Yesterday, the few remaining fans of STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP took out an ad in the Hollywood Reporter ‘thanking’ STUDIO 60 as well encouraging donations to the Tipitina’s Foundation of New Orleans.

Encouraging donations to the Tipitina’s Foundation of New Orleans, most definitely worth the ad buy. But thanking STUDIO 60 for “intelligent, inspiring and compelling drama we’ll never forget,” well that my friends is a completely different story.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Aaron Sorkin and think he’s one of the most talented writers on the planet. Not only do SPORTS NIGHT and THE WEST WING both sit proudly on my DVD shelf, I quite literally never tire of THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. But the unfortunate reality is that STUDIO 60 never lived up to the hype.

What started off as one of the most promising pilots in recent memory quickly devolved into a weekly Sorkin lecture on politics, religion, the war, censorship and pretty much anything else that Sorkin wanted to get off his chest. The show that should have been filled with snappy dialogue, fantastic characters and great writing essentially became that ‘very special’ episode of THE WEST WING where the cast dealt with the aftermath of 9/11. Which if you remember the episode, is not a good thing.

In the end, the thanks should really go to NBC. Not only did the network give Sorkin free reign to run a million dollar drama into the ground. It hopefully gave him enough airtime to articulate each and every one of his political views so that the next time he returns to television, he’ll remember that the medium should entertain first — educate second.

With May Sweeps officially over and rerun season in full swing (moment of silence please) we at theTVaddict.com thought we’d get in the spirit of things by re-running a post of our own. In honour of STUDIO 60’s triumphant return to television tonight at 10PM on NBC, we give you “What Went Wrong With STUDIO 60”

You can’t buy the kind of buzz NBC’s STUDIO 60 had in the weeks before it debuted. So why is the show now fighting for its life? We have our theories…

The show is too limited in scope. Could things have been different had STUDIO focused on the operations of the network as a whole as opposed to behind-the-scenes mechanics of a single show? Guess we’ll never know. But it seems hard to imagine that the president of the network and that company’s chairman of the board spend every waking moment thinking about their failing skit show, let alone that the fate of the network seems to ride on its success. If NBC’s fate were tied to that of SNL, the network would have gone under long ago.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE ain’t the White House. Sorkin’s previous hit, THE WEST WING, swept us up in an idealized version of politics. It gave us a president who was everything we could want in a leader and filled even the least politically minded of us with a spirit of unbridled patriotism. But with SNL as the ostensible backdrop, there’s no way to recapture that sense of unity. And more importantly…

… The skits aren’t funny. Sorkin is, without a doubt, primetime’s best dialogue writer. (For those curious, his daytime counterpart would have to be Patrick Mulcahy.) Unfortunately, Sorkin can’t seem to write a skit to save his life. And since STUDIO’s backdrop is a show specializing in skit comedy, that’s a fairly major flaw.

Too many plots feel forced. Are we really supposed to believe that a woman as smart as Jordan McDeere would allow herself to become a food-obsessed buffoon as a result of a pregnancy? Frankly, it would have made more sense for the show to explore a career-driven woman’s decision to abort a child she is not prepared to have. It’s far too early in the show’s run for Matt Albie to fall back into the pill-popping habit. And Danny’s attempts to “romance” Jordan came off as stalkerish.

Don’t get us wrong. STUDIO 60 is brilliant television. At its worst, it is better than practically anything else on the network airwaves. But as we’ve learned time and time again, being good – or even great – isn’t all it takes to succeed in television. If it were, VERONICA MARS wouldn’t be fighting for its life and THIRTYSOMETHING would have lived long enough to require a name change. Something at STUDIO isn’t working for the audience. We’ve told you why we think that might be… what’s your theory?

Historically, when the television season comes to an end, theTVaddict can generally be found curled up on the floor slowly counting the days until the Fall season begins.

Yet this summer, thanks to ever-increasing competition from the internet, video games and DVDs, networks have finally gotten their act together and come to the realization that they have to provide viewers with quality programming if they intend to keep us watching come June, July and August. (Note to networks: Reality television is not considered quality.)

As a result, fellow TV addicts not only have new seasons of HBO’s BIG LOVE and ENTOURAGE to look forward to. TNT returns with a third season of THE CLOSER and the new Treat Williams drama EVERWOOD 2.0 HEARTLAND.

Add to that, NBC just announced that STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP will be returning to burn off its final six episodes starting Thursday May 24.

Looks like the summer might not be so television free after-all. ‘Getting a life’ and interacting with the outside world will apparently have to wait!

Dear Fellow TV Addicts,

For over a year now theTVaddict.com has been providing you — my beloved reader — with television news, reviews, commentary, cartoons, podcasts and video without asking for anything in return. Tonight, I’m calling in my chips, I need a favour.

Please tune into STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP this evening at 10PM on NBC. Next week, a new series, THE BLACK DONNELLYS will be airing in its place, and the peackock network has yet to say when (or if) STUDIO 60 will return. The Aaron Sorkin drama deserves a far better fate and love it or loathe it, the show is far better then 75% of what’s on television.

Variety is reporting that NBC has decided to premiere THE BLACK DONNELLYS a week sooner than planned, pulling STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP from its Monday night timeslot and premiering the new mobster drama on February 26 (instead of March 5). Looks like I probably should have watched the last two weeks of STUDIO 60 instead of letting it sit on my PVR. Damn you Neilson Ratings!