What would happen if network television were to broadcast a comedy lacking a zany neighbor, precocious pre-teen, fat husband/beautiful wife visual dissonance, or all the other sitcom tropes? Well, Aaron Sorkin tried in 1998, and the answer was, "pppppptttt! down the tubes!" So long, Sports Night. Though critically-acclaimed, this fast-paced workplace sitcom disappeared after just two seasons on ABC despite frantic campaigning by fans and a potential white knight deal from HBO. That probably makes it the best sitcom you never watched...


Set at a fictional ESPN-style studio, Sports Night was as witty and smart a comedy as ever came down the pike; which quite possibly contributed to its early demise. This sharp ensemble "dramedy" featured sexual tension between on-air talent Casey (Peter Krause, Six Feet Under) and his semi-neurotic producer Dana (Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives), plus a workplace romance between the earnest Natalie (Sabrina Lloyd, Numbers) and übersportsnerd Jeremy (Joshua Malina, West Wing). Other keys to onscreen chemistry were the close relationship between Casey and co-anchor Danny (Josh Charles, Dead Poets Society), and the youngsters' avuncular father figure, Isaac (Robert Guillaume, Soap).

Through Sports Night, his first television series, Sorkin fine-tuned several of the verbal and visual techniques he would later put to award-winning use in The West Wing. He also "auditioned" talent he would use later; including Malina, Huffman, Lisa Edelstein, and Janel Moloney; along with theme-music composer W. Snuffy Walden. In another precursor to TWW, Sports Night frequently addressed topical but touchy subjects; including steroid use by Dana's football-player bother, African-American athletes and the Confederate flag, and Natalie's sexual harassment by a professional athlete.

Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme (later executive producer of TWW) created this fast-paced cross between sitcom and drama in a format based on rapid-fire dialogue interspersed with extended monologues. A classic example is the manner in which Dan and Casey open each night's recap; trading punchy sports one-liners and "film at eleven" lead-ins. Outside of that brief segment, however; references to minutiae across a broad range of topics (not merely sports) are common, another similarity to TWW. Visually, Schlamme used Sports Night to perfect his trademark "walk-n-talk," in which a camera tags along as action and dialogue transition from one setting to another.


Several of the show's classic episodes are built around its guest stars. One three-show arc found Jeremy (Malina), who'd broken up with Natalie, wondering over why the woman he'd just met looks so familiar. Turns out his new friend, Jenny (Paula Marshall), is a porn star... Then there's the consultant brought in to retool the faltering show (apparently art imitating life, as the show itself was faltering): hardass Sam Donovan is played by William H. Macy (ER, Huffman's real-life husband). In another case of art imitating life, when Guillaume suffered a stroke in season one the writers wrote the same event for his character to explain Isaac's extended absence.

Buena Vista released all forty-four regular-season episodes plus the pilot on this six-disk set. The disks have no interviews, outtakes, alternative endings, or any other of the usual accoutrements of DVDs; and no package inserts or fancy stickers. Me, I don't care.


Thus concluded the short life of one of television's most ground-breaking comedies. Some have surmised that the word "sports" in the title may have been part of the problem: diehard sports fans were disappointed by the lack of reference to real-life sports events and the rare cameos by name stars; non-sports fans may have shied away because that's what they expected, too. Still others guess that the show simply failed to play to the least common denominator; with most of the jokes going well over the sitcom audience's heads. Even though sandwiched between ratings leaders Dharma and Greg and NYPD Blue when it premiered, Sports Night never raked in the big ratings. Plagued by pre-emption and schedule shifts throughout its second season, the show drifted out of the public consciousness and into the sitcom graveyard. Alas, more's the pity.



At 661 words, this qualifies as an entry in the Lean-n-Mean VI entry.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older