Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

"We're all being lobotomized by this country's most influential industry. It's just thrown in the towel on any endeavor to do anything that doesn't include the courting of 12 year-old boys. Not even the smart 12 year-olds, the stupid ones, the idiots. Which there are plenty thanks in no small measure to this network. So why don't you just, change the channel? Turn off the TVs do it right now." -Wes Mendell, Executive Producer Studio 60

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip main cast

Television is a completely new ballgame these days. Networks fill the air with reality shows where contestants eat worms, stay the longest on an islands or live the longest imprisoned in camera filled houses. Scripted shows costs more to produce, quality actors costs salary while reality shows gets fame seekers for free and people still watch the trashy reality shows making them better suited to gain advertiser money.

S60 wasn't afraid to kick off their show by saying so. And by letting Aaron Sorkin loose to follow up his huge The West Wing success with actors like Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet collecting paychecks, they took a high priced dice throw from the get go. S60 didn't have to gain some success to survive. S60 needed to be a killer hit to stand a chance.

Then it doesn't really matter the show is one of the best ever written and performed by quality actors. S60 only got a season, but it's 22 episodes you shouldn't miss out on. You'll easily recognize Sorkin's writing both in the wit and smartness, but also in the way the dialogue drives the drama. It's no doubt one of those shows canceled way to soon, and not because of a lack of quality. It was canceled just because television today is a completely different ballgame.