Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Purely Joyful Movie!

Dreadfully Boring

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Another show by Aaron Sorkin that got cancelled, probably fault of audience. However, as most of his works, it was a clever and sensitive series that brought some thinking about the behind the scene of television. A bit like The Newsroom, it is the kind of shows that I wish we saw more often.

Absoltely terrific show - one of the best ever made - quick, clever and strong messaging - sexy, sophisticated characters - very distinctive! This is a show that was cut short for no apparent reason - maybe almost too good and maybe too far ahead of it's time then. It can surely be re-launched - I for one, fervently hope so!! All the characters are real and are all incredibly attractive, mainly because of their flaws, not really their more stellar qualities. They are fallible, human and the depth revealed through the writing shows great amounts of empathy and sensitivity. My favorite is of course Casey - intense, vulnerable and slightly twisted - he is surely extremely attractive to most women and Peter Krause nails it!

Had this whip-smart, 22 minute, "dramedy" set at a fictional sports network, depicting the lives of those who work at that network's flagship news anchor show (titled "Sports Night") aired on a network like HBO or Comedy Central, it might have had a chance. But, a network like ABC had no idea what to do with something mature and innovative like this. It doesn't have an immediate audience. On paper, it seems like a comedy for sports fans. But sports is only the window dressing for a work-place comedy that dishes observational humour on subjects ranging from relationships to politics.Further troubling to vapid network executives is the fact that while Sports Night is a comedic show that is 22 minutes in length, it is hardly a sitcom by the traditional definition of the term. Sitcoms are usually formulaic offerings that puts familiar archetypes in wacky situations to allow the hilarity to ensue. Rarely do characters grow or evolve, besides the pesky children who grow necessarily, usually alienating the core audience by doing so. Sports Night is paced more like a TV drama, a drama that happens to be 22 minutes and funny. The humour is generally of the high-brow variety, derived from the rapid-fire dialogue that is the trademark of writer and series creator Aaron Sorkin. This isn't typical sitcom humour, but ABC really wanted it to be, evidenced by the horribly distracting laugh track used in the first few episodes and later (thankfully) abandoned.Sorkin and his writing are the true stars of the series, but his words would be lifeless were it not for the outstanding performances turned in by the stellar cast. Peter Krause (who would later go on to shine in HBO's Six Feet Under) stars as anchor Casey McCall, a character loosely-based on former ESPN anchor, and former late night talk show host, Craig Kilborn. His co-anchor is Dan Rydell, played ably by Josh Charles (of Dead Poets Society fame). He's so good that you wonder where he's been all these years. Dan is my favourite character on the show. Sorkin favourite Joshua Malina (who also appeared in Sorkin's The American President, A Few Good Men and The West Wing) plays tech-geek Jeremy Goodwin, stealing many scenes and making me wish he did more on The West Wing. Desperate Housewives star Felcity Huffman plays show producer Dana Whitaker, Sabrina Lloyd (who I guess was on Sliders) is her assistant Natalie Hurley, and Benson himself, Robert Guillaume added the star power to the series as the boss, Isaac Jaffe (Guillaume had a stroke during the series, which in turn gave a stroke to his character).It's sad that such a funny, intelligent and entertaining show couldn't last more than two seasons, but it's ultimately for the best. Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme (who was executive producer and directed many episodes) would go on to create The West Wing, which was a better showcase of his talent and quite possibly the finest drama the medium has ever produced. Plus, had there been a third season, Buena Vista probably wouldn't have released the whole series in one set, choosing instead to release season one, then never release another season again! I'm just happy to finally own these two seasons so I can re-live them to my heart's content.

This show is amazing. I can't even believe it only was on 3 seasons, I would like to know if there are any lost episodes. My husband and I love, love, love this show. It is philosophical, thought provoking, holds symbolism, the communication dialog is with rapid succession, incredibly paced, just amazing. The shows flows with humor, and is really not about sports. Its about relationships, the ups & downs of life, new discoveries, etc..I just can't express enough how wonderful this show is. This is and was the best show ever in the history of television. I just don't understand why it was canceled. Oh, might I also say the direction is awesome. I have not seen West Wing, but will be checking this out. I am just not into politics. But am curious about this show. In closing, I wish they would bring Sports Night back, and all the original characters. Thank you.