Saw the ep on Sunday night. :)

Didn't really see the point of the long interview with 'Harriet' or the amount of exposition for her character.

Interesting nod to McLuhan and the 'medium'.

The whole Jordan thing was great - would have loved to have seen more of that. (By the way - Amanda Peet is pregnant so maybe that's why she's looking better/glowier than usual)

Cool about the Groundling School (what kind of a school is it?) I was loving the Bennington stuff in the skit - I'm from there originally - I guess they had a little something for everyone.

I do think also that the dialogue, even in the skits, is a bit more intelligent than the real SNL was (especially when it started tanking) - if they want to keep the original fans of this show they'd better get back to where they were. Water cooler talk here is in agreement with xed and Matt)

Great recap!

Loved the running gag of the Tom Jeter character in the lobster costume. His character is getting more lines and participation in the overall story, and I think he's doing well.

This was more or less a complete character background episode. It set up the article. It told you everything you wanted to know about HHH. It set up Danny's goal of remodeling the stuido and added some character development of his gravitas outside of Studio 60. It continued the thought that, on some level,Matt is coming unraveled trying to write the entire show and deal with Harriet.

Ed Asner was terrific.

The ending was perfect.

The skits (particularly Dr. Nic) weren't all that entertaining to me. I do like the fact that Rebeccca Needs a Baby wasn't as funny as maybe it could have been, especially the point that this was done on purpose to set up Matt and Danny's conversation immediately following it.

Understand, though that within the grand scheme of what is likely to be the rest of season one, this was a setup show. You need to have one or two of these in order for things to happen later.

And after all this, no writers room plot line advancement.

You will appreciate what this show setup later, I think.

On a practical level - who knows how much longer the show will run? So they've got to grab the audience and hook us and reel us in HARD. Wasn't feeling it last night. Even the Ed Asner lines were so exposition-exposition-more exposition with a little product placement thrown in (although he did do a great job with what he had).

That last moment? Huh? That was a total WTF? moment.

I completely agree that focusing the episodes around Matt and Harriet is boring. Love seeing Matt and Danny working together. I wonder if A Peet can pull off the role of a tough TV exec. What about Lisa Edelstein for the role?

It's the harping on the Christian right that is tedious. There are plenty of enemies - one being the fight again Lowest Common Denominator TV, Jerry Springer and the pervasive lack of imagination in the medium.

My favorite moment is still in the quick collage of skits in episode 2 in Science Shmience when the line up of various religious fundamentalists are asked to explain the cause of Hurricane Katrina, the host responds with "No, I'm sorry. The answer we were looking for . . . and darn if I didn't Tivo the thing to remind myself of the end of that joke. Truly clever.