SPORTS NIGHT NEEDS YOUR HELP

By Mike Thompson

In two of my columns this year, I mentioned how ABC’s Sports Night is a critical hit that unfortunately has not caught on with the viewers. A few weeks ago, it dawned on me that I have never actually reviewed Sports Night in a column. I mean, I can complain all I want about how few people watch the show, but unless I officially recommend it, how can people know they should watch it? So, I decided to sit down and write a column endorsing Sports Night. Then I discovered that ABC had taken the show off the air for the month of February. I can’t really tell people they should watch a show if I know that it’s currently unavailable for them to watch. So I waited, and filled my time with reviewing other shows. Well, effective February 29th, Sports Night was back on the air. Now I can weigh in with my opinion: it’s a pretty darn good show.

For those of you who don’t know, here’s a quick low-down: Sports Night is really a show-within-a-show. It deals with the off-camera lives of the staff and crew of the fictional sports news show "Sports Night." Co-anchors Dan Rydell (played by Josh Charles) and Casey McCall (Peter Krause) are also best friends. "Sports Night" producer Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman) has a romantic interest in Casey. Associate producers Natalie Hurley (Sabrina Lloyd) and Jeremy Goodwin (Joshua Malina) are romantically involved. Executive producer Isaac Jaffe (Robert Guillaume) is the wise elder statesman, and the staff regularly goes to him for advice.

Sports Night is not your standard sitcom. Yes, it’s a half-hour show, but it’s really a comedy-drama, or "dramedy," if you will. The main emphasis is on drama, which is a good thing, since drama is what Sports Night does best. However, the show’s status as a dramedy may be one of the reasons why it hasn’t caught on yet with the viewing public. A successful half-hour dramedy is a rare sight in television (remember Hooperman? The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd?). It would be a shame if Sports Night doesn’t catch on. Its writing is wonderful. Yes, the writing has been a bit more uneven this season than it was last season (due to series creator—and head writer—Aaron Sorkin doing double duty this year on NBC’s The West Wing), but it’s still great. The characters are fleshed out very well, and you find yourself caring about them. The rapid-fire dialogue on Sports Night is also great, if sometimes a little too rapid-fire (occasionally, you want less talk and more action).

If you’re expecting Seinfeld-ian sized laughs, don’t tune in to Sports Night; like I said, the show is not the standard sitcom, and drama is what it does best anyway. But if you want an extremely intelligent television show, then definitely tune in. And tune in soon. The show is not doing well in the ratings, and ABC may very well cancel it. That would be a shame, since intelligent network television should always be cherished. Sports Night airs Tuesday nights on ABC (Channel 10 here at Marist) from 9:30-10:00. Definitely give this show a chance. It deserves it, and it needs your support.