Sports Night

:This article is about the fictional American television series. For the BBC TV program of a similar name, see Sportsnight.

Overview

The fictional Sports Night is a sports news program – in the style of ESPN's SportsCenter – shown on the fictional Continental Sports Channel (CSC), a subsidiary of Continental Corp, owned and run by Luther Sachs. (Continental Corp is probably loosely based on Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns Fox Sports Net.)

Related Topics:
SportsCenter - Rupert Murdoch - News Corporation - Fox Sports Net

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The show is often somewhat self-referential: in many episodes, the characters are often gossiping or going over everything that's happening in the show - gossiping as viewers would normally do.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The comedic heart of Sports Night is Sorkin's dialogue, often delivered at a rapid-fire pace while at the same time exposing the murkiness that often occurs when people try to put difficult thoughts into words. For example:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeremy: Is it about Rebecca?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan: It's not about Rebecca.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeremy: Because I can't get in the way of your relationships anymore--

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan: (more reassuringly) It's not about Rebecca.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeremy: (silent pause)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan: (admittingly) It's about Rebecca.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The show also focuses on the characters' relationships, including an off-again on-again flirtation and romance between Dana and Casey, the oil-and-water passion between Natalie and Jeremy, and Dan's ongoing problems with relationships generally. Isaac hovers over it all as a benevolent but uncompromising father-figure.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Guillaume suffered a stroke mid-way through the first season, and this event was worked into his character and the season's story arc.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sports Night struggled to find an audience. Its dialogue-based humor did not play very well in situation comedy-oriented America, and ABC axed it after two seasons. A good example of how the show was received is indicated in the Family Guy episode "Let's Go to the Hop"; one character, while high on a psychedelic toad, exclaims, "I finally understand Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night! It's a comedy that's too good to be funny!" Though it had the opportunity to move to another network, Sorkin decided to let the show pass so that he could focus on his much more popular drama The West Wing. There are notable stylistic similarities between the two series. Repeats of the program aired on Comedy Central for just more than a year.

Related Topics:
Situation comedy - Family Guy - Psychedelic - Toad - The West Wing - Comedy Central

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sorkin intended for the series' humor to be drier and more realistic than typical sitcoms. He initially wanted the show to be recorded without a laugh track, but ABC network executives insisted on including one. The laugh track was abandoned at the end of the first season of the show.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~