In part two of our ongoing series, I only counted one reference to NBC or Saturday Night Live in the third episode of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, but it was maybe the most ridiculous one so far:
1. Matthew Perry, arguing with Bradley Whitford about dumping a funny sketch late in the show says: "You know what else ran at 12:55? Wayne's World!"
That's right. So in all of "Studio 60"'s long, storied, 20-year history as a groundbreaking late night sketch show, there was not one sketch, not one past glory that Matthew Perry could refer to as an example of a killer sketch that premiered late in the show. Instead, he turns to an example from what we presume is their biggest competition, SNL.
That's not distracting or contrived at all.
Other than that, I did enjoy the episode last night, or at least the behind-the-scenes aspects of the episode last night. The on-air sketches, however, are still a long way from being believeable as the kind of brilliant sketch comedy that will generate such powerful word-of mouth that hundreds of viewers in Terra Haute would call in and demand their station carry the show. I mean, "Pimp My Trike"? Maybe "Studio 60" is supposed to be a fictional Mad TV, after all.
NBC also aired a promo for 30 Rock last night, which, besides being funny, sort of hammered home NBC's this-better-not-be-SNL stance on the two shows. (It's the second one in this reel):
She might as well have said, "No, Alec, that's not this show, that's the other NBC show about late night TV that, despite both superficial and deep-seated similarities, as well as the fact that they just made a very distracting reference to Wayne's World, has nothing whatsoever to do with Saturday Night Live."