Awards are not supposed to rubber-stamp the marketplace's judgment, but to indicate what a group (like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) believes is the best-quality work. Look what happened at the Grammys last Sunday. Even in a pop-oriented show like that, in which Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake won awards, the top honors went to the Dixie Chicks, a crossover-country band that has been widely rejected (for political reasons) by country radio stations.
Of course, country radio has a habit of being at odds with the Grammys: Past winners of the Best Country Album Grammy include Alison Krauss and Loretta Lynn, neither of whom got much radio play. If the masses chose the Oscar, it would go to "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," the biggest box-office draw of 2006. If it's elitist to deny an Oscar to the middle chapter of an action trilogy that is not quite as entertaining as the theme-park ride on which it was based, then so be it.
Is the sun setting on 'Studio 60'? One of the bright spots of the new fall season when it started was Aaron Sorkin's inside-Hollywood drama, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." But over time, the series has lost its luster, in my eyes and apparently in the minds of viewers across the country.
According to Variety, the show had its worst ratings of the season Monday. I can see why. Now, Variety has reported that NBC is bumping "Studio 60" for an early premiere of the midseason replacement drama "The Black Donnellys" Feb.
26 at 9 p.m. (on KSL Channel 5).
According to the trade paper, NBC has not said when "Studio 60" will return to burn off the rest of its first season, but it's a sign that it possibly won't come back at all.
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