The Cold Open is about Matthew Perry trying to write the cold open (the pre-credits sketch) for the first episode of ‘Studio 60’ he and pal Bradley Whitford are producing. The episode’s cold open is Amanda Peet giving a press conference about Perry and Whitford taking over the show. It’s a quick recap of the pilot, with some adjustments, like Whitford being the one more interested in Peet and Perry both having a not silly haircut and being quite a bit better at the dramatic acting since they shot the pilot.
But we also get to meet the show-in-the-show’s regulars—“The Big Three,” Sarah Paulson, D.L. Hughley, and Nate Corddry. Paulson’s the mega-talented progressive Evangelical who used to date Perry but now they’re working together, Hughley’s the Black guy who’s been on the show forever but can’t do Bill Cosby voices (I think only two now extremely awkward Cosby mentions this episode) so he’s worried about his job, and Corddry’s the young White cishet guy who worries about what bloggers think of the show. Funny thing about the way they act and the way Whitford speaks to them when he’s asserting himself as the new boss… they don’t seem like a “Big Three” anything. They’re all worried about their jobs.
Sorkin puts no effort into establishing the “reality” of the twenty-year old former flagship Friday night comedy show (airing live from Los Angeles and so 2:30 a.m. east coast) on a fifth network. But a fifth network better than Fox. But not much older than Fox? Maybe. It’s like Sorkin doesn’t want to draw attention to the television business in his show about the television business.
There are some good scenes and some not so good scenes. Whitford still seems a little overwhelmed in second lead all of a sudden while Perry’s definitely more comfortable. Especially with Paulson. Peet’s excellent. Cordrry and Hughley are okay, Cordrry more because he’s got limited material while Hughley’s arc is Sorkin encouraging people to think about how the show’s reality doesn’t work.
The biggest deal is Ayda Field as a fourth “Big Three” member who slept with Perry between the end of the pilot and the beginning of this episode because they’re just friends who occasionally sleep together. Only Paulson has no idea (she doesn’t even realize they’re friends much less ones who are irregularly intimate) and it causes some drama between her and Field. Because even though they’re strong female characters, they can only bond over men. It’s awkward but all right; both Paulson and Field are likable and better in their other scenes so it carries.
Oh, and some great Steven Weber. He’s really the stand out in this show, which is something given Peet somehow manages to make all the Sorkin™ material gold.
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