"Sports Night" (1998) TV series 1998-2000

Creator:

Aaron Sorkin

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

22 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

It's about sports. The same way Charlie's Angels was about law enforcement.

Plot Keywords:

Workplace | Office | Sitcom | Friendship | Television

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 10 wins & 24 nominations

Cast

Josh Charles	...	Dan Rydell (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Peter Krause	...	Casey McCall (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Felicity Huffman	...	Dana Whitaker (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Joshua Malina	...	Jeremy Goodwin (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Sabrina Lloyd	...	Natalie Hurley (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Robert Guillaume	...	Isaac Jaffe (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Kayla Blake	...	Kim (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Greg Baker	...	Elliott / ... (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Timothy Davis-Reed	...	Chris (45 episodes, 1998-2000)
Jeff Mooring	...	Dave (44 episodes, 1998-2000)
Ron Ostrow	...	Will (44 episodes, 1998-2000)
Suzanne Kellogg	...	Alyson (22 episodes, 1998-2000)

Runtime:

30 min (45 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Certification:

Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Touchstone Television

Trivia:

The show was finally canceled when Aaron Sorkin decided to concentrate on his other show, "The West Wing" (1999). Low ratings on ABC also contributed to its demise. But it did receive several attractive offers to continue on cable TV. However, all the deals included Sorkin as a writer but Sorkin declined.

Quotes:

[after making a presentation for his son's class]
Dan Rydell: What did you do?
Casey McCall: I did what I do, Dan. I did what I do.
Dan Rydell: You screwed up your romantic life in front of fifth-graders?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Family Guy: Let's Go to the Hop (#2.14)" (2000)

You can tell it is an Aaron Sorkin project!

If you love the snappy fast paced dialogue of The West Wing then understand Sorkin got his feet wet with this light hearted comedy about an all sports station competing with ESPN and FOX Sports.

I for one found this show in mid flight when ABC had it and was sorry to see it canceled. I was also gratified many tv critics complained that intelligent and fast paced humor could not survive the rating wars. It was just recently on Comedy Central and I would set my VCR to record it at 3:30 am each night (morning). I looked forward to the twenty plus minutes a day to watch it (I skipped commercials!). I found the show went by far quicker than the regular sit-coms on tv now and that told me one thing...this was a well done show with good performances from some really excellent actors. For those that did not like the show...have you really taken stock of the pool of talent this show had?

Peter Krause is now a bedrock performer on HBO's Six Feet Under. Robert Guillaume, whom we all got to love as Benson from the original "take it to edge" comedy SOAP and then the Benson spin off is terrific. Integrating his real life stroke into the fabric of a show's Managing Director's stroke was brilliant. Josh Charles did a good job, Sabrina Lloyd will be heard from, and we discovered a fine young actor in Joshua Molina who has gone on to play good roles in The American President and has now emerged as a character that will endure in The West Wing. Felicity Huffman also does an outstanding job as Dana, the show's producer.

For you naysayers take a look at the guests on this show. Can one quibble with William H. Macy, Ted McGinley, Terri Polo, and Lisa Edelstein? This show had sass, verve, energy, and dealt with some very real subjects such as the one where Natalie (Lloyd) is accosted in the locker room of a pro football team by one of it's star players. Does the name Lisa Olson ring a bell? Or how about the one where the star running back (African-American) at a Tenn. college refuses to play so long as the school flies the Confederate flag. Was this not a current and highly charged issue?

I cannot tell people that were not fans of the show what to like. What I can say is if you like very fast wit, quick "you gotta be on your toes or you might miss the next sarcastic or sardonic line" dialogue, or if you just want to see 1/2 hour go by in a flash then see this show when (if) it comes back on. My advice is tape it if it shows again at the 3ish in the morning time slot OR it is now on DVD (the entire two seasons.