Starchy and poignant

One of my favorite tv shows was Sports Night, which was set behind the scenes at an ESPN-like cable channel in NYC. It was my first exposure to Aaron Sorkin and his brand of snappy, almost-sappy-yet-usually-just-right-writing, that at its best on Sports Night (and later the West Wing) melds the feel of reality shows with thoughtful story arcs.

Sorkin was still evolving his style, and I think West Wing was a better stage for his ability to leaven the big moments every tv show or movie depends on with the texture of interesting patter about the mundane.

But you might be surprised at how naturally and well major social issues arise and are played out within Sports Night... unless of course you're a sports fan, in which case you already know all about the sports page being a microcasm of the rest of the paper.

This particular episode--via the magic of YouTube (which already brings up 31,700 hits on Google)--has, among many things, one of my favorite lines of any tv or movie, ever. It comes near the end of the third clip.

As long as I'm recommending tv shows, if you've ever wondered what life at a big-city newspaper can be like, check out Bravo's new reality show, Tabloid Wars, which was shot last summer as they followed some New York Daily News reporters and editors around.

The News has a very particular personality, but it's a revealing look at how some top-notch journalists go about their jobs... and ought to be required viewing for conspiracy theorists and anyone else who speaks of the 'news media' as a collective.



Parts 2 and 3 of the episode, also broken up into 7-minute clips, are at this user's page