I’ve just finished watching the last episode, man this show is addictive. It’s wonderful from start to finish and I’m not just saying that, coincidentally, however, it is now available in the My Two Cents Store. Seriously, buy it, I just did and I loved every minute!
Click on the link below to visit the store.
Ok, over the last couple of weeks I started watching Fox’s “The Loop” staring Bret Harrison (before he was in Reaper) and I’ll be honest, after watching the first season (7 episodes) I knew I 
wasn’t going to write about it because it just didn’t deserve it and here is why:
Primarily because it was made in 2006, there were only 17 episodes, total, across 2 series, Bret Harrison has gone on to do better things, Fox cancelled the show before the second season even aired and there are a ton of better examples of this kind of show.
If you don’t know the show, Bret plays a young airport exec called Sam. He has a crush on a girl called Piper, she doesn't realise. He attempts to balance his homelife, lovelife and worklife and succeeds with a miraculous 100% track record.
Each episode follows the same format. A problem is presented, Sam makes it worse, then he pulls it out of the bag at the last 
second. This format grew exceptionally tedious!
There are many more things to hate about the show. Phillip Baker Hall is straining so hard for laughs that you just want to feed him laxatives. His character is a poor imitation of Dr. Kelso from Scrubs, right down to the gay son. I don't think I laughed at him once. Amanda Loncar, who plays Sam’s love interest is terrible in 
this show. Even Bret is bad at times, with the show often relying on bad slapstick comedy for laughs.
There is however one saving grace and that is Joy Osmanski who plays Sam’s deadpan assistant Darcy. She is truly inspired and her character definitely needs supplanting into a new sitcom.
Now I watched the first seven episodes so it couldn’t be all bad and it isn't. There are plenty of laughs along the way but as I said, the love story thing and the young exec trying to succeed have all been done before and done better. Ross and Rachel, J.D and Elliot, it’s old hat but it’s old hat that has learnt to say “Bi-atch” and is wearing a gold medallion and that just doesn't work.
So, I said I wasn’t going to write about it, but clearly I am, why? Because something exceptionally strange happened to season 2.
They cut two of the main cast for a start! Piper and her room mate Lizzy, both gone, with no explanation. This takes a little while to adjust to and you find it hard to forgive the show for this, but it was the right decision, effectively they scrubbed the 1st season 
and pretended it never happened and it’s all the better for it.
With Piper gone the show shifts its focus to Sam’s job at the airport. Little changes here, except that Darcy gets a bigger role (she is awesome, pitch perfect every time.) and a whole new cast of office characters are introduced, including Sikander the muslim-esk character who is constantly pounced on by security despite working at the airline. The character of Sam’s brother Sully is relegated to the sidelines as the show attempts to work 
out exactly what to do with him, coming up with improbable ways for him to be involved in Sam’s work life.
The show still suffers from “Playing for Laughs” syndrome and it fails to get away from the slapstick element but it does begin to take brave steps in other directions. The copies of episodes I watched had to be censored for language and hand gestures with a viewer advisory notice before each one. The jokes become quite cutting and edgy (but not, unfortunately, cutting edge.) and you feel your politically correct centre welling up on the inside screaming “You can’t say that.” but on outside you’re laughing your socks off.
And that is the problem, the writers and producers took a standard “Boy Likes Girl” comedy and tried to turn it into something else. They make jokes about Tv Networks, even Fox, (the guys paying the bill). They make incredibly racist remarks. They make jokes about religion and sexual preference. It’s all very brave and some of it is quite funny, but in the end it is just too brave in all the wrong places. They would have done better to 
start over with a totally new concept, rather than use an existing platform and try and re-write it.
And so, while it remains an enjoyable 17 episodes, The Loop was always destined to end before it could take off. My recommendation? Watch season 2, have a laugh, worry if it’s PC. then consign it history and go watch Reaper…
This has been My Two Cents… keeping you in the Loop!
Ok, so I know what you’re thinking, we’ve been waiting a month for this, it better be damn good! I make no promises. So 
here we go, the pilot for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Ok so, Studio 60 is a show about a failing comedy sketch show, whose executive producer finally snaps and airs some home truths live on air. Meanwhile a new network exec, Jordan, is hired to help save the failing network, beginning with its flagship comedy sketch show Studio 60.
Wes is quickly fired for his outburst and Jordan needs new talent to save the show, so she turns to Matt Albie and Danny Tripp.
The two writers used to work for the show but they “left”, now their feelings are hurt and they don’t feel like helping Jordan out, 
except that, predictably, they end up not getting much of a choice…
That’s the basic premise but I didn’t care about any of that, I tuned in for one reason and that was… Matthew Perry. Perry is a comic genius, he was the best thing about Friends and he was a great lead in films such as Three to Tango (mmm… Neve Campbell) and Fools Rush In (mmm… Salma Hayek), his guest appearance in Scrubs was side-splittingly funny and so, needing a new Perry fix, I turned on to Studio 60.
With that in mind I found myself, for the first twenty minutes (of a 46 minute pilot) frustratedly awaiting Matt’s appearance and I can’t be the only one. Obviously this is only a problem in the pilot but still it feels like a long time and I couldn’t really feel involved in the show until Mr. Perry showed up. This is true of all Tv and Film, knowing who is in it before hand can ruin your expectations 
for the show before you even turn it on.
So while I was waiting for Perry I missed the beautiful interplay between Amanda Peet’s character Jordan and the studio execs. This, in particular, is well done, I love the politics involved, the way that the network deals with things and the way that fresh-faced Jordan deliberately disobeys them. And as you watch her in action you can’t help thinking “If Fox had had a Jordan McDeere Firefly would still be on the air”
And that, I guess, is a fatal flaw. The truth is I doubt Jordan would survive five minutes in the world of Television Networks, a business that is ultimately controlled by which capitalist donates the most money during an ad-break. If we take The Tv Set as a fantasy example, we see that Jordan is the exact opposite of the traditional Tv Network Exec as depicted by Sigourney Weaver in that film. Instead of destroying the writers, caging their dreams and limiting their freedoms, she sets Albie and Tripp free. She 
even ends the pilot episode by ordering them to open their first show with the sketch that got Wes fired.
And it is that fantasy world, that imaginary character of Jordan McDeere, that fascinates me, that will keep me coming back to this show week after week. I can’t wait to watch her as she walks the fine line between satisfying the network and keeping on the talent she desperately wants to work with, Albie and Tripp.
The second problem I had with Studio 60 was that it’s not funny… I will qualify this, I’m not saying it is unfunny, but it is not the rip-roaring barrel of laughs I was expecting from a show with Matthew Perry. It makes you smile now and then, during his Chandler-esk (or should we call them Perry-esk) moments but it is not a laugh out loud show. Which is odd, because at its heart Studio 60 is not about Network rules and regs and board 
meetings, its about a comedy show and specifically two comedy writers.
I wouldn’t go as far to say that the creator Aaron Sorkin was deliberately avoiding jokes, but I think he was trying to avoid turning this intelligent idea into a farce. At one point Danny turns to Matt and says “You dont need me, you could get someone good.” Matt replies “I don’t want someone else, I want you.” Danny points out. “The joke was, I dont want someone good, I want you.” Matt offhandedly replies “I know where the joke was.” This I believe was a nod from Sorkin to let us know that he "”knows” where the jokes are and they will be a lot more subtle and a lot less clichéd than you may be used to.
Finally, I have one last pet peeve and that is the device that is used to propel the script along, the unseen sketch. At the top of the show we are told a sketch has been cut, we are told how excellent it is throughout the show until it closes with a promise of it being finally used, but we, the audience, never actually get to see it.
Naturally this is better than us seeing it because it would never live up to the hype, after all this sketch got Wes fired, but because of this you know way in advance that you will never see it and it is just a device to drive the plot. The payoff of the plotline, in fact, is not as you may expect that the sketch 
eventually gets used, but that instead is the reveal that it was written by Matt Albie.
All that said then the show has weak plot devices that we can see coming a mile off, it’s not funny and it has mystical characters we know don't exist in Tv Network Land. If all that is true, why did I bother to write this? Why slave away making it pretty with screen shots? Why will I watch episode 2 the moment I close this browser?
Why? Because this is an intelligent show with promise. It challenges the corporate world of Television. It offers us hope in a time when our favourite shows are under attack (Chuck, Reaper, The Unit, Dollhouse), it’s attractive (Amanda Peet) and quirky (Matthew Perry) and it was cancelled by NBC and they nearly cancelled Chuck in favour of Jay Leno, so clearly it’s got to be excellent!
This has been My Very Delayed Two Cents… Come back soon!
Don’t know how I missed this but while checking what date new shows start next month I discov
ered that CBS has cancelled the special forces show, The Unit. Now, I was sure I read a couple of months back that season 5 had been green lighted so I was rather confused at this news but I could find nothing to contradict this so it looks like Snake Doc, Dirt Diver, Betty Blue and Cool Breeze have Walked the Fire for the last time.
For me this is a huge shame, although I spent much of the time being confused by the politics and military-speak of the show I still loved it. Season 3, cut short by the writers strike, was excellent and although Season 4 had some weaker storylines, s
uch as the love affair and subsequent marriage of unit regular Charles ‘Betty Blue’ Grey, it was still exciting enough to keep me coming back week after week.
Without giving anything away, the final set of episodes which introduced Sam “Whiplash” McBride were both exciting and deep, however the final episode of the season was a little deflated and that is a shame for this show to go out like that. However, that flatness left The Unit in the perfect position to be transferred to film or a series of Tv Movies. What do I mean? There wasn’t a messy cliffhanger to resolve, but there were clear paths that the show could go in. The characters are well developed enough to take to film, but uncomplicated enough so as to draw in a new audience as well as old. The subject matter of the show is defiantly 
film worthy and the calibre of the acting is certainly better than most features I’ve seen of late.
Would anyone be interested in picking this show up as a film franchise? That is a question I can’t answer but we know the audience for war films is out there (just look at the success of Rambo 4 – Although some of that is due to the over-the-top gore that I abhorred) as well as the thirst for good scripts and great acting.
Whatever the case I wish David Mamet all the best and I hope to see Dennis Haysbert and the gang soon!
This has been My Sad Two Cents on the passing of another great show…
