Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip: The Recap of Recaps

After the jump, you will find (long overdue) short recaps of "The Wrap Party" and "Nevada Day Part 1", followed by a (surprisingly early) longer recap of "Nevada Day Part 2". Enjoy!

• "The Wrap Party": Cal finally gets his own story, though it's not much of one. Instead of attending the wrap party, Cal finds himself looking after an older gentleman who was busted for stealing a photo from the studio. Hmm, didn't Sorkin already do this story for another show? It turns out to have been a blacklisted (yes, that kind of blacklisted) staff writer for the first tv show filmed at studio 60 during WWII. When Matt and Danny find this out, they sit down with the gentleman to pick his brain (hopefully, for better sketch ideas).

  But not before Danny tries to find Matt a girl, and Matt accompanies Simon to the Improv to look at a hot new comedian who could be the a black writer for the show. Why? Maybe Simon feels bad about his old gang, who are off in prison, while he sees South Central from his house up in the Hollywood Hills. Bad enough to hire a guy who trades in that kind of cheap black folks/white folks humor that makes my ears bleed? Thankfully, no. The stand-up is awful, but the guy who follows him, Darius, is not awful. Also a brother, but with a nerdy humor that the Improv audience doesn't respond to. Darius is, however, nerdily adorable in a way that I respond to, over and over again since the episode first aired (thank you, DVR!), so I jump up and down on my couch when Matt hires him as the newest writer for Studio 60.

  Meanwhile, Jordan begins to make friends with Harry, Jeannie, and Samantha. Harry confesses to Jeannie that she nearly kissed Matt. Which, when you think about it, wasn't much of a confession. Also, professional baseball player and Studio 60 host Darren Wells autographs a ball, with his phone number, for Jordan. Does Harry seem surprised? Eh, not so much. Still -- ick.

  Tom has a very Ordinary People kind of vibe with his folks, who are visiting from out of town. They don't seem to care too much for Tom's career, as he has a younger brother in the Air Force, but Tom doesn't let this stop him from sharing with his dad the gift of comedy in the form Abbott & Costello's "Who's On First?" on a 78.




• "Nevada Day Part 1" finds Tom in handcuffs, wearing a dress, in Pahrumpe, Nevada. Tom is in handcuffs because he was ticketed for speeding in the area. Why he was speeding, he won't say, but it's six hours to air time, and the judge (played by everybody's favorite grump, John Goodman) isn't in a mood to be nice.

  From the beginning (chronologically, if not in the sequence in which these scenes were aired): Harry made a comment to the Post's Page Six which sounded as though she were against gay marriage. Which she actually may be, but that's hardly the point. Along with the recent revelation that Jordan is anti-children, per an excerpt from her ex-husband's new book, positive press for NBS is hard to find at the moment. Oh those girls, always getting into trouble. It's almost like "I Love Lucy" only with color and not as funny.

  Harry, out for a meal with Simon and Tom, has to answer to some gay street toughs (for some reason, the opening credits of West Side Story popped up in my head) get up in Harry's face about her comments. As she tries to reason with them, Simon wisely determines that the gay street toughs cannot be reasoned with and gets the three of them away. But not, of course, before Tom shoves one of the gays as he tries to defend Harry.

  Naturally, the gays press charges, and some sympathetic police officers have to arrest Tom. Who is dressed like Jesus and wearing Simon's jacket because dressing like Jesus is a cold, cold business. It should have ended there but there is the outstanding speeding ticket in Pahrumpe, so it's an extraditioning we will go.

  While this is going on, Jack is entertaining Zhang Tao, a Chinese investor who could be NBS's ticket to Macao, as long as Zhang's daughter Kim can meet Tom and get his autograph. Tom is Nevada, of course, so they all hop on the NBS jet to meet him. Also to get him out of the clink.

  Which brings us back to Pahrumpe.So the judge is cranky, to say the least -- it's a state holiday, he's got some Hollywood liberals in front of him, and he's supposed to be somewhere else. Tom is still quiet on why he was speeding in the first place, Danny's feeding updates back to Matt, who may have to rewrite an entire episode. Jack is trying to use his friendship with the governor of Nevada to get them all out, and Simon is telling anyone who will listen that the half-smoked joint in the jacket Tom is wearing is, in fact, totally his.




• "Nevada Day Part 2" opens back at Studio 60, where Matt aka "Exposition Boy" fills in Jeannie, Stephanie, and Dylan on everything that went down in "Nevada Day Part 1". Well, not everything. They don't get to learn why Tom was wearing Simon's coat (like I said, it's cold business playing Jesus) or about the holiday that is, in fact, Nevada Day, but I suppose they'll have to be the poorer for it. Matt will write Tom's sketches for Jeannie, while Dylan will take the Simon's chair for the news. Also, Matt calls Harry a homophobe before kicking her out of his office so he can begin his rewrites. Harry takes her frustration out by punching a wall.

  The wall wins.

  In the hallway, Jordan finds Harry so she can talk her ear off about journalism in Brazil. Apparently, you need a JD and a license. Which I know is supposed to be Aaron Sorkin going "Oh, snap!" to American tabloid journalists, but it falls flat on my ears, me with my subscription to Us Weekly. Harry tries to make a case for her comment about homosexuality, but it still isn't a very good one. If Harry's been famous for as long as she has, shouldn't she know better than to make public comments on such matters to the New York Post? Jordan has a concern about Harry doing concerts for Women United Through Faith, an anti-gay marriage church. Harry won't turn her back on them, as they looked after her after her mom died. Also, isn't Jordan just trying to censor her? Harry feels she is in a position to show that Christianity has a nicer voice than Ann Coulter (how can Ann be a Christian if she is, in fact, teh devil?). Jordan asks her to reconsider in light of recent events. I'm sure Tom would ask her to reconsider, too, being as how he wouldn't be in jail if it weren't for her. Jordan doesn't believe that the media and the American public can make the distinction between Christians like Harry and others like Anita Bryant. Good point, but Harry in kind asks about whether or not Jordan's concern is sincerely just for her. Isn't Jordan thinking of her own negative press of late. True enough, Jordan is not just thinking of Harry: there's the rest of the show, and the entire network, to consider as well.

  Jordan gets a call from Danny, who is still one of the "The Road to Pahrump" players. Danny is confident the judge will let them out soon after a brief call from the governor of Nevada, who is a friend of Jack's (read: Jack is a major contributor to the DNC). Danny wants to talk, though, about excerpts from Jordan's ex-husband's book, which accuses her of: 1. Not liking children, 2. Not wanting children, and 3. Unwilling to hire women who do have children. So she's like me but with a cooler job and smaller pores?

  I kid, I kid.

  Jack's thrown his weight in vain, as the Governor is sensitive about appearing to do special favors for big contributors to his party. Duh. The judge, not without some glee, takes everybody across the road for lunch. At the diner, the judge continues to play the "Is he racist? Or isn't he?" act by questioning Simon about his hair and calling him "Sammy". Simon, gracious to a fault, answers his questions patiently. The judge figures out that the speeding tidcket was the same day as a war protest on Air Force property, and won't hear until he has a prosecutor (on his way from paintball), and until then he can do whatever he wants. Until then, he will eat delicious pie with total glee.

  In the writers room, Darius bugs/flirts maybe with Lucy: who gets called sir? There are no rules, she says distractedly, as she types furiously. Well, Matt, Danny, and Cal get called "sir" as they get closer to broadcast. Which still makes no real sense, but I guess I get it. Darius is still curious: is it a white people thing. Lucy: "I'm not white, Darius, I'm English." Bwahahahahahahaha. Darius tells her to use it.

  Harry and Dylan are rehearsing what sounds like yet another un-funny news sketch when Matt talks to harry about the concerts. He won't tell her not to perform, but he does say he thinks it's dumb. Harry brings up hollywood's lack of morals, to which Matt takes issue: isn't she part of Hollywood, too? And since when eveyrone in Hollywood actually feels the same about anything? Which reminds me of the times non-Asian people would ask me about how Asian people felt about, say, cars, and I'd be all, "Yeah, let me ask them." Seriously, you guys don't even know how funny I am. It seems, though that Harry's insistence was for nought, as she's been disinvited from the shows as she is not intolerant enough. Oh, irony, how I've missed you. Oh, and Dylan doesn't want to do the news, which he's been trying to convince Matt of. I think it's because he doesn't feel comfortable as a not-quite-skinny man, but nobody else seems to have figured this out yet.

  Back in Nevada, the ADA returns from paintball, and so the "trial" can begin. Danny defends Jordan further to Jack, who is enjoying some pie. Hmph. I want pie. Who has pie for me?

  At the studio, Sam and Alex are rehearsing the judgmental visa card sketch. I won't ask why Sam is doing what sounds to me a thick cheesy Chinesey accent as the operator. It just makes me sad. Dylan doesn't want to do the news for the exact reason I gave above -- Matt pretends to buy it, then gives Jeannie the go-ahead to coo at Dylan about wanting to see him in a sharp dark blue suit. Dylan, suitably jazzed, agrees to do the news, and goes back to being the secondary character of the week.

  Jordan clarifies her remarks to Wilson White: it's not that she didn't want to have children ever, she just didn't want to have them with her ex. Wilson, typically inscrutable masquerading as wise, replies that while content may be king, distribution pays the king's mortgatge. Why get all worked up about NBS, which makes comparatively little money for parent company TMG? NBS will always be the public face of TMG. Wilson doesn't care that Jordan doesn't want to comment in the hopes of killing the story honestly -- she just has to make it stop.

  The ADA goes over all the charges, even the gay assault charges from LA. Jack mouths off and is about to be arrested for contempt when the judge asks to see tom's wrist. Tom wears a cuff bearing the name of his brother, Jark, who is a staff sergeant stationed at the nearby Air Force base. The judge, in Jessica Fletcher mode (though he compares himself to Agatha Christie... or was it Miss Marple?) deduces that Tom was caught speeding, but not from an earlier war protest (yeah, I kinda lost that small thread in this episode) but to the base to visit his brother. Tom didn't want to use his brother to get him out of trouble. Which is honorable, but could have saved them a lot of grief. The judge and deputy are touched by this, so all charges are dropped for tom, simon, and jack and everybody is free to go back to LA on the corporate jet where chicken caesar salad is on the menu.

  While on the jet, Jack manages to keep Kim from reading a story about Jordan in the tabloid by dispatching Tom to talk to her. He does not, however, keep her from getting the news on her Blackberry once they land and arrive back at the studio. When Zhang brings this up, mentioning a lack of honor, Jack lights into him, yelling at him to take his business to Time Warner when Jordan and Tom have done nothing but show honor. At which point, Kim and Zhang crack up -- Kim mistranslated her father's comments. Zhang actually commented that it was her ex-husband who was dishonorable for making all this public in the first place.

  Oh. Chicken caesar salad for you?

  Lucy makes an eleventh hour pitch to Matt: a parody of the classic board game "Operation" where a single girl gets picked apart by some men. Take her dreams! Her self-esteem. Matt correctly deduces that Lucy just broke up with her boyfriend. Lucy crumples in his arms, gasping until Danny returns and kicks her and Darius out of the office. Danny exits after Harry comes in to talk to Matt again. She starts talking about a simple life, but her coments simply trigger an argument about civil rights. But the important point is that all this time Matt was really just pissed because it was Tom and not him who got to protect Harry.

  That's kinda chivalrous in a chauvinist sort of way, but still: aw. Is Matt crazy about Harriet, or just plain crazy?