Back in the late 1990s, the popularity of the Internet and cable TV was making vast changes in how many areas of pop culture were viewed. One of the major benefactors of this boom was sports, as ESPN rose to become the leader in coverage and analysis. Because of the popularity of its signature series, SportsCenter, it seemed only natural that a fictional television show profiling the same circumstances would come on air. Aaron Sorkin, who, until 1998, was known for writing the stage and screenplays of A Few Good Men and then The American President, was given a chance to create a watercooler sitcom for ABC called Sports Night.
Sports Night was about a cable sports network, CSC, still in its infancy, but more about its signature highlight show, one with the eponymous title. It featured two well known anchors on the desk, Casey McCall (Peter Krause) and Dan Rydell (Josh Charles). In the control room, the show was run by Executive Producer Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman), who had her top assistants Natalie Hurley (Sabrina Lloyd) and Jeremy Goodwin (Joshua Malina). The show was presided over by Managing Editor Isaac Jaffe (Emmy winner Robert Guillaume). The rest of the cast was filled with quirky crew members as well as outside personalities that contended with the stars' professional lives.
It's been a show that has been described as one "ahead of its time". Or one that "couldn't find its place". This seems to be the case. In the first season, there is the presence of a laugh track but the show isn't that funny. Its humor lies in the personalities of its characters, their tendencies and motives. There aren't too many comical bits of dialogue, and premises designed to create laughs seem too contrived. But the fact that this show was labeled a sitcom didn't stop Sorkin from gradually moving its heart into the everyday hopes and fears of its characters.
Somewhere near the end of the first season, the laugh track was phased out. It becomes a dramedy, a word that has been given plenty of meaning in television in the last few years. Shows like Weeds have lived on that fine line between drama and comedy. Sports Night did so as well in its second season. It plays for drama in a way that makes me believe it could've been better off as an hour long show.
In the first season, the major threads of the show were the romantic relationships between several characters. The long-standing feelings between Casey and Dana dominate their interactions. Casey has recently been divorced. And just when he might have a chance with his friend of several years, Dana begins dating lawyer Gordon (Ted McGinley). So Casey has a physical relationship with Dana's work rival Sally (Brenda Strong). However, this comes to a head when Casey discovers that Gordon and Sally have also had a fling behind Dana's back. In a way, this relationship was at the core of 1990s sitcoms. Shows like Friends lived with Ross & Rachel, the back and forth drama, within this tight knit group of colleagues.
In the second season, there is a major shift in the context of this relationship. After an initial passionate kiss between the two in "Special Powers" (Episode 2.01), Dana puts a caveate that they should date others in six months so as not to use this as a rebound. Casey protests for several episodes, lamenting that he wants to be with her until he meets the self-titled woman (Meagan Ward) in "A Girl Named Pixley" (Episode 2.09). Casey & Dana's relationship becomes one of lost opportunity. Casey gives up on Dana, maybe in someway realizing that Dana likes being chased more than being caught. Their friendship remains intact, but it's never the way it was in Season 1. I have to believe Sorkin's strong motivation was to take the tried and true "boy chases girl" sitcom formula and saying "Fuck it". He would do the same thing in Studio 60 with Matt and Harriet until giving them a proper reunion in the final episode.
The other major romance in Season 1 was between spunky Natalie and nerdy Jeremy. And Jeremy was always nerdy in that way that guys ARE nerdy. I have never liked the "Seth Cohen nerdy" where they make a relatively good-looking guy with no real faults and tell us he is an outcast, and therefore, he is. Jeremy knows a lot about a lot of things, but Natalie often keeps him guessing. After a season and a half, their relationship takes a stunning turn when Jeremy tires of her need "to be cool". She wants to have fun at clubs and in public and he's content with going home and watching Conan O'Brien every night after work.
They break up in "Dana Get Your Gun" (Episode 2.13), and for a time, Jeremy gets his own storyline. He meets adult film star Jenny (Paula Marshall) in "Celebrities" (Episode 2.15) and after a delay due to the fact that she has sex on camera, they begin a relationship. It isn't meant to last. You see, Jeremy is human and as much as people say that they aren't ashamed of someone, talk is cheap. When Jenny wants to visit the set on the day of the NFL Draft in "Draft Day" Parts 1 & 2 (Episodes 2.17-18), Jeremy panics about telling others (including Natalie) what she does for a living. She goes along with the plan, but Jeremy ultimately relents. He promises her that he can get over it eventually. But "eventually" can seem like a long time off when you want acceptance now. Jenny ends things there, knowing that Jeremy just can't handle that her life plan got off-track and put her in her present spot, but it's not something she is ashamed of.
It seems like that I've spent a large amount of time on aspects of a show that I said were phased out in Season 2. The reality of the situation is that the entire season has a mentality of "what does the future hold" for the show within the show. It's made clear from the beginning of the series that CSC and Sports Night are a distant third behind ESPN and FOX. Things aren't helped when patriarch Isaac has a stroke offscreen (to accomodate Guillaume's own stroke in real life) near the end of Season 1. Guillaume and Isaac returns at the end of the season but for most of Season 2, he's in a limited role. Dana is forced to take the brunt of the lagging ratings.
One of the other major storylines in Season 2 is the introspection of Dan. For the first seaon, he was seen as a lovable, goofy ladies man. He briefly dates market analyst Rebecca (Teri Polo) until she returns to her estranged husband in hopes of rebuilding her marriage. However the building blocks of Dan's personality are seen even as early as "The Apology" (Episode 1.02), where he tells the story of his younger brother's drug-related death on air. Dan's relationship with his father, strained, becomes a source of torment. He begins to see a psychiatrist named Abby (Jayne Brook), even while stating he doesn't need therapy and constantly intent on ending their work relationship. The truth is he does. In a way, we all do. He buries things deep within him, until they have to come rushing to the surface.
After Casey is named the 92nd most powerful person in sports, and Dan is absent from the list, it festers within him until he snaps and sets up Casey to look bad on-air in "Draft Day Part 2" (Episode 2.18). Dan and Casey's relationship, long since the strongest on the show, becomes incredibly weak. Friends fight because they are still responsible for their own feelings and personalities. It's a matter of putting it behind you and moving on as to whether or not the friendship can survive. Dan's attempt to immediately make amends struggles to get off the ground, but Casey eventually forgives him. They've been through too much in their years together not to.
Season 2 marks the appearance of ratings analyst Sam Donovan (Huffman's real life husband, William H. Macy). Sam is brash, unapologetic and good at what he does. He ruffles Dana's feathers, often changing the format of the show moments before air, and causing her to fear that she isn't in charge. But he also stands down network executives who wish to replace Isaac, and does what he says he would: help the show gain ratings. Eventually, Dana realizes she has feelings for Sam, an oil and water relationship in some ways, just as he leaving to start his next assignment. It's this storyline that shows how much Dana fights for the show, as she refuses to back down from the network brass or take other job offers that would let her flee a sinking ship.
Because the ship is sinking. CSC's financial woes becomes the story in the final episodes. The future is unclear and though things are saved at the last moment, the theme that this is a third ranked show that is leaps and bounds behind its two major competitors but continues to defy odds, was in some ways, what Sorkin must have been feeling off camera. There is a line near the end of the final episode that is said by CSC's new owner: "Anybody who can't make money off Sports Night should get out of the money-making business". Perhaps that was Sorkin's final statement to ABC as he rode off to start The West Wing.
Things I liked:
~ concise storylines: I am a fan of sitcoms that choose to follow storylines as opposed to randomly moving from event to event, week to week (Seinfeld is a big exception); life can be filled with storylines if we choose to look at it that way, so why not sitcoms?
~ moving Dan beyond his personality: he started out as one thing and ended up having to examine his own flaws in order to keep his relationships intact; between his relationship with his father and Casey, Dan has to find a balance between real life and whimsy
~ the end of Casey & Dana: I never bought into their relationship as something romantic; it worked better as a strong friendship because the hoops that Casey is forced to jump through are ridiculous
~ background characters: Sorkin has an ability to populate his shows with background characters who can be more appealing than some of his featured players; I'll be honest, some of my favorite buried moments are the sexual tension between Dan and associate producer Kim (Kayla Blake), just as it was in Studio 60 between Matt and Jeannie as well as The West Wing between Sam and Ginger
Things I didn't like:
~ the six month rule storyline: this just made me want to ram my head into a wall; I don't get how people come up with these things but they happen; I just don't get how if you like someone and they like you, why wait?; I get that the end game is that Casey finally "gets over" Dana, but the constant wait for that moment felt like torture
~ Natalie's personality: she's spunky, yes, but annoying even more so; when Jeremy finally ends things with her, it's a chance for both characters to move forward in their lives; Jeremy has to examine how his decisions affect others while Natalie tries to decide whether to stay at CSC or move her career forward in other avenues; however, they end up like they had been for so long, in each other's arms
Episode to watch: The Local Weather (Episode 2.16)
Episode to avoid: Louise Revisited (Episode 2.04)
Season MVP: Josh Charles as Dan
Season Grade: B (a lot of promise but some of the storyline gaps, such as Jeremy & Jenny, Dana having feelings for Sam, aren't fleshed out in a way I would've liked)
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