Aaron Sorkin made me tear up recently. Granted, it was late at night, so I was fatigued and my manly defenses were thus likely weakened, but I think the bulk of the blame goes to Sorkin. The catalyst was an episode of the canceled NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip called “K & R” that I was viewing on DVD. I only bring it up because it’s so rare that a show or movie touches me like that. This thing really snuck up on me. I’m sure it was the potent combination of acting (kudos to Sarah Paulson and Matthew Perry), music, editing, and direction that caused this to happen, but I mostly blame Sorkin. He wrote the script, and from what I understand, when he writes it, it gets shot word for word the way he intended (a writer’s dream come true!).
The misty moment for me came at the tail end of the episode and revolved around characters Matt and Harriet’s ongoing debate about Christianity vs. reason. I won’t try to rehash the sequence here, because it wouldn’t have the same effect, and even if you saw it, you’d probably think I was nutty for springing a leak over it. You often can’t predict these things. One man’s The Notebook is another man’s idea of inspired comedy (alright, that’s an unfair example because I still haven’t seen Notebook, but I digress).
I think my thing with this episode of Studio 60 was a culmination of the whole season’s dynamic between Matt and Harriet. There wasn’t anything spectacular about their on and off romance compared with countless other similar TV iterations except for one thing: Harriet is a committed Christian and Matt is most definitely not. This oft-emphasized facet of their relationship was absolutely fascinating because, as commonplace as American Christians are, I’m just not used to seeing one on a network TV series, at least not handled as intelligently as Sorkin does. It was further fascinating because the Harriet character is a decently accurate depiction of a serious Christian, particularly coming from a writer who isn’t one. Sorkin apparently drew much inspiration from his real-life failed relationship with Kristin Chenowith who is a Christian. Needless to say, Matt and Harriet’s conflicted relationship provides some of the most interesting, snappy dialogue of the series.
As a Christian, I really appreciate Sorkin’s effort to create a realistic Christian character as opposed to the absolute morons usually seen. Granted, Sorkin has written his share of moronic Christian characters in the past (Kiefer Sutherland in A Few Good Men comes to mind), but the Harriet Hayes character showed some maturation on his part. As a side note, I found it annoying and ironic that for all the boo-hooing that goes on in some Christian circles about our under-representation in mainstream shows/movies, no one talked about the interesting Christian character on Studio 60. I don’t recall reading or hearing a single thing about it in Christian media. Well, it was their loss. The sequence that grabbed me out of the blue at the end of the “K & R” episode is funny, sad, sweet, bittersweet, hopeful, and hopeless all at the same time. It’s a distillation of what I like so much about Sorkin’s writing. Maybe it affected me more because I happen to believe in Jesus, but it was great TV nonetheless.
Even though Sorkin and I are on the opposite ends of the political and religious spectrum, I respect his writing because he frequently gives decent voice to opposing views. He was very adept at this on The West Wing, particularly with the Ainsley Hayes character (Emily Procter) who was a lone Republican in the liberal White House. Sure, Sorkin’s political ax-grinding sometimes veers into grating territory, and naturally, his liberal heroes usually win in the end, but he can certainly write up some very convincing conservative and/or Christian arguments when it serves his story. For all his eye-roll-inducing liberal talk points, he is able to wrap them up in such fun dialogue and entertaining stories that I keep coming back for more. Whaddya know – libs and cons can come together!
The great “K & R” episode ending that resonated with me so, just reminded me what a shame it is that NBC kicked Studio 60 to the curb so fast. I understand that it’s a business and they need eyeballs on the screens, but really, Celebrity Apprentice? Granted, Studio 60 doesn’t represent Sorkin’s best work, but it was still better than, oh, 95% of the rest of the shows out there. It had its share of belly-flopping moments – namely when it tried to shoe-horn serious political issues into what was ultimately a light-hearted SNL-type setting – but at least it tried to show some originality, as opposed to most of its mind-numbingly formulaic competition. Aaron Sorkin is probably the best screenwriter in the biz, so you’d think NBC would’ve been willing to give him some more time to find the show’s footing.
Anyway… Aaron, if you’re trolling the web, reading blogs about yourself because of WGA strike boredom, I just wanted to say thank you for blind-siding me with that “K & R” Kleenex moment. You never know when or how what you write may affect someone. Keep up the great work!
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.