I can't seem to stop watching Sports Night

I'm currently at the beginning of season 2, and I believe that this is the third time through the show THIS MONTH. I just keep coming back to Sports Night when I have some free time.

The first (few) time(s) I've watched the show, I'm always more drawn to Peter Krause's Casey McCall. I think he's very cute and charming. And a little broken. He's also tall and handsome and has that deep voice that I find insanely attractive. Also, the frustrating will-they-won't-they romantic plot involving Casey and Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman) hooked me in.

However, having recently watched Josh Charles on The Good Wife (which I have yet to continue), and Dead Poets Society, means that this time around I'm more focused on Dan Rydell. Strangely, this is the first time it occurred to me that Dan might actually be the main character of the show, seeing as how Josh Charles gets first billing and Dan gets the more complicated storylines. I find him very endearing. Obviously, the Sorkin-monologue of Dan's apology was beautiful. I also started to appreciate the way Josh portrayed Dan. There's a subtlety and perfectly placed pauses that I had previously missed. Also, Josh Charles was damn cute back then!

Sports Night

In my attempt to fend off the temptation of The West Wing, I decided to watch another of Aaron Sorkin's shows: Sports Night. I'm immediately greeted by the Sorkinisms I'm accustomed to: the walk-and-talk, the quick pace and banters, the rhythm of the dialogues. Unlike his other shows of hour-long dramas that I'm familiar with (TWW, Studio 60, The Newsroom), Sports Night is a half-hour comedy. It's not a sitcom; the humor is much drier than the typical sitcom, but it's definitely funny. They used laugh tracks in season one, and it's awkward and distracting; I'm glad they dropped that in season two.

Sports Night shows us the action behind the production of an ESPN-esque show. The show within the show is modeled after ESPN's SportsCenter; and its presenters, Dan (Josh Charles) and Casey (Peter Krause), are modeled after SportsCenter's Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick. The onscreen banter emulates Olbermann and Patrick's, and the behind-the-scene struggles for ratings and against network execs mimics their real-life counterparts.

I watched the episodes in a marathon. No, in a sprint. It only took me a few days to finish the two seasons. There are a few "themes" that I recognized from Sorkin's other shows, and the setting reminded me a lot of Studio 60. It's a great show, and it's a shame that it was canceled before its time. It's not The West Wing –– I think Sorkin's style of writing works best in TWW –– but it has that sense of humor that I really enjoy. It's funny, it's smart, and unfortunately seems to be one of those great shows that many people missed. I now have to look for another show to watch. I might try to catch up on The Newsroom next so I don't miss the Sorkinisms, or look for great, older shows that I've missed.