This week, EW University takes a look at the people who helped shape the modern TV landscape. Today’s TV auteur is Aaron Sorkin, whose distinct voice pushed network comedies out of the ‘90s and network dramas into the White House. Class is now in session! When Sports Night premiered in 1998, it was met with critical praise, fanatical devotion on the part of its 10 million or so viewers (which at the time made it the 45th most-watched show), and a revived conversation about the future of the laughtrack for network comedies. Sports Night debuted with canned laughs, but it was so out of place that ABC couldn’t help but eventually side with Sorkin and the show’s fans. Out went the laughtrack, and in came an era where the differences between multicamera and single-camera comedies became normal TV fan knowledge, not just inside-baseball musings. Sports Night’s contemporaries were...
- 9/6/2009
- by Margaret Lyons
- EW.com - PopWatch
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