OK, while that 'verse connection may be cool, the big, amazing news is the addition of Brad Whitford to the cast! Bwahahaha! SO excited for this show!

Knuckleball | March 01, 06:43 CET

Ok, so Miss Isringhausen is now a christian fundamentalist?

My head spins with the thought. (It's the PAX!)

I'm so biting my tongue right now, purely because of the lines I SO want to quote right now. What range! Give that woman an award. ANY award. No sarcasm intended anywhere, believe me.

"I wish I had five of you." ~ Al Swearengen

Willowy | March 01, 07:13 CET

Man I loved Sarah in American Gothic... "Someone's at the door!!" GREAT series.

Mort | March 01, 09:45 CET

Oooh, I love Brad Whitford! I'm really interested in this show.

electricspacegirl | March 01, 10:28 CET

Me too! Simply can't wait for this one. I mean, Aaron Sorkin, and an absolutely killer cast...I'm very much there :-)

GVH | March 01, 11:51 CET

AICN says she's "the show-within-the-show’s star cast member". I guess she could be both that AND a Christian fundamentalist...

jam2 | March 01, 11:55 CET

I cannot stop re-watching the West Wing from S1 to S6, once I get to the end, I start all over again. So yeah, very much looking forward to this show and happy about Whitford joining. I hope more WW cast joins or guests.

Caroline | March 01, 14:30 CET

Man I loved Sarah in American Gothic... "Someone's at the door!!" GREAT series.

Oh my. I'd never made the connection. It's HER!

gossi | March 01, 14:58 CET

Really, gossi? I have to say that i recognised Sarah the very first time that i watched Serenity.

But then given the fact that American Gothic is one of my all time favourite television series (despite only lasting a single season) and that i've watched it at least a couple of dozen times from start to finish i guess her face would be quite familiar to me! :)

Buffysmglover | March 01, 15:09 CET

For some reason I have a mental block/retardation which means I'm convinced the girl in American Gothic is Juliet Lewis. I've no idea why.

gossi | March 01, 15:12 CET

Trust me, having read the pilot script, this show is going to be brilliant. And Sarah has plucked herself a wonderful part.

Of course, we know that the show will be good because it's Aaron Sorkin, and Aaron Sorkin is an unbridled genius.

Andy Dufresne | March 01, 15:36 CET

Sorkin's dialogue is very distinctive. Has a wonderful rhythmic feel to it. If I closed my eyes when I watched early episodes of West Wing, I could have been listening to Sports Night.

Simon | March 01, 15:39 CET

Speaking of Sports Night... isn't Felicity Huffman guest starring in the first episode of Studio 60?

Knuckleball | March 01, 15:51 CET

Yes she is. At least as of now, but the part could easily be any other celebrity. Much like SNL has weekly celebrity host, so has Studio 60.

[ edited by Andy Dufresne on 2006-03-01 14:13 ]

Andy Dufresne | March 01, 16:13 CET

My DVR is already experiencing hunger pains waiting for this show.

rbt | March 01, 16:32 CET

Really, Caroline? I've heard so many terrible things about the Sorkin-less years, that I stopped Netflixing it after Season 4 - I was worried the dropoff in quality would be too extreme. I love those first 4 seasons. Should I give the later years a try too?
I'm also very much looking forward to Studio 60.

acp | March 01, 17:53 CET

CAN'T WAIT for this, especially stoked with Brad joining the cast. acp - fwiw, while it stumbles without Sorkin, there is still some good to be found. If you can get past the first couple eps it starts to pick up a bit. Its decent with occasional shining moments... admittedly, with Sorkin, it was brilliant with frequent jaw-dropping. I haven't seen any of S6 yet, except one ep, which was almost Sorkin-y in its goodness and I'm told S6 is much better than S5 overall. This reminds me that I need to rewatch Sports Night again as well. Yum.

zeitgeist | March 01, 18:16 CET

My wife is a huge fan of 'The West Wing' and has watched the various seasons nearly as many times as I've watched 'Buffy'. I tend to dip in and out on an infrequent basis, but I can tell you that although she definitely missed the Sorkin touch in the later seasons she still really enjoys them and thinks there is much to admire.

alien lanes | March 01, 18:42 CET

I stopped watching The West Wing about 5 episodes into s5. Once the s4 cliff hanger had been resolved I decided I wasn't liking the characters without Sorkin. I have heard plenty of good things about s6 and do intend to try and get back into it some point.

Paul_Rocks | March 01, 19:21 CET

Really, Caroline? I've heard so many terrible things about the Sorkin-less years, that I stopped Netflixing it after Season 4 - I was worried the dropoff in quality would be too extreme.

Well, yeah, the first four are the best, but 5 and 6 are watchable. When the WW equivalent of the Scoobies start falling apart it becomes less enjoyable, but then I had the same problem with BtVS.

I tried Sports Night, but couldn't get into it as much - I did watch all the episodes.

Caroline | March 01, 19:27 CET

I see that Amanda Peet is also starring in this show. She and Sarah Paulson worked together before on Jack and Jill.

Eden | March 01, 19:57 CET

Re: TWW, add me to the list of people who stopped buying the DVDs after S4. Under Wells & Co, the characters became people I didn't even recognize as having been in the series before, despite being played by the same actors. I mostly continued to watch, hoping things would get better, and as others have noted, there were some worthwhile moments/episodes in the later seasons, but few and far between. Sorta like slogging through a bad SNL episode for that one commercial parody that doesn't quite make up for the other 89 minutes.

It's about time for me to watch "Sports Night" again too. Problem is, I'll put in disc one and not stop until I hit the end credits on the last episode. Makes me tear up every time, thinking such a brilliant show got such a short life on TV.

Also, if you're interested in seeing Sarah Paulson in a really different role, she plays a serial killer in the pilot episode for the US version of "Cracker" with Robert Pastorelli. It's out on DVD. Amber Benson also guest stars in the episode "The Club."

MaryQue | March 01, 21:01 CET

I too stopped watching "West Wing" after the fourth season. I'd heard things about Flotus and muppets and though... that only works on a Joss show.

Knuckleball | March 02, 01:44 CET

Studio 60 is going to rock...hard. I've decided it already. I shall enjoy this show immensley, I mean, it has Sorkin at the helm...how can it not?

Eh heh heh.

escapist_dream | March 02, 02:16 CET

Yep, exactly. Really, I feel about Aaron Sorkin the way I feel about Joss. He might not be quite as lovable or approachable, but the man is a TV genius...

acp | March 02, 02:20 CET