Sports Night

Sports Night is not a show about sports, but instead is a show about a a show about sports (also named Sports Night). The show focuses on the people who run the show, their friendship, and the ethical issues they face. Created by Aaron Sorkin (who started The West Wing in the second season of the show), the half-hour primetime comedy aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1998 to 2000.

The show featured such well known (and others not so well known) actors as Felicity Huffman as Dana Whitaker (Magnolia), Josh Charles as Dan Rydell (Dead Poets' Society, Muppets in Space), Peter Krause as Casey McCall (The Truman Show), Joshua Malina as Jeremy Goodwin (The West Wing), Sabrina Lloyd as Natalie Hurley (Sliders, Ed), Robert Guillaume as Isaac Jaffey (Lion King) and even William H. Macy as Sam Donovan (Magnolia and much more) appeared on several shows in Season 2.

The Sports Night that the show is about takes place on the fictional Continental Sports Channel (CSC), a subsidiary of Continental Co., owned and run by Luther Saks. (Continental Co. is probably loosely based on Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which runs the Fox Sports Net.)

The show is often somewhat self-referential: in many episodes, the characters are often gossiping or going over everything that's happening in the show - gossiping as viewers would normally do.

The show is also famous for having "deceiving" lines, such as:

Jeremy: Is it about Rebecca?
Dan: It's not about Rebecca.
Jeremy: Because I can't get in the way of your relationships anymore--
Dan: (more reassuringly) It's not about Rebecca.
Jeremy: (silent pause)
Dan: (admittingly) It's about Rebecca.

The conversations between characters are normally blunt and fast. They always seem to be walking from somewhere to somewhere else, and talk like there's no tomorrow.

The show revolves around the Dana-Casey relationship. The viewer is rooting for the two of them from day one, but it isn't until Season 2 (and even then, it doesn't really happen) to get together. Natalie and Jeremy make a cute second couple that features the understudy to Dana and the office nerd. Dan is the jewel of girls and the press, with his looks and younger age, but ironically has the hardest time with women.