It might be from Aaron Sorkin. It might have a star-studded cast. It might have characters constantly going on about how, if you write a quality show, the US public will watch it. But Studio 60 really isn’t doing at all well in the ratings. Currently, it’s about third or fourth in its time slot, with ratings dropping 15% from last week’s episode to 7.8 million (or in ratings talk, 3.1/8 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall).
It’s up against the jaw-droppingly stupid CSI: Miami (is it possible for David Caruso to have had Botox for his acting muscles?) so it’s undergoing a real-world empirical test of its own philosophy. Unfortunately, its theories are wrong: when the US public are presented with glossy, sexy, exciting but stupid versus well-written, wordy, intelligent but preachy drama, they’ll plump for the Caruso-bot every time, it seems.
No word from NBC about what’s going to happen to Studio 60, although there are various words being muttered about the quality of the viewers being just as important as the quantity: Studio 60 is delivering the same kind of people as The West Wing, who are generally smarter, richer, etc than the CSI: Miami crowd (ie everyone else). All the same, keep your fingers crossed and don’t be surprised if Studio 60 becomes Studio 13 episodes only.
