Show takes big risks to jab at SNL

“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” Starring: Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and Bradley Whitford… “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” Starring: Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and Bradley Whitford Mondays, 10 p.m. NBC

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Aaron Sorkin rips apart his own industry as he takes on everything from the politics of television to drug abuse to religion, all the while setting his sights on the questionable quality of NBC’s late-night sketch show, “Saturday Night Live.”

Surprisingly, NBC is the network that airs “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” and is either oblivious to the attack on “SNL” and the network or willing to let Sorkin expose the obvious problems the network is experiencing.

Sorkin took a big chance in the pilot by having a character dissect what’s wrong with television today. Show-runner Wes Mendell (Judd Hirsh) gives a beautifully written and startlingly true assessment of his network.

“We’re all being lobotomized by this country’s most influential industry that’s just thrown in the towel on any endeavor to do anything that doesn’t include the courting of 12-year-old boys, and not even the smart 12-year-olds – the stupid ones, the idiots, which there are plenty of thanks in no small measure to this network.”

Sorkin faces a huge challenge with “Studio 60” – in the first 10 minutes of the show he has a character saying that everything has been dumbed down and television is destroying our culture. “Studio 60” has to be a smart show for smart people or risk being deemed hypocritical.

Fortunately, Sorkin doesn’t water things down and makes the show accessible to every “dumb 12-year-old.” “Studio 60” is a thought-provoking, witty, fast-paced drama that is very much grounded in the reality of Hollywood, not the brightly lit reality filled with depthless, sex-driven characters that Hollywood usually presents us with.

The reality of politics even seems to affect how the show is written. In the second episode, the characters reference “SNL” and how great it is, but it seems more like a putdown than a compliment. The first episode was set in a reality in which “Studio 60” was “SNL” but with a different title.

It seems almost like the real network executives – much like the ones portrayed on the show – thought it wasn’t good to make fun of a show on their network, so they made them throw in a plug for “SNL.”

Sorkin is no stranger to behind-the-scenes drama. He’s the creator of “The West Wing” and has retained his style – he even brought some of his actors with him.

Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing”) stars as Danny, a former writer for “Studio 60” who was fired along with his partner, Matt (Matthew Perry). The two decide to return to the show because Danny tested positive for cocaine and isn’t allowed to direct a movie for two years.

Jack (Steven Weber), the network’s chairman of the board, doesn’t want them back because he’s the one who fired them, and very publicly at that. The new president of the network, Jordan (Amanda Peet), insists and the two are back on board – but if things go wrong, Jack won’t hesitate to fire Jordan.

Sorkin has assembled a dream cast led by the surprisingly solid performance of Perry, mostly known for his 10-year run as Chandler Bing on “Friends.” Perry reigned in his performance and proves that he has the acting skills to tackle both broad comedy and drama.

Sorkin gives Perry sarcastic comments, but unlike his character on “Friends,” it isn’t his defining characteristic. He rises to the level of the scripts and the actors around him, creating one of the strongest characters on the show. He’s able to find the balance between the physical comedy of being high on painkillers and the emotional scenes of dealing with an ex-girlfriend who’s upset by the thought that he’s dating her friend.

“Studio 60” will probably turn off a lot of viewers who are expecting to turn on the television and see pretty people with petty problems working backstage on a late-night show. This isn’t your standard who’s-sleeping-with-whom evening soap opera – it’s television that doesn’t rely solely on the libido of the characters for drama.

When we’re living in a time in which “we’re eating worms for money