The return of the cokehead

Here we are then. After an absence from our screens (or monitor, in my copyright-infringing case) of three whole US TV seasons, he's back with a new show. Of course, I'm still smarting that the ingrate NBC network, unforgivably, fired him from his last show, thus depriving us of the chance to see the entire arc of Bartlet's presidency realised according to his considerable vision and, of course, with his unmatched writing skills. Instead we got the Soap King John Wells and his team of scratching hacks.

Bygones. Apart from having Brad Whitford in glasses and not having yet found a role for Janel Moloney, Studio 60 has the makings of a classic Sorkin series. His customary astonishing writing and seemingly endless invention are present and correct. It is as carefully and as flawlessly cast as both The West Wing and Sports Night were - and I admit to throwing four separate devil-horns during the opening credits for the pilot: one each to greet "Music by WG Snuffy Walden"; "Director of Photography: Thomas Del Ruth"; "Written by Aaron Sorkin"; "Directed by Thomas Schlamme". We're puttin' the band back together....

Still, it's hard to see how he can ever top The West Wing: not only because I don't think even a genius such as he can hit such a run of form again (those first two seasons ... gah) but also because, simply, nothing he can choose to write about can possibly have the built-in electricity or emotional and intellectual weight of a series set in the White House - especially Bartlet's White House. To get his audience to care about the Studio 60 characters half as much as we came to care about Bartlet and his senior staff will be some considerable feat. I look forward to watching him try.