Sports Night
MC
Aaron Sorkinąs Sports Night Flameout
By Scott Collins
Wednesday, June 28 03:46 p.m.
Few television shows have garnered more critical acclaim in recent years
than Sports Night, the sitcom from wunder-writer Aaron Sorkin.
Since its 1998 debut, TV critics have fallen over themselves praising
the ABC series, a smartly written send-up of life at an all-sports
network patterned after ESPN. Even Michael Eisner was impressed. In a
phone call shortly after the series premiered, Sorkin remembers the
Disney chief telling him, ŚąKeep this up and itąll be the next
Seinfeld.ąą
Not quite. Last month, Disneyąs ABC unit canceled the series after two
seasons of low ratings and bruising battles with Sorkin, the former
playwright who became one of the biggest (and most outspoken)
writer-producers in TV. When his partners then attempted to peddle the
series to cable outlets, Sorkin balked, for reasons that left many
people in the industry scratching their heads.
Last week, he announced he was pulling out of the show for good,
effectively killing any chances for producers Touchstone Television, a
Disney division, and Imagine Television to revive the series. With
little or no syndication revenue to look forward to, Touchstone, which
held a controlling interest in the series, may end up losing as much as
$15 million. ŚąIąd prefer that Sports Night rest in peace,ąą Sorkin now
says.
The death of Sports Night is a stunning flameout for one of the most
highly regarded network series in recent years. Legally, Disney has the
right to sell the series without Sorkin. But potential buyers made it
clear they wanted at least some involvement from Sorkin, a 14-hour-a-day
workaholic with a long history of tension with network executives.
Why was Sorkin so crucial to the deal? Thanks to Sports Night and The
West Wing, his White House drama on NBC, Sorkin has been considered
something of a miracle worker, a writer able to identify bold new ideas
for series and then produce sparkling scripts for them. In a business
terrified of losing viewers to innovative cable programs, Sorkin seemed
a bringer of fire.
BUT INNOVATION CAME at a price. For all his talent, Sorkin ‹ a
recovering cocaine addict who logged 28 days of rehab time at the famed
Hazelden clinic in the mid-90s ‹ proved a volatile collaborator. Despite
his hectic schedule ‹ he often works from 7 in the morning to 9 at night
‹ he was perennially behind schedule on scripts. Never the savviest
diplomat, he complained from the beginning that ABC was not promoting
Sports Night aggressively enough. When executives insisted on adding a
laugh track, Sorkin, in a truculent New Yorker interview, likened the
move to dressing in a tuxedo and cuff links Śąand the last thing I do
before I leave the house is spray Cheez Whiz all over myself.ąą
Tensions spilled over on the set as well. Last August, during shooting
for the first episode of the second season, Sorkin attempted to adjust a
line reading by Josh Charles, who played anchor Dan Rydell on the show,
according to a person familiar with the situation. Charles took offense
and refused to change his delivery. The spat soon escalated, with
Charles and Sorkin both threatening to resign over the matter. ABC
eventually sided with Charles ‹ arguing that he was exercising an
actorąs prerogative ‹ and Sorkin felt he had been humiliated in front of
the cast and crew. Sorkin declines to comment on the incident, other
than to say, ŚąI have incredible respect for Josh.ąą Risa Shapiro,
Charlesąs agent, says the actor is on vacation and unreachable for
comment.
The show itself, meanwhile, was always an expensive proposition. Fans
loved Sports Nightąs distinctive, movie-like feel. But those
atmospherics didnąt come cheap. The series was shotwith a single camera,
rather than the three-camera setup typical of most sitcoms. That meant
every episode took three days to shoot instead of the customary one,
according to an executive close to the show. As a result, the price per
episode ran to $1.2 million ‹ one-third more than the average network
sitcom, and nearly as much as some dramas.
ABC paid Touchstone Television, its sister company, a relatively steep
$800,000 per episode to run the show. Touchstone made up the difference,
to the tune of approximately $7 million per season.
Unfortunately, the network never saw much success with the series.
Sports Nightąs best outing, on Jan. 11 of this year, scored a 9.2 rating
and 14 share in total households, retaining just 72 percent of the
audience from its Tuesday lead-in, Dharma & Greg.
DESPITE THE TENSION, as recently as last month, Sorkin and his cohorts
still expected ABC to renew the series for a third season. The show had
developed a small but intensely loyal cult following. TV Guide last
spring ran a cover story calling Sports Night Śąthe best show youąre not
watching.ąą
In the months leading up to ABCąs fall schedule announcement in May,
Sorkin and the showąs other producers discussed the future of the show
with ABC Entertainment co-chairmen Lloyd Braun and Stu Bloomberg. While
they publicly expressed support for the show, one source familar with
the matter says ABC wanted the show, which was pitched as a comedy-drama
hybrid, to be funnier. But the network was particularly concerned about
Sorkinąs commitment ‹ especially since The West Wing had turned into a
solid hit for NBC. (ABC executives declined to comment.)
ąąAfter two years of writing every episode, I was hoping I wouldnąt have
to reassure them of my commitment,ąą Sorkin says.
Apparently, ABC was not satisfied. On May 12, Sorkin received a call
from Bloomberg and Braun: Sports Night was canceled. Sorkin was stunned.
ŚąI never believed that ABC wouldnąt pick it up,ąą he says.
In the meantime, Chris Albrecht, who runs HBOąs original programming
division in Los Angeles, had agreed to order 13 new episodes of the
series if it went off the air at ABC, according to an executive familiar
with the matter. While Sorkin says he was intrigued by the prospect of
heading to the cable network, he was still reeling from the ABC
cancellation and needed some time to ponder the future of the show. But
the delay evidently annoyed Albrecht, who according to several network
executives was already sensitive about the perception that HBO was
merely picking up a broadcast leftover. Soon word came that HBO was
taking a pass.
ąąItąs possible that Chris Albrecht took that moment (of pause) and may
have interpreted it as cold feet, which it wasnąt,ąą Sorkin says. ŚąHBO
offered a great creative opportunity... I thought Iąd been invited to
the cool kidsą table.ąą Albrecht declined to comment.
OTHER CABLE OUTLETS ‹ including USA Networks, TNT and F/X ‹ also
expressed interest in the series. But the most serious bid came from
Showtime, which according to an executive, would have spent $32.5
million for 40 new episodes, as well as the 45 existing ones.
But that offer was largely contingent on the involvement of Sorkin, who
by this point felt that the show was in danger of losing its Śącreative
integrity.ąą
ąąI did not want to do it for a lesser episode budgetąą than the series
had on ABC, Sorkin says. He adds that there were other reasons he didnąt
want to make the Showtime deal, although he declines to specify what
they were. But a source with knowledge of the matter says that Sorkin
felt Showtime lacked the prestige for such a high-profile show.
Sorkin ‹ exhausted by two years of struggling to prop up a doomed series
and now busily writing the season opener for West Wing ‹ sounds a
philosophical note. ŚąI donąt feel burned in any way,ąą he says. ŚąI
really do feel like the show did everything I could possibly hope for it
to do. Did it go in syndication and make me rich? No. But,ąą he adds,
ŚąI have a job.ąą