ART IMITATES LIFE. A few days back, we had a lengthy disquisition on Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip -- most notably, on creator Aaron Sorkin's apparently incurable tin ear for both political argument and the way actual human beings speak to each other. This was prompted by last Sunday's episode, which featured not only a numbnutted subplot about gay marriage, but also some red-state wisdom from John Goodman as a judge in the town of Pahrump, Nevada, who cautions the Hollyweird liberals not to take him and his town for hayseeds and rubes. Well, I am not prepared to argue that Sorkin understated things greatly. - Charles P. Pierce
