The first recording today starts with the end of Location, Location, Location.
Then, the next episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – The Focus Group. Jordan And Jack Rudolph are watching a Focus Group talking about the last episode of the show, and Jordan is getting annoyed that people didn’t get a sketch about Commedia dell’arte. But Rudolph wants the results to get to Matt and Danny. particularly the question “Is Studio 60 patriotic or unpatriotic? Split 50-50, right down party lines.” Jordan says “I don’t believe that we asked the question. I don’t believe we only gave them those two choices for an answer. And since when did Democrat or Republican become a demographic distinction we care about in the entertainment industry?” But this conversation is sidelined when Jordan sees something on the TV. It’s her mugshot from a DUI arrest.
The cast and crew are rehearsing a sketch called “Science Schmience”, “the game show that tests our players’ willingness to stand by what they believe to be true and the face of irrefutable scientific evidence to the contrary.” Lucy Davis from the office appears as one of the writers.
Simon Helberg is worried about his Tom Cruise impression. “I can do Ben Stiller doing Tom Cruise.”
Rob Reiner is the guest host.
There’s been a power cut, and Harriet, Simon and Tom are working on the News segment by candlelight. Harriet doesn’t like their bit about a small town high school which cancelled a production of Grease and replaced it with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Simon says “Top it.” She replies “I don’t have to. God loves me and hates the both of you.” Simon says “Prove it” and suddenly all the lights come back on. Simon says “Okay, seriously, I’m scared out of my mind.”
Ricky and Ron bring the Focus Group data to Danny and Matt. Danny doesn’t want anyone to see it, because it always upsets people, but Matt asks to see the question about patriotism. “It was Jack telling me I’m not American enough.” “Actually, it was 50% of respondents telling you you’re not American enough. Throw it out.” “They want to see my passport?” “They want to see you take fewer whacks at Bush, and it looks like they’re getting their wish.” “What did you mean by it looks like they’re getting their wish?” “To see the show not take so many shots.” “They’re getting their wish?” “I’m looking at your board. I see one political sketch. 12:55. The dump the garbage slot.” Danny tells Matt he’s getting gun-shy after what happened four years ago to make them leave the show.
Ricky and Ron come to Danny to complain that they didn’t get a sketch into the show this week. Danny gives us some back story on why Matt hates Ricky and Ron. Danny tells them “Bill Maher. He made a politically incorrect observation on his own show, helpfully titled, Politically Incorrect, and the sky fell down on him. Matt was one of the first guys to take up his side, so the sky fell down on him. And when AP asked you for a reaction quote, do you remember what you said?” “It was more than four years ago, Danny. I have no earthly idea what I said.” Ron says “I do. You said ‘Matt Albie certainly doesn’t speak for the cast, crew, and staff of Studio 60. whose thoughts and prayers are with the brave men and women who lost their lives on September 11.'”
Jack tells Jordan that her ex husband is writing a book. He asks if there’s going to be anything in it worth reading. She tells him that he wanted her to go to clubs with him, where you watch other people having sex. “I was 25. I married a slug.” And when she asks how much of their first show’s audience they need to retain to keep playing tough with the Christian right, he tells her “You need to retain 90% to keep playing… at all.”
Alex’s Tom Cruise might not be great, but his Nicolas Cage is pretty good.
Jeannie does her Commedia dell’arte character, after Matt bets her $10,000 that one more member of the focus groups will like it.
After the show, Matt and Harriet are talking about the focus group, and the questions, when Matt realises something, and runs off to tackle Danny to the ground. “You put the question in there.” “Yes, I did.” “Why?” “Because it worked. It’s not gonna be like it was four years ago. I won’t let it happen. After what you did for me, I won’t let it happen.”
For once, Jack has some good news for Jordan. “Do you remember Vernon Williams, station owner at WTIH in Terre Haute?” “Yeah.” “Poor guy’s got to keep calling us on a cell phone because the station lines are jammed with angry calls. It’s 497 tonight.” “Oh, God, Jack, Terre Haute didn’t even carry the show tonight. Why the hell are the callers complaining?” “Because Terre Haute didn’t carry the show tonight.” He also tells her that they increased their audience by 109%.
Everyone’s happy.
Media Centre Description: Drama series about a late-night comedy sketch show. A focus group suggests that Matt and Danny’s early success might not last, causing anxiety at the network.
Recorded from More 4 on Thursday 9th August 2007 21:58
The next recording starts with the end of an episode of Lead Balloon.
There’s a trail for The Secret Life of the Motorway.
There’s another Language of Football trail and for Stephen Fry’s Weekend.
Then, we have a movie, the one that won Ron Howard a Best Director Oscar, A Beautiful Mind (when we all know he should have won it for Apollo 13).
Russell Crowe plays Mathematician John Nash, newly arrived at Princeton University. He’s quiet and socially awkward.
Paul Bettany plays his rather more garrulous roommate Charles Herman.
He’s not getting on too well at college. Judd Hirsch plays his professor, and tells him he hasn’t been focusing, and his record doesn’t warrant any placement.
He shows him one of the faculty, sitting at a table, and the other members giving him pens, and congratulating him, as he’s just made the achievement of a lifetime. “Now, what do you see, John?” “Recognition.” “Well, try seeing accomplishment.” “Is there a difference?”
Like so many men seem to, Nash tries using his gifts to increase the chance of getting off with women. A particularly striking blonde enters the bar, and he and all his colleagues start thinking about approaching her. “If we all go for the blonde… we block each other. Not a single one of us is gonna get her. So then we go for her friends, but they will all give us the cold shoulder because nobody likes to be second choice. Well, what if no one goes for the blonde? We don’t get in each other’s way, and we don’t insult the other girls. That’s the only way we win. That’s the only way we all get laid.” And this insight leads him to conclude that the economist Adam Smith was wrong.
Cue a time passing shot where the camera pulls back from Nash working at his window, and the weather around him changes from winter to spring. Then Judd Hirsch reads his paper and congratulates him. “Well, Mr. Nash, with a breakthrough of this magnitude, I’m confident you will get any placement you like.”
Five years later, he’s asked to consult at the Pentagon on finding a pattern in apparently random Russian signals. He finds map references.
He’s approached by Ed Harris, playing William Parcher, from the Department of Defense. He tells him that a shadowy Russian cabal has a portable atomic bomb, and intend to detonate it on US soil. He asks Nash to memorise a list of newspapers and magazines, and scan each issue for hidden codes, which he should decipher.
They also implant “a radium diode” in his arm. Which shows a changing series of numbers. “They’re the access codes to your drop spot.” This film has taken quite a turn. All will be clear in time.
Jennifer Connelly plays Alicia Larde, who’s taking one of his classes. She’s obviously got the right idea about him, as she asks him to dinner rather than waiting for him to make a move.
Nash is sending his deciphered secret newspaper messages to a letterbox in a large house. Very Cloak and Dagger.
His old roommate Charles drops in to see him. He brings his niece, who he’s now looking after since his sister died.
John and Alicia marry.
In this film about an introverted mathematician, there’s a car chase and a gunfight, as Parcher picks up Nash as he’s dropping off more notes, telling him the drop’s been compromised. After this, Nash becomes more and more paranoid.
He’s giving a lecture, attended by his friend Charles and his niece, and as he’s talking, he sees Parcher and his men enter the hall. He leaves, and starts running. But outside the hall, it’s not Parcher who approaches him, but Christopher Plummer, who introduces himself as Dr Rosen, a psychiatrist. Nash punches him in the face and runs.
He’s subdued by several men, and Rosen sedates him. In hospital, Rosen is there, but so is Charles. Nash thinks that Charles must be working for the Russians, and has betrayed him. Rosen asks him “Who are you talking to? Tell me who you see.” Nash shouts “How do you say, “Charles Herman” in Russian? How do you say it in Russian?” Rosen tells him “There’s no one there, John. There’s no one there.” Yes, Paul Bettany was a figment of his imagination.
Rosen talks to Alicia. She is convinced Charles is a real person. “He and John have been best friends since Princeton.” “Have you ever met Charles? Has he ever come to dinner?” “He’s always in town for so little time, lecturing.” “Was he at your wedding?” “He had to teach.” “Have you ever seen a picture of him, talked to him on the telephone?” “This is ridiculous.” “I phoned Princeton. According to their housing records, John lived alone.”
Alicia talks to his colleagues, and visits his office, which is conspiracy central. She visits the house where he was sending his reports.
She goes to see John. He tells her about his secret work. And she shows him what she found at the letter drop. All the packages that he put there, still there, all unopened.
During his recovery, he struggles to do any work when he’s on medication. He stops taking it, and Parcher returns, still asking him to do his codebreaking.
Rosen comes to see him again, tells him he has to start taking his meds again. Nash doesn’t want to go back to hospital. He tells Alicia she should ask Rosen to take her to her mothers, as he doesn’t know if she’ll be safe around him. He hears the car drive off. Then footsteps on the stairs. It’s Alicia. “Rosen said to call if you try and kill me or anything.” And they hug.
He starts going to the college again, taking classes. He still sees Charles and his niece, but he tries to ignore them now.
Young mathematicians seek him out to talk about work they’ve done, based on the work he did at Princeton.
In 1994, after a lecture he’s given, a man comes to see him. He has to ask one of his students if they can see him, which they can. He introduces himself as Thomas King, and tells Nash that he’s being considered for the Nobel Prize in Economics for his Equilibrium theory. He takes him for tea in the professors’ tea room.
As he and Nash are talking, mainly about whether Nash would embarrass the Nobel committee if he was awarded the prize, one of the professors walks over, puts a pen on the table and says “Professor Nash. It’s good to have you here, John.” And more and more people do the same thing. So of course I’m crying now.
He’s awarded the Nobel prize, and in his speech, he addresses Alicia. “It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logical reasons can be found. I’m only here tonight because of you. You are the reason I am. You are all my reasons. Thank you.”
Media Centre Description: Oscar-winning drama based on the true story of prominent mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr, who seemed to be guaranteed a promising future when he won international acclaim as a result of his pioneering work in the field. However, when he is recruited to provide assistance to the military with top-secret code-breaking duties, the high-pressure job begins to take its toll on him and he begins to develop a mental illness.
Recorded from BBC FOUR on Thursday 9th August 2007 22:58
BBC Genome: BBC FOUR Thursday 9th August 2007 23:00
The final recording today starts with the end of Newsnight.
There Weather, a trail for Ganges, a trail for the BBC Proms, an ad for BBC Asian Network and a trail for Grownups.
Then, a repeat of yesterday’s episode of Heroes – Collision.
Media Centre Description: Drama series about people all over the world dealing with the newly-discovered superpowers they possess. Suresh finally tracks down one of his father’s fabled genetically-advanced supermen. In Las Vegas, Hiro’s plan backfires when he cautiously turns time to his advantage at the gambling tables. Nathan pays a visit to a wealthy Vegas contributor to raise additional campaign funds. Following a tragic turn at a bonfire, Claire’s uncanny healing abilities are put to the ultimate test.
Recorded from BBC TWO on Thursday 9th August 2007 23:18
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Thursday 9th August 2007 23:20
After this, there’s a trail for Tribe. A trail for Radio One’s Six Weeks of Summer, and a football trail.
Then the recording ends after a few minutes of the film The Leather Boys.
Here’s the Studio 60 ad breaks.
Adverts:
- Persil Small & Mighty
- L’Oreal Recital Preference
- Churchill Insurance
- Yellow Pages
- trail: Gordon Ramsay’s F Word
- trail: True Stories: Capturing The Friedmans
- Peugeot 207
- Macleans White & Shine
- Persil Small & Mighty
- Harpic 3in1
- Nurofen Plus
- Bran Flakes
- Tesco
- Ghosts – The World is Outside
- trail: Supersize Kids
- trail: Jamie at Home
- Peugeot 207
- Frontline
- Nationwide – Mark Benton
- Sky Sports
- George at Asda
- Bertolli
- Philadelphia Light
- Brita
- trail: Gordon Ramsay’s F Word
- trail: Deadliest Catch
- Vauxhall Astra
- AA Car Insurance
- MFI
- Harpic 3in1
- Andrex
- Persil Small & Mighty
- Sharps
- Sony Bravia
- Vauxhall Astra
- trail: True Stories: Capturing The Friedmans
- trail: Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
- trail: Film Four
- The Walker in cinemas
- Chrysler
- esure – Michael Winner
- Hotels.com
- The Walker in cinemas
- trail: Supersize Kids
- Jon Ronson on Nutty Americans
