Studio 60 and Cultural References

I was actually disappointed when NBC pulled Studio 60, so I'm happy that they're showing the already-produced episodes this summer. It's still cancelled, though.

I have to make a comment about the episode they aired two weeks ago, "The Disaster Show." I quote from the Wikipedia article on Studio 60:

- The West Wing evidently exists in the Studio 60 universe. Allison Janney appears as guest host in "The Disaster Show" and several characters reference her role on The West Wing.
- At the top of "The Disaster Show," the camera follows a PA holding a flower arrangement with a flamingo centerpiece. Later, a large lawn flamingo can be seen in Allison Janney's dressing room, and during the commercial breaks a graphic of Janney and two flamingos appears on the screens. On The West Wing, Janney's character's secret service code name was "flamingo."

I would add something else to the above list. Timothy Busfield plays Cal, the director of the show Studio 60; he also played Danny, a reporter on The West Wing who ends up with CJ, Allison Janney's character, by the time that show ends. It seems that there's at least a flirtatious nature to their relationship on Studio 60. (He kisses her on the cheek at one point.)

That brings up my point: if Allison Janney and The West Wing exists in the Studio 60 universe, Timothy Busfield must as well. Busfield must look an awful lot like this director fellow. If the show continued, I think it'd be interesting if they had Busfield appear on Studio 60 and do a green-screen with Busfield as Busfield and Busfield as Cal. Shoot, they could do the same with Bradley Whitford.

The overarching theme here, I suppose, is that I really like it when shows make references to other shows. They're in-jokes, and for me, fun. According to the Wikipedia article, Studio 60 did that often, with references and in-jokes to both The West Wing and Sports Night (a show I never saw, but also made by Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme).

Another show that does this well is the above-mentioned Stargate SG-1, especially with the addition of Ben Browder in its last two seasons. Browder's character, Cameron Mitchell, makes cultural references all the time, as did John Crichton, his character in Farscape. One of the most endearing and fun things about Crichton is that he continually makes American cultural references in the presence of these aliens he interacts with, sometimes dozens in an episode. One episode in particular in the third season is an entire cultural reference--a Chuck Jones cartoon.

When Crichton makes these references, the other characters, especially early in the series, react by going, "Huh? What are you talking about?" Often they're pissed and annoyed. By the end of the series, though, his friends either ignore him, get his meaning by context, or understand because they've learned enough about his culture. When Mitchell in SG-1 does the same thing, I think it's a nod to Farscape fans--an in-joke.

In a recent episode of SG-1, "Bad Guys," the above dynamics also occur, between Mitchell, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c. Mitchell has captured a security guard and explains over the radio to Daniel that the guard "went all John McClane on us." Daniel goes, "Huh?" and Teal'c crosses in front on him and says, "Die Hard." So it was the alien who had to explain the cultural reference to someone from our society. It's true, though, that Daniel, being a geek, may not necessarily get the reference, and that Teal'c might have, since he's probably extensively studied Western/American culture.