little West Wing blood does a show good (witness, last night's S60.)

Did You See It Too?

Fibby poses a question in her comment to my last post that is worth a whole bloggy entry of its own. She writes: "I saw huge parallels between the last episode [of Ugly Betty] and an episode of The West Wing. I wonder if you'll see it too..."

And the funny thing is that I didn't. So I went to Television Without Pity (source of snarky but complete recaplets of all the tv worth watching). And as soon as I saw the headline for the Ugly Betty recap, I figured out the reference. And digging up the details on the West Wing episode was a fun little Google adventure. You really can find any sort of information in about 2 minutes on Google!

It was episode #322, "Posse Comitatus," in which Mark Harmon's Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan had captured the heart of one C.J. Craig (and more than a few audience members at the same time), only to be killed off in a convenience store hold-up while C.J. and the rest of the President's entourage watched an opera . . . just in time for May sweeps.

Santos, we loved you, though we hardly knew you. At least Ugly Betty's telenovela conceit shields it somewhat when the writers pull a soap operatic move like killing off the happy, beautiful minor character the fans love just in time for sweeps. Nonetheless, I'm hoping that with Drive cancelled, Kevin Alejandro (Santos) miraculously survives or is brought back from the dead next season. Hey, if it's going to be a world where characters get shot for ratings, it ought to be a place where they can get revived for ratings too. (And it is: cf. the ridiculous ferry disaster arc on Grey's Anatomy in which Meredith is dead for at least two full episodes and then is cheerily looking gorgeous and back to work in the next one . . . that was February sweeps after all!)

Channelling the West Wing

Tonight Studio 60 returned to burn off the episodes that have already been filmed, despite the show's sealed fate. And a funny thing happened. The show was good. I chuckled throughout. Another funny thing happened: the show was based on the amazing chemistry of Timothy Busfield and the lovely Allison Janney. And another thing: Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry had the night off. Literally, they didn't even make an appearance. And guess what? Timothy Busfield's Cal should have been the main character of the series. The show might have survived. Or maybe I just love the West Wing's Danny so much that the Studio 60 Danny (Bradley Whitford's character) never really had a shot. Still, I kept hoping that Cal would give Allison a goldfish or something. It was that good.

Updated: TV Squad disagrees. They missed Danny and Matt. (And come to think of it, it probably would have been fun to revisit the West Wing chemistry between Bradley and Allison, too.) But that's the thing about S60: no one seems to be able to agree about what's wrong with it, so no one was able to fix it. I'll just be content to watch the last few episodes, secure in the knowledge that my TiVo is not missing anything better when it records the show in this post-sweeps abyss of a tv schedule.

A Happy Little Moment

Watching a rerun of Dawson's Creek the other night, I had a fun little moment . . . and no one to share it with. So here it is: the Capeside crowd was in the college bar that they hung out in, having some typical Dawson's-style discussion and, for some reason, I happened to hear the music playing way in the background (as if on the bar's jukebox). Now, I'm really not a music person, as many readers of this blog will attest. I've got no ear for it, and usually it just blends into the background for me when I watch TV. But on this one occassion, you see, the jukebox was playing "Here We Go" by Dispatch. Once upon a time, Dispatch was called One Fell Swoop (and even before that they were the Wood River Bandits, fondly known by their friends as the Cloud Forest Bunnies), and they played concerts in the dorm lounges at Middlebury and lived on the same hall as my friend Tyler. This summer, they will play three sold out shows at Madison Square Garden as a fundraiser for Zimbabwe. This despite the fact that the band has been broken up for 3 years! In any case, it was really fun to hear their music on an old episode of Dawson's. I sure wish I had tickets to one of their NYC shows this summer, but it seems like a somewhat inappropriate method of bar study.

This Just Takes the Cake

Although N is the love of my life, he is not a TV-watching soul mate. These folks, on the other hand, threw a TiVo themed wedding. The couple that watches Nip/Tuck together stays together? I guess.

Those are their wedding cakes, MOMP! SFGate.com reports: "The groom's TiVo was chocolate with a cream cheese filling and the bride's TiVo was vanilla with a peanut butter filling."

All Caught Up

This one's for you, Fibby! I meant to invite you up here for the Survivor finale, but it snuck up on me (because I haven't been watching). I hope you're going to be watching with friends in Beantown. If not, give me a call. We'll teleconference it!

In any case, it was Mother's Day today, so N miraculously took G out for breakfast at first light, allowing me to wallow around in bed for hours. Because I can no longer actually sleep past 7 am, I whiled away my time by streaming the episodes of Survivor that I missed in favor of Ugly Betty this season. The season finale is tonight, and now I'm all caught up. I'm rooting for Yau Man because he's so damn smart and wily (giving away the truck was pure brilliance), but I think Earl is probably the odds-on favorite. Does anyone know why Cassandra is still around? She must be nice because she has to be the most uncoordinated Survivor ever to make it to the top 5.

Speaking of what they have to say...

Good news today! Twenty-two more chances to fall in love with Friday Night Lights, coming to the small screen near you next fall.

The network up-fronts (when we--the advertisers, actually, but fans too--find out next fall's schedule) are all next week, so lots of renewal news and word on pick-ups of new pilots will be trickling out in the next few days.

Gilmore has been officially canceled already; cause for celebration of the end of an era, in my mind, rather than mourning for the loss. (In fact, we will be celebrating this Tuesday at my house--by eating like a Gilmore (a Lorelai Gilmore, not an Emily Gimore, of course)! There will be tater-tot-topped-frozen-pizza and chicken nugget appetizers . . . and malomars, if I can find them.) After the completely appropriate and satisfying but still utterly sad end of Rory and Logan's relationship last week, I'm ready to say goodbye to the show, and eager to see what projects come next for all involved (particularly Matt Czuchry and Amy Sherman-Palladino).

With Gilmore off the schedule, it sounds like One Tree Hill may actually get a chance at another season--one in which they jump the action forward by 5 or so years. I'm all for it. This week's scene at the prom where the characters all make fun of the melodrama in their lives was priceless. O.C.-style self-aware irony. Love it.

The Day Without Email

N's hosting service has been having server trouble, so I've had an email-free day. A very odd phenomenon indeed. But much more palatable than a day with no Internet . . . or no TV. No email just means they can't reach me. I can still read what they have to say. And I suppose that if I blog, they (you?) can even read what I have to say. Wierd.

Dun. Finis. Finito. Done.

My last law school final exam was turned in at 11:55 this morning. Fellow almost-lawyer CM(L) and I ate celebratory sushi and shopped all afternoon. It was mah-velous. Later in the week there will more shopping ... and then there will be a chick flick on the big screen (starring OC alum Adam Brody). I love being on vacation! Plus it's May sweeps. Pure Legally Blonde heaven.