I am – Hercules!!
The last six new episodes of Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip” take over the Thursday 10 p.m. “ER” slot effective tonight. When NBC announced its fall schedule last week, “Studio 60” was not on it. If you're hoping these last six installments might garner big numbers and precipitate a last-minute reprieve, I wouldn't hold your breath. According to this interesting piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the series' massive multimillion dollar set on the Warner Bros. lot has already been demolished. An amusing excerpt from Rob Owen’s article:

"This show does not have a comic premise, and I think that has juked perception a little bit," said [series star Bradley] Whitford, noting that "Studio 60" is different from many other TV dramas. "It's a stakes adjustment. Almost every other show at 10 o'clock is not only about crime, it's about semen-splattered corpses and children burned. ... We're gonna show the struggle of something not lurid or agonizing but of putting on something creative."

And an enlightening excerpt from the same:

NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said that all the company's executives were on board with the renewal of low-rated critical favorites "30 Rock" and "Friday Night Lights," but "Studio 60" received "frankly, a mixed response from many of us. Some of us loved it, some got frustrated with it. It just felt like the show had kind of run its course and there was no more upside to be had."

I hope I’m wrong, but something tells me this could be the last TV series for Sorkin, who made his name writing big-screen projects like “A Few Good Men” and “The American President” before moving on to create network fare like “Sports Night” and “The West Wing.” He’ll probably go back to writing movies, or maybe for the stage, the original spawning ground for “A Few Good Men.” Here’s how NBC describes tonight’s episode, titled “The Disaster Show”:

Allison Janney ("The West Wing") guest hosts the show that goes haywire when the propmasters and cue card workers stage a last minute wildcat strike. Bradley Whitford, Steven Weber, D.L. Hughley, Sarah Paulson, Timothy Busfield and Nathan Corddry also star.

What NBC is not telling us is whether or not the ubiquitous Kari Matchette (“Invasion,” “24,” “Civic Duty”) returns also. In the last “Studio 60,” she seemed to emerge as a potential new love interest for head writer Matt Albie (Matthew Perry). We don’t seem to be getting early “Studio 60” reviews from Canada any longer, but we might put up posts for the final five episodes – if the size of the talkbacks warrant. 10 p.m. Thursday. NBC.

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