Pages tagged “Sports Night”

Release Date: Sept 30
Executive Producers: Thomas Schlamme, Aaron Sorkin
Writer: Sorkin

Starring: Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause, Robert Guillaume, Josh Charles, Sabrina Lloyd, Joshua Malina

Studio/Run Time: ABC/TRT/Shout! Factory, 20 hrs.

Sorkin rewrote the rulebooks with this character-driven sitcom

The workplace has long been a productive venue for sitcoms. From the studios of WKRP in Cincinnati and Mary Tyler Moore’s WJM-TV to a bar named Cheers and, most recently, a paper supply company in Scranton, Pa., the drudgery of the work and ineptitude of the workers have provided light laughs for Americans at the end of the day. But as a screenwriter for films like A Few Good Men and The American President, Aaron Sorkin loved his job and was very good at it. So, naturally, when he developed his first TV series for ABC 10 years ago, he filled it with characters who loved their jobs and were very good at them.

Welcome to High Gravity, my new blog for daily nuggets of music, film and culture. I plan on using this space for quick, throughout-the-day updates on whatever comes across my desk or crosses my mind, from news about Thom Yorke making sure Prince's Coachella cover of "Creep" gets unblocked by YouTube or Liz Phair performing Exile in Guyville in its entirity (June 23rd at the Fillmore in San Francisco, 24th at The Vic Theatre in Chicago and 25th & 26th at the Hiro Ballroom in New York) to my own Top 10 lists, favorite new discoveries and, yes, beer recommendations.

My New Discovery of the Week
Johnny Flynn: Listening to 60-something entries for our Best of What's Next issue in September last week, the one that I keep going back to is Johnny Flynn. A bit Robyn Hitchcock, a bit Sixteen Horsepower, but with the exuberance of The Waterboys, this Londoner has won me as a fan. Only after visiting his MySpace page did I realize that I'd had his upcoming album sitting unlistened on my desk, courtesy of Lost Highway.

Best Sitcoms Since 1980
I don't have much of an opinion on sitcoms that predated me, so we'll go back to when I was nine. I'm curious to hear which ones you think I've overlooked, so let me know what rip-roaring laughs or laugh-tracks I've been missing. And before you say Taxi, just know that it debuted in 1978 (which is why I had to delete M*A*S*H, long may it rerun).