Welcome back to From the Recliner, as this week we do a two-pack since I missed “Nevada Day Part II” when it aired and had to resort to…alternative means to watch the episode.
“Nevada Day Parts I and II” and “The Option Period” all take place on the same day. In “Nevada Day Part II” we learn the reason that Tom was zipping through Pahrump, getting the ticket that’s caused all the ruckus. As we learned in “The Wrap Party”, Tom’s brother is in the Air Force, serving his third tour in Afghanistan. There was a protest going on at Nellis Air Force Base, and Tom was speeding trying to get to the protest so he could support his brother. Upon learning the reason for Tom’s speeding, the judge (John Goodman) dropped all charges against Tom and let him go.
On the flight back to Los Angeles, Danny and Jack continued their earlier discussion about Jordan. Jack admitted that he liked and admired Jordan, but that the board of NBS are a fairly conservative bunch and don’t like all the negative press Jordan’s been getting in the wake of her ex-husband’s upcoming book. Jack asked Danny to talk to Jordan because there was a good chance she might be fired shortly.
Meanwhile, back in the studio, Matt had his hands full trying to coach up a nervous Dylan, who he pegged to potentially fill in for Simon at the news desk in case the crew didn’t make it back in time from Nevada. Meanwhile, Harriet has to deal with the fact that the organization she’d belonged to since she was a child, Women United Through Faith, have cancelled her appearances because they felt her statement on gay marriage was too tolerant.
With “The Option Period”, we have three interlocking stories. First, Jordan has an argument with Danny over product placement; either he uses it in the show to raise revenue or he’s going to have to fire 15 below-the-line employees. Danny feels that product placement flies in the face of the show’s purpose, which is to mock and satirize, something they can’t do if they become part of the establishment. The solution they come up with is incredibly ingenious; they decide to rebuild the main set to make it look like the actual Sunset Strip, complete with the billboards. Also, during the conversation, Danny tells Jordan she’s in danger of being fired, but instead of trying to generate any positive press, Jordan decides she’ll go out in a blaze of glory, greenlighting the programs she wants to see on the network.
Meanwhile, Simon and Tom argue with Harriet, who is considering doing a lingerie layout for a men’s magazine. She tells them she is thinking about doing it because she lost out on a movie role to Debra Messing, who the filmmakers felt was perceived as sexier than Harriet. Simon and Tom point out that her doing the layout benefits the magazine much more than it does her, since all the magazine wants to do is fetishize the “church girl”. But Danny, in a later conversation with Harriet, points out her real motivation for doing the layout: to get back at Women United Through Faith.
Finally, things with Ricky and Ron, the two co-executive producers, comes to a head, as Matt figures out that the pair are planning to quit the show to take one of their sketch ideas to Fox. On the one hand, Matt is more than happy to let them go, but on the other he thinks the sketch (“Peripheral Vision Man”) is crap and he thinks it’ll reflect negatively on “Studio 60”. In the end Matt decides to let them leave, but when he tries to point out the numerous ways that leaving could be bad, Ricky explodes, telling Matt what he thinks of him. He also tells Matt as he’s leaving that he’s taking all the writers with him, leaving behind only Darius, the Black comic Matt and Simon hired, and Lucy, a British girl. Ron’s more conciliatory as he leaves, telling Matt it’s a situation similar to when Danny left the show after Matt was fired. Ricky and Ron have been writing partners for a long time, and Ron feels he has to support Ricky, right or wrong.
This three-story arc was easily the best three episodes the show’s had since it started, as it fully encapsulated the show’s strengths (the writing and acting) while avoiding the show’s weakness (the fact that, for a comedy sketch show, the sketches aren’t funny). I’ll check in with you guys later this week as we look at the next episode, “B-12”!
