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Aaron Sorkin

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hollywood privacywatch

Don Cheadle Brightens Civilian's Day By Cruising By Bus Stop In Rented Lexus

PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers, and are posted several times a week, so send them in often—the fate of the universe relies upon it! Submit yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line so we don't lose them) and tell everyone about the time you spotted Tara Reid having her credit card denied at Blockbuster.

In today's episode: Don Cheadle; Aaron Sorkin and Rick Schroder; Gary Oldman; Matt Groening; Josh Duhamel and Fergie; John Lithgow; Jason Segel; Amy Smart and Branden Williams; Natasha Gregson Wagner; Tara Reid; Vernon Wells; A Martinez; Christopher Knight; Militia; David Leisure; and Angelyne.

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2:05 PM on Wed Feb 20 2008
By Seth
5,476 views, 13 comments

reflections

Aaron Sorkin Opens Up About The Demise Of 'Studio 60'

With the final episodes of ill-fated sociopolitical drama Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip now all ignominiously burned off by the network that renounced its onetime anointed Nielsen Messiah, showrunner Aaron Sorkin is ready to reflect upon the possible reasons that his much-hyped peak behind the scenes at a curiously humorless late night sketch comedy show failed. (In case you missed it, our recap of the series finale is here to help you get some closure.) While Sorkin is willing to admit to making "too many mistakes for it to survive," he posits that Our Obsession With Hugely Successful, Famously Troubled Man Behind The Curtain might have gotten in the way of the public's enjoyment of his characters' lively banter about the ethics of employing hostage-reclaiming mercenaries in Afghanistan or concerning potentially fatal pregnancy complications. Reports the LAT's Patrick Goldstein after a sit-down with Sorkin:

"I don't know how to emphasize this enough that I'm not disappointed or upset with anyone but myself," Sorkin says over lunch at Nate 'n Al's last week where he is repeatedly interrupted by fans wanting to share how much they enjoyed his work.
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10:31 AM on Tue Jul 17 2007
By Mark
4,992 views, 11 comments

Latest by Studio 60's Demise on Fimoculous.com: The noble Sorkin blames himself for the demise of Studio 60. [via] more »

trade roundup

DreamWorks Getting Into the Aaron Sorkin Business

· Onetime NBC Messiah Aaron Sorkin has signed on for a three-picture deal with DreamWorks. First up is a script for The Trial of the Chicago 7, a period political piece about the clash between protestors and police at the 1968 Democratic convention that Sorkin was able to adapt from an unaired Studio 60 sketch in which Lobster Boy and new character Pigasus the Immortal argue over who might be the better Yippee candidate for president. [Variety]
· Katherine McPhee is, by far, the hottest American Idol runner-up in Hollywood right now, landing a role in the still-untitled Anna Faris comedy about the Playboy bunny who teaches some lame sorority girls how to unleash their inner tart. In an empowering way! [THR]
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11:28 AM on Thu Jul 12 2007
By Mark
975 views, 8 comments

Latest by yellojkt: I'm dying to see Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman do the Gilbert and Sullivan number. more »

endings

The Complete Guide To The Series Finale Of 'Studio 60'


You may not have realized it, but at just a couple of minutes before 11 p.m. last night, the final credits rolled on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, ending Aaron Sorkin's bold, ill-fated experiment in melding the light-hearted Hollywood world of late-night sketch comedy shows with the absurdly high geopolitical stakes of his Emmy-winning White House drama, The West Wing. And while a lesser showrunner recently chose to cloak the last moments of his beloved series in frustrating ambiguity, Sorkin was confident enough in his creative choices to allow a metaphorical Man in the Members Only Jacket to wander the halls of the darkened studio, bringing each storyline to a satisfying conclusion with a bullet to the back of every character's head. Because we suspect that many of you missed the series finale, we're happy to run down how each of your favorite players finished up his or her primetime existence. [Warning to the DVR users whose selfish insistence on time-shifting the show kept it from reaching its Nielsen potential: There are spoilers ahead.]

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4:41 PM on Fri Jun 29 2007
By Mark
12,579 views, 16 comments

Latest by Magister: @invalid-username: That's actually not a bad idea and if Sorkin were to write it, I'd definitely watch. Though his long-time producing partner, Tommy Schlamme did just try something sort of similar, so they might think it ground that they wouldn't more »

trade roundup

On Broadway, Aaron Sorkin Rekindles Tumultuous Love Affair With Television

· Aaron Sorkin returns to Broadway with The Farnsworth Invention, a play about the birth of television, the deliciously flawed storytelling medium he recently sought to redeem with a little-seen primetime serial about the life-or-death stakes involved in producing a weekly sketch comedy show. [Variety]
· Thomas Haden Church is in negotiations to join Sandra Bullock in All About Steve, a romantic comedy that should reinvigorate the moribund genre by focusing on the previously unseen pairing (we think?) of a lady who writes crosswords and a CNN cameraman. [THR]
· Michael Moore's Sicko sells out the single NY screen on which it debuted, bringing in $70,000 over the weekend. [Variety]
· The Agent Dance, Abbreviated Mid-Level Actresses We Can't Get Excited About Edition: Heroes' Hayden Panettiere signs with WMA, while Julia Stiles hooks up with ICM. [Variety, THR]
· Cartoon Network and Hasbro are co-producing a new Transformers animated series, which will reimagine the property as a "superheroes story" with robots featuring "a lot more human qualities, allowing kids to identify with the characters" they will soon mindlessly consume in an all-new toy line. [THR]

11:32 AM on Mon Jun 25 2007
By Mark
891 views, 6 comments

Latest by Everybody Likes Pandas: Good for you, Sorkin! Nobody gives a shit what's on Broadway. To quote the inimitable Helen Lawson from VALLEY OF THE DOLLS: They drummed you out of Hollywood, so you come crawling back to Broadway. But Broadway doesn't go for more »

parumph'd

Saying Goodbye To 'Studio 60'

As the TV upfronts are intended to be a weeklong celebration of possibility and hope, there is generally no place in a network's presentation to advertisers to pause briefly and remember the once-beloved projects that won't be going forward into the Fall season; accordingly, it took a reporter's uncomfortable question to get NBC president Kevin Reilly to reflect upon the legacy of the newly euthanized Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, whose uncompromising, visionary showrunner was just one year ago anointed the savior of the last-place network. Notes the TV Week upfronts blog: More »

4:29 PM on Mon May 14 2007
By Mark
8,637 views, 23 comments

Latest by In Which We Dispense Your Monday Afternoon Dose of Safe Links For Work So That You Can Put Those TPS Reports Away And Cozy Up To The Computer Real Close on Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Sitting Here Listening to This Recor: You have some cream on the corner of your face. — guy who Tony Soprano beat up. You might as well download some more Spoon. Legit sleeper candidate for 2007 announces.  It’ll be interesting to watch whoever the Republican candidate more »

studio 60 cancellationwatch

NBC Gives You A Chance To Say A Proper Goodbye To Matt, Danny, Jordan, And Lobster Boy


NBC's website quietly brings good—nay, great, shout-Huzzah!-to-the-heavens-and-slaughter-the-fatted-calf—news to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip's legion of affluent, upscale, and long-suffering fans: The show will return to the airwaves on Thursday, May 24, presumably to burn off the remainder of its first-season episodes, just one day after the end of May sweeps and a week after the network is expected to announce a Sorkin-free Fall lineup at the upfronts. Of course, maverick NBC president Kevin Reilly could shock the world by taking the stage in NY and announcing he's giving the show another 22 episodes, explaining to a room full of disbelieving advertisers, "Come on, it's Aaron Fucking Sorkin! He made The West Wing! I know this sounds crazy now, but If you'd read his breakdown for the second season, where Matt and Danny decide to run in the presidential primary against Obama and Hillary, you'd understand. It's going to work this time, I can really feel it." More »

6:01 PM on Fri Apr 27 2007
By Mark
4,814 views, 2 comments

Latest by Xenu: What if we never wanted to say a proper hello to them to begin with? more »

studio 60

'Studio 60' Parodies Outliving Their Real-Life, Ill-Fated Inspiration


While arriving a little late to the Studio 60 parody party, Conan O'Brien's Studio 6A effort of last Friday night makes up for its lack of timeliness (especially considering the possibility we may never see another new 60 episode outside of a complete first-season DVD release) with its savvy utilization of network-quality production values—we wouldn't be surprised if the Late Night staff tricked NBC into sinking $4 million into the clip by attaching Sorkin's name—and top-tier talent, which has temporarily reinvigorated the moribund form. Spending this brief time with a generously pompadoured, appropriately self-serious Liev Schreiber and a suddenly tragic Mastubating Bear made us unexpectedly choke up, reminding us that we may never again get to spend another intentionally unfunny primetime minute with Matthew Perry and Lobster Boy. More »

12:46 PM on Tue Apr 17 2007
By Mark
1,653 views, Comment

30 rock

'30 Rock' Finally Vanquishes 'Studio 60'

From the very moment that NBC controversially decided to greenlight two different series (one hourlong, one a half-hour) set behind the scenes at an SNLesque sketch comedy show and named for the numbered structures (one fictional, one real) in which they were produced, the fates of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and 30 Rock (one disappointing, one vastly superior) were inextricably linked. With Studio 60 indefinitely yanked from the airwaves and creator Aaron Sorkin failing thus far to live up his billing as Peacock Messiah (or even to a lesser, personal mission as Redeemer of a Debauched Medium), the network is now placing its sketch-comedy-related hopes for eventual Nielsen salvation in 30 Rock's Tina Fey, reports Var: More »

12:53 PM on Wed Apr 4 2007
By Mark
10,580 views, 14 comments

Latest by IKnowThings: But whyatever happened to Rachel Dratch? Now that it has been renewed, can she be a cast member again? more »

nbc

'Studio 60' CancellationWatch: Sorkin And Company Quietly Playing Out The String

These have been sad days indeed for the dedicated fans of Studio 60, multiple Emmy-winner Aaron Sorkin's unflinching look into the dark soul of late night sketch comedy programming: As the still-healing scars on the underside of our forearm representing each squandered Monday night that's passed without a new installment of the series so vividly remind us, Studio was indefinitely removed from NBC's primetime schedule, a torturously undefined hiatus that has spawned irresponsible, internets-type rumors that the network has held the pillow of cancellation tightly on the face of its slumbering beloved, ending their doomed, if fitfully passionate, partnership without producing the rest of its planned first-season episodes. Not so! (the exact words follow) says THR's Ray Richmond, who's been assured that Sorkin and company are hard at work even as we speak: More »

8:51 AM on Thu Mar 29 2007
By Mark
11,137 views, 13 comments

Latest by Jonny Bronson: here's an idea, maybe no one with any money to spend on (soap) isn't fucking watching TV until 11pm on a monday... more »

aaron sorkin

Aaron Sorkin Battles The Pink Robots

Despite the fact that Studio 60 will eventually return from its indefinite, Haggis-enabling hiatus to triumphantly claim the Nielsen validation it so richly deserves, pragmatic showrunner Aaron Sorkin is nonetheless preparing for a post-60 existence. A recent career brainstorming session that may or may not have involved an unexpected psilocybin flashback induced by listening to his favorite Flaming Lips album seems to have yielded inspiration for a new creative direction in his life, as EW.com reports that Sorkin will be writing the script for a Broadway musical based on the Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Even frontman Wayne Coyne, a guy known to cavort with pastel, flashlight-wielding teddy bears, seems a little freaked out by this development: More »

2:50 PM on Wed Mar 21 2007
By Mark
3,668 views, 6 comments

Latest by Polyh3dron: *waits for the NBC logo with the Paul Haggis head in the middle of it* more »

studio 60

'Studio 60' CancellationWatch Renewed: Early Yanking Can't Be A Good Sign

This morning brings ominous news for Studio 60's legion of upscale, affluent, and Nielsen-confounding, TiVo-time-shifting fans: Variety reports that NBC is moving up by a week its previously announced indefinite yanking of the series following the show's worst ratings to date, handing over its juicy, post-Heroes Monday night timeslot to [pause for reflexive tightening of the sphincter] Paul Haggis' The Black Donnellys on February 26th. Says Var: More »

11:29 AM on Wed Feb 14 2007
By Mark
2,943 views, 20 comments

tina fey

Tina Fey Says Thing About Aaron Sorkin That We Are More Than Happy To Blow Out Of Proportion

In what might be the first shot fired in East Coast/West Coast Half-Hour/Hourlong Funny/Unfunny War between NBC's dueling behind-the-scenes-at-a-sketch-comedy-show primetime series, 30 Rock's Tina Fey offered this one-liner at the expense of presumed NBC Messiah Aaron Sorkin: More »

9:15 AM on Tue Feb 13 2007
By Mark
3,547 views, 26 comments

trade roundup

Trade Round-Up: NBC Madness!

· NBC will hand over Aaron Sorkin's 10 p.m. Monday night Studio 60 timeslot to Paul Haggis' drama The Black Donnellys starting on March 5, hoping that the heavy-handed, fender-bender-loving double Oscar winner's new series will hang on to some of hit lead-in Heroes' viewers, but promises that S60 will return to their airwaves at an unspecified date. Also: 30 Rock's slot is being temporarily donated to the Conan O'Brien/Andy Richter midseason comedy Andy Barker, PI, but will be back on April 19th. [Variety]
· In case you haven't heard: Jeff Zucker's getting a nice little promotion over at NBCU 2.0. [Variety, THR]
· And in other NBC front-office news, NBC Entertainment president/scene-stealing The Office dayplayer Kevin Reilly is looking like a good bet to have his expiring contract renewed. (Actually, a very good bet, as the WSJ just reported [sub. req'd.] he's been given a new contract.) [Variety]
· Super Bowl XLI's ratings are "great but not spectacular." We suspect that the event's failure to reach "spectacular" levels was due to intense competition from the far more compelling Puppy Bowl III on Animal Planet. [THR]
· Apple (computers) and Apple Corps. (The Beatles) settle the legal dispute over their shared name, allowing for the possibility that Beatles songs might one day be hawked on iTunes. [Variety]

11:50 AM on Mon Feb 5 2007
By Mark
146 views, 2 comments

Latest by Moonshine Mike: Gotta go with PuppyBowl....at least they can piddle at midfield and not get called for a foul... more »

short ends

Short Ends: Jack Bauer's End-Of-The-World Face

· This is what it looks like when Kiefer Sutherland watches Valencia get nuked.
· Unsurprisingly, the paparazzi aren't respecting Lindsay Lohan's privacy during her stint in rehab.
· Ken Levine, one of the "unemployed" writers Aaron Sorkin pilloried following that now-infamous LAT piece, offers what he really thinks of Sorkin.
· These Worth1000 Photoshop contest images of a variety of male stars remade into women are the stuff of nightmares. Bad, bed-wetting ones.

7:17 PM on Mon Jan 22 2007
By Mark
461 views, 3 comments

aaron sorkin

'LAT' Gives Equal Time To Pro-Sorkin Voices

Showing a renewed commitment to journalistic fairness in the aftermath of Aaron Sorkin's shocking exposure of their anti-Sorkin agenda last week, in which the Studio 60 showrunner decried the paper's unacceptable reliance on negative quotes from "disgruntled" individuals whose level of entertainment industry success falls far short of his criteria for having a valid opinion, the LAT today offers equal time to those who have self-published positive words about Studio 60 on the internets: More »

1:05 PM on Mon Jan 22 2007
By Mark
357 views, 12 comments

aaron sorkin

Aaron Sorkin Takes On The L.A. Times, Internets, Unemployed Writers

As part of yesterday's TCA press tour event, TV critics were bussed over to the set of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, where they were granted some face time with series creator Aaron Sorkin in his behind-the-scenes-at-a-distressingly- serious-minded-sketch-comedy-show environment. When asked to comment on a recent LAT piece claiming that comedy writers don't seem to be fans of the show, the beleaguered showrunner took the opportunity to decry the paper's transparent anti-Sorkin agenda, revealing that his research uncovered the shocking fact that some of his critics might be—audible gasp!—unemployed. Recounts The Oregonian's TV critic on his TCA blog: More »

6:44 PM on Wed Jan 17 2007
By Mark
697 views, 21 comments

Latest by The Driver: ....the West Wing was so fucking good. more »

golden globes

The Hollywood Foreign Press Crushes Aaron Sorkin's Golden Globes Dreams

We hate to return so quickly to the Golden Globes nominations, but since we made a point of spotlighting Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip creator Aaron Sorkin's hope that a Globe nod would elevate his Little Serious-Minded Sketch Comedy Drama That Could from a "critical hit" into the type of hit that people actually watch, we thought it relevant to note that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association decided not to sprinkle its magic Nielsen dust on the series, granting a single nomination recognizing Sarah Paulson's performance as the proud Krazee Khristian who so glows with talent that her cast members can only gaze upon her through welding masks. We trust that Sorkin will handle this disappointment maturely, refraining from the petty impulse to have Matthew Perry and Brad Whitford hold forth at length about the meaninglessness of awards shows on a future episode, lambasting the "back-slapping, junket-whore buffet monkeys who wouldn't know quality programming if a DVD screener lodged itself next to the empty heads lodged in their asses" for abandoning his show in its hour of need. More »

9:36 AM on Thu Dec 14 2006
By Mark
180 views, 9 comments

Latest by Little Mintz Sunshine: Frankly, I think he looks like Beaker from the Muppet Show...if Beaker were a smug asshole. more »