Aaron Sorkin On "Studio 60": "Our Show Failed In A Big Way"

Let me put my cards on the table: I'm an unabashed admirer of Sorkin's work. He is a rare breed of writer today who uses both humor and a bracing moral seriousness to wrestle with the complexity of the real world. But "Studio 60," as good as some individual episodes were, never seemed to find a consistent voice, a must for must-see TV. It was, in hindsight, a bad idea, if for no other reason than it tried to graft Sorkin's fascination with social issues onto a story about career crises in the rarified world of TV comedy writers. But that made the show only more irresistible -- we got to see a brilliant writer try to breathe life into a doomed premise.

Sorkin insists that he's not sore about the way things turned out. He's moved on, with a new play premiering on Broadway this fall and an adaptation of "Charlie Wilson's War," a Tom Hanks-starring Oscar contender due at Christmas. He also has a new deal with DreamWorks to write three films, starting with "The Trial of the Chicago 7," a project that could end up being directed by Steven Spielberg.

Still, there are standard ways of dealing with failure in Hollywood. No. 1: Taking responsibility.

"I don't know how to emphasize this enough that I'm not disappointed or upset with anyone but myself," Sorkin says over lunch at Nate 'n Al's last week where he is repeatedly interrupted by fans wanting to share how much they enjoyed his work. "There are only two possible reasons for 'Studio 60' failing -- it was either my fault or it was just one of those things. On some shows, you can make mistakes and still survive. But with this one, I made too many mistakes for it to survive."

Read whole interview here