The Onion AV Club, writing about the new fall season:
Every other scene seems to be Matthew Perry or Bradley Whitford congratulating each other on their genius or talking about the genius of Sarah Paulson’s character.
They’re not wrong here. Sports Night’s characters all cared deeply about their show, but they had fun doing it. On The West Wing, everyone knew what they were doing really was important, and the hours and dedication that they put in match what their real world counterparts do. On Studio 60 it feels like no one told the cast that comedy is supposed to be fun.
Paulson is fine in the role, but the sketches just aren’t there. It’s like a movie that spends all its time talking about the genius of a painter who only draws stick men.
Entirely true. On Sports Night, making the show look good just involved showing Dan and Casey having some fun on the air talking about fictitious games. On Studio 60, you can’t show the audience cracking up and have Danny patting Matt on the back about how funny a sketch is if it isn’t actually that funny. Example: would Nate Corddry’s lobster suit gag from this week been nearly as funny if we had just seen the sketch with him in it? No, what was funny was seeing him taking a nap on the couch in the costume.
I’m still loving the show, though.