Aaron Sorkin’s new show —  Studio 60 at Sunset Strip — debuted last night on NBC.

Sorkin is, in my humble estimation, a writing god.  His previous two television shows — Sports Night and The West Wing — are among my top 3 favorite shows of all time.  Like his previous ventures, Sorkin works with director Thomas Schlamme in Studio 60 — a winning combination.  So you can imagine how much I anticipated Studio 60.  (Actually, I forgot about it, but that’s what TIVOs are for). 

Most everybody is familiar with The West Wing, Sorkin’s drama about the White House.  Even non-fans of the show know that the first three seasons were classic, and the last three — after Sorkin left — were uneven and sometimes ridiculous.

Sports Night remains a short-lived classic.  Unlike The West Wing, Sports Night was a half hour taped comedy.  It contained some of the best dialogue ever written for television, second only (perhaps) to The West Wing.  Starring a pre-Desparate Housewives Felicity Hoffman, Sports Night was a behind-the-scenes sitcom about the making of a sports show (like ESPN’s SportsCenter).  When co-star Robert Guillaume suffered a stroke in real life, Sorkin deftly worked it into the plot, with Guillaume continuing in his role.  Sadly, the show was cancelled after two seasons, but West Wing fans should really buy or rent the boxed DVD set.

All I knew about Studio 60 was that it was another behind-the-scenes-of-a-TV-show setting — this time behind the cameras of a fictional Saturday Night Live-like show.  But was it to be like Sports Night or The West Wing?

Well, to be honest, it was a little of both.  But more heavily on the drama, and that left me slightly underwhelmed.  Studio 60 is a TV show about a comedy TV show, so I expected it to contain more humor.  But the dark lighting and angry characters gave it a little bit of West Wing gravitas, which I’m not sure worked.

Not that it was bad, but I wasn’t blown away like I was when I saw the first episode of West Wing or the first episode of Sports Night.

But was it better than the standard TV fare?  Hell, YES!

The pilot episode centered around the in-show show Studio 60.  Like the real life SNL, Studio 60 has been on for decades and it’s, well, not funny anymore.  It’s lost its edge.  During the live airing of its show (where Felicity Huffman appears, playing herself as the guest host), the show’s producer (played by Judd Hirsch in a guest role) stops the opening sketch, and launches into an on-air tirade against networks, censors, and the FCC — all because he was forced at the last minute to cut a sketch which would, he was told, offend the religious right.  The comparison to Howard Beale in Network were obvious and Sorkin makes many Network references.

That very night, new NBS president Jordan McDeere ("NBS" = NBC), played by Amanda Peet, decides she is going to save Studio 60 by bringing back its two best writers who left the show in disgust several years earlier to go into movies.  They are Danny Tripp (played Bradley Whitford, formerly known as "Josh" on The West Wing) and Matt Albie (played by Matthew Parry, who also had a short stint on The West Wing, as well as some other show). Both Tripp and Albie are reluctant to return to TV.

The characters are drawn from Sorkin’s life.  For example, Albie is reluctant to return to Studio 60 because he just broke up with Harriet Hayes, one of Studio 60’s cast members — she’s a born again Christian who sang on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club; he’s really not down with that.  The Hayes character (played by Sarah Paulson) is supposedly based on Kristin Chenowith, whom Sorkin dated once.

And Tripp has had some cocaine problems (like the real life Aaron Sorkin).  As a result, he can’t go through with his intended film directorial debut (like the real life Aaron Sorkin).  So he agrees to go back to television (like the real life Aaron Sorkin) and "save" Studio 60.

Sound a litte dry?  Yeah, it kind of was.  But Sorkin’s forte isn’t plot; it’s dialogue — and Studio 60, like Sorkin’s other works, is full of sharp crisp rapparte.  And fans of Sports Night and The West Wing will recognize director Schlamme’s style, including his trademark "walk and talks" (where the actors carry on long stretches of dialogue while working their way through the halls of a hustling bustling workplace).

The cast of Studio 60 is full of talent.  Timothy Busfield plays the show’s director.  Two of the cast members of the in-show Studio 60 are D.L. Hughly and Nate Cordry (who had a brief stint as a correspondent on The Daily Show).  Both can act.  And Stephen Weber plays the chairman of NBS; he’s going to be the evil "suit".

It was a lot to absorb for one hour, and it’s hard for me to care about the characters yet (none of them got a chance to be fully three-dimensional).  There’s also a lot of L.A. cynicism, something I can’t entirely relate to.  And someone needs to tell directors Thomas Schlamme and Chris Misiano (who also is a West Wing and Sports Night veteran) that it’s really okay to light the set; not everything has to take place in shadows and dark (it is, after all, a TV studio full of bright lights).

Perhaps my biggest disappointment, however, is that there weren’t enough random asides — meaningless trivia-filled dialogue and crosstalk between the characters that is the staple of Sorkin’s TV work.

But it’s Sorkin and a talented cast, so I’m confident that Studio 60 will find its stride.  Even given my slight disappointment with the pilot, it still is one of the best things on television.

By the way, if you want to read the pilot’s rough draft, it’s on the Internets.  Or hell — just watch the full premiere episode (or a two-minute "summary clip") here.