An amazing show, written and produced by
Aaron Sorkin.
It's a comedy/drama about a third-place late night sports show, called, aptly, "
Sports Night."
The writing is excellent, (Sorkin also writes and produces "
The West Wing," and wrote "
A Few Good Men" and "
The American President") and the cast is first-rate.
The two anchors,
Casey McCall and
Dan Rydell are played by
Peter Krause (also in "
Six Feet Under") and
Josh Charles (also in "Dead Poets Society") respectively. The characters are best friends, and their
inane conversations are great.
Felicity Huffman (excellent actress from
David Mamet's Atlantic Theatre Company) plays Dana, the producer, and
Sabrina Lloyd (also in "Sliders") plays her assistant, Natalie. Dana is a quirky woman, being a graduate of ladies' charm school and having many older brothers who taught her to love sports. Natalie is one of the most energetic and loveable characters, and provides social guidance for the rather
clueless Dana.
Lastly we have Jeremy and Isaac. Jeremy is a great
nerd character, played by Josh Malina (whose best known credits are Sorkin's other movies), who knows all sorts of
obscure information and develops a romantic relationship with Natalie. Isaac, played by
Robert Guillaume (who was
Benson and was a voice in the Lion King), is the managing editor and resident
curmudgeon.
All of the characters have
depth and
humanity, but are also
funny and
loveable. The show moves a lot; like "
ER" and "
West Wing," many of the shots follow people as they go hurriedly about their business. These two factors quickly
suck you in and get you
emotionally invested in the characters' struggles.
It originally aired on ABC, and met with gushing praise from critics, but didn't get particularly good ratings. When ABC let on that it wasn't going to renew the contract,
HBO made motions at picking the series up (which is paralleled by "Sports Night" in the events of the final episodes).
HBO changed their minds at the last minute, so the show disappeared for a while. Thankfully,
Comedy Central has begun airing the old episodes (10:30am and 1:30am ET most weekdays). They have added a
laugh track to some episodes (Boo. It sucks. The show works better without it) and broken up the commercials in different places (sometimes a bit awkward), but it's great to see the show on TV again.
UPDATE:
Yes, I was incorrect, the laugh track was originally in the first few episodes of the show aired on ABC, and not used in the later episodes.
All of Sports Night, both seasons, is now available on DVD. Last I checked, it was only about $50, which is WELL worth it.