A new appreciation for

Matthew Perry. Who the fuck knew that Chandler Bing could act?

Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip" is currently rocking the shit in the Caesarian Section, and the former "Friend" has much to do with that. He's sharp, smart, quick, and forceful -- a far cry from the customary Perry personae of indecision, weak-willedness, and cowardice. I'm liking this new thing a lot.

The rest of the show has a lot to recommend it as well. I assume that it'll be the breakout Fall ’06 hit, and deservedly so. Sorkin is back in his idiom of show business, a topic he's better suited to tackle rather than politics. The only hitch so far in the progress of the show is that Sorkin is not that great a comedy writer. He creates sturdy characters with believable personalities, but he has a tendency to go deep, deep... DEEP into earnestness with them all. And that is starting to rear its head on "Studio 60." The Sarah Paulson character gets into lip-biting earnestness when conversing with Perry about things she believes in, as does Perry himself -- but I can't slam Chandler Bing or Paulson for that. It's coming out of Sorkin's pen.

So Aaron, bubbaleh, back off the earnestness and enjoy your dark showbiz demesne of comedy, clubs, drugs, sex, and glamour -- we don't want "West Wing" set on Ivar.