Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip

Aaron Sorkin is one of my favorite writers, period. He's one of the best dialgoue writers in any medium and he has a brilliant touch with artfully depicting conflict on levels big and small. I loved SportsNight and I basically gave up on The West Wing after he left. This fall, he'll be making a triumphant return to network television with a dramatic series based on the behind-the-scenes workings of a Saturday Night Live-type sketch comedy show called Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip. I was excited enough about this just hearing that it's a Sorkin show...and then I read some of the pilot. Someone was lucky enough to get their hands on several of the audition sides, cobbling together what they could and posting it on line. It's not even the entire episode and it's brilliant. Kudos to NBC for A) giving Sorkin a second chance after showing him the door based on his cost overruns and missed deadlines for West Wing and B) Picking up a show that clearly and openly skewers SNL. Rumor is that Matthew Perry has signed on for a lead role and he'll be perfect for this. It's amazing how Sorkin can write characters so vivid and well-defined that I care about them after just a few pages...but he's done it. I'm dying. I can't wait to see this show.