Sports Night: Season 2, Episodes 11, 12, and 13

Date: June 3, 2021

Season 2, Episodes 11, 12, and 13

Music Video of the Day: Happy Pride Month all!

Interstellar News: The last few days have been crazy, but I’m so happy it’s finally Pride month! This is the month my husband, a dear friend, and a dear friend’s mother (who has become one of my moms) were all born. June is also usually a “light” month at work, but with teaching a summer class and online orientation – this year it is anything but. I am excited to get away to the beach this weekend and to visit VA next weekend. This also means it’s very unlikely I’ll post over the weekend, but I’ll be back (she says in her best Arnold voice)!

Episode 11 – “The Cut Man Cometh”

“The fight lasted 7 seconds, Casey. We’re gonna have to go back to counting states.”: This episode is absolute bananas and I love it dearly. Everyone has boxing fever, we meet Danny’s dad, and the boys have to deal with a very awful on-air personality when the normal person is out sick. Chuck “The Cut Man” Kimmel is a man who gave himself a nickname and only responds when people use it. I love that everyone starts to scramble when the fight is over before it ever really began and that Casey pulls out some useless bit that Jeremy threw at him earlier. It’s a truly ridiculous episode that everyone should watch at least once in a while to make them laugh. I’ll end on my favorite cut-man quote, aside from the one below his picture… “I’m right here at ringside at Bally’s, where the breakfast buffet is $3.95, the slots are loose, and the showgirls are fantastic.“

Episode 12 – “The Sweet Smell of Air”

“I could make a nuclear reactor if I could get my hands on some decent plutonium.”: Michael Jordan wants to do an interview but it turns out the PR company only wants him to talk about his new cologne and not sports… so they came to Sports Night because they assumed the network was desperate enough for the ratings, but they aren’t. Casey’s going to bake bread for his son’s class, but instead he does a play-by-play of recess and interviews some of the kids like it’s a real news show. Isaac gets excited about a space squid and it’s absolutely adorable. This episode may not be all out laughs, but it’s wonderful. I wish we had gotten to see Casey do his bit at the school instead of him telling about it later. I’m glad Sports Night stuck to their journalistic principles and Sam and Dana got to be on the same page for once. There was not enough Sam Donovan in Season 2.

Episode 13 – “Dana Get Your Gun”

“Could you let him know that unless he’s dating Martina Hingis, we don’t mention our girlfriends on the show?”: Danny gets Kim a suite so she can have sex with a guy who will get Natalie into a club so Natalie will go clothes shopping with Casey so Casey will trade days off with Danny so he can see Tom Waits in concert. It makes sense, I promise. When Tina gets sick they call in Steve to sub for Danny, but Steve is an absolute mess. Sam and Dana flirt while Jeremy and Natalie break up.

I absolutely love all of the things Danny has to do in order to get his night off swapped, only to almost not be able to go to the concert. It’s been done on so many shows, but it totally works here because Danny is a people-pleaser who also has connections. I also enjoy Dana and Sam, because they have wonderfully awkward chemistry. Dana wants to hate Sam so much but she’s grown to like him. After last episode where they were on the same side and here where he also shows his dislike for handguns, it’s clear she’s starting to see him a new light. What I dislike about this episode is how and why Jeremy and Natalie break up. They’re both in the wrong… Jeremy is too snotty about things Natalie wants to experience and Natalie drags Jeremy around knowing he’ll be like that. They each could have done their own thing and got together later, or compromised and each done one thing the other wanted. Instead, we got this mishegos. Still, a wonderful 2/3 of an episode.

TA Out!