Sports Night, revisited

If you were lucky enough to catch Aaron Sorkin's delightful dramedy about the goings-on behind the scenes of a nightly SportsCenter-like television program when it originally aired on ABC in the late 90s, you can disregard the rest of this post, because "Sports Night" really speaks for itself. If you caught the show when Comedy Central, in their wisdom, thought fit to air it in syndication following its untimely demise, you are also exempt from the praise that follows--it will be nothing new to you. But if you never saw this show, I'm definitely speaking to you now, Mister. Even if you don't like sports, that doesn't matter. As the tagline says, it's a show about a show about sports that isn't about sports at all.

As a proud owner of the DVD boxed set, I plopped in one of the discs the other night when seeking some entertainment on a quiet evening. I couldn't just watch one or two episodes--I soon found myself in the middle of a viewing spree. Even six years after the fact, I'm still amazed at the exceeding quality that went into every aspect of this show, from the writing to the acting to even the music. Equally witty and heartwarming, it never failed to please. The first time I watched the series through, as one of those who caught it "after the fact" on Comedy Central, I was astounded when I got to the final episode that anyone in their right mind could cancel such a gem. Granted, it lost some footing during its sophomore season, but it looked to be rallying back, strong as ever, when it unduly got the axe...probably due to ABC's failure to market it appropriately.

Luckily, as I alluded to earlier, the show is available on DVD. Netflixers will have no problem locating it. The difficulty will be saying goodbye after you breeze through the 22 hours that make up season one and two and there's no more "Sports Night" left to watch. But maybe Sorkin's next project, this fall's "Studio 60 on Sunset Strip", will be similar enough to fill the void when it strips away the layers of a Saturday Night Live-type show. Keep your eyes peeled. This could be a good one to get in on the ground floor of.