Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip/Nevada Day (1)

Nevada Day (1)
Season 1, Episode 7
Airdate	November 6, 2006
Written by	Aaron Sorkin Mark McKinney (story)
Directed by	Lesli Linka Glatter Timothy Busfield
← 1x06 The Wrap Party	1x08 → Nevada Day (2)
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip — Season One

Nevada Day (1) is the seventh episode of the first season of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and the seventh episode overall. When Tom is arrested for assault and extradited to Nevada, Jack, Danny and Simon attempt to get him out of jail before the show goes on that night. It is the first part of a two part story arc.

Special Guest Star: Ed Asner (Warren White)

Guest Stars: John Goodman (Judge Robert Bebe), Columbus Short (Darius Hawthorne), Lucy Davis (Lucy Kenwright), Raymond Ma (Zhing Tao), Julia Ling (Kim Tao), Jay Paulson (Roger), Michael Kostroff (David Langenfeld), Ayda Field (Jeanie Whatley), Simon Helberg (Alex Dwyer), Nate Torrence (Dylan Killington), Diana-Maria Riva (Lilly Rodriguez), Christopher Shea (Hooligan #1), Daniel Escobar (Hooligan #2)

Plot Overview

It's 2:00 in the afternoon on Friday and most of the Studio 60 managing staff, a couple of lawyers and a Chinese diplomat are waiting in a police station for the judge to appear. The night before, Tom was arrested for assault and battery, reckless endangerment, possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) and failure to answer a warrant. When the judge does show up, he makes it clear that he's not impressed by the lawyer and finds Studio 60 to be "condescending and smartass." He demands that Tom tell him what happened.

Tom begins his story with Harriet having a quote taken out of context by a member of the press who baited her about making an ambiguous statement about gay marriage. When she appeared to say something which would alienate the countless homosexuals who watch and work for the show, Matt steps in and is shot down for giving her a lecture instead of backing her up.

Meanwhile, Warren White has brought a diplomat from China to the NBS offices. White explains to Jack that the daughter of the diplomat, who is acting as interpreter, is "intoxicated by American popular culture." He insists that Jack take them over to the studio so that she can meet Tom, because she's a fan. He believes that if Jack can do this one favor, it will cement Macau's relationship with the ? Media Group.

Late at night in the studio, Danny passes on a note from the network censor to make sure that Jeanie doesn't use "Jesus" as an exclamation in a sketch. This brings on a long tirade from Matt about how there's a difference between respecting one's religion and respecting their taboos. This eventually comes to the idea of Jesus as the head of standards and practices, which causes Matt to stop his rant and write that as his "Monday morning water cooler" sketch. At this point, Danny reveals that there was no conversation with standards and that he was just pulling Matt's strings.

While the cast rehearses the "Jesus the Censor" sketch at a diner, Harriet and Tom make their way back to the studio where they're accosted by three men who are angry over Harriet's quote about gay marriage. Simon runs out to help them, but while he's putting Harriet into a car before things escalate, Tom accidentally pushes the leader of the gang over a small ledge. While in a stupor, Tom is shoved into the van and Harriet takes off.

The next morning, while in the process of rehearsing and making small rewrites, Tom is called into the lobby of the studio when two men from the LAPD show up to charge him with assault. He assumes that it's a joke at first but they tell him it's serious and that the man he pushed is both pressing charges and will likely sue him for a lot of money. Tom is put in handcuffs and brought to the precinct for booking.

However, that's not where he wound up. When they started booking him, they found an outstanding warrant for a speeding ticket in a small Nevada town. Simon and Danny mobilize to get Tom out of Nevada but are intercepted by Jordan McDeere. He's forced to tell her about Tom's trouble with the law when she asks if the Chinese businessman's daughter can meet Tom, which leads her to call Jack and alert him about it. Worse yet, the day is a state holiday. Jack tries to reason with Kim about Tom being indisposed, but only winds up causing them to tag along. Everyone boards the NBS jet and heads for Nevada, where Tom is already being booked.

In Nevada, Tom gets friendly with a basset hound named Daisy, who starts barking when she discovers the joint in Tom's jacket. Because possession is a misdemeanor far more serious than a speeding ticket, he'll be there for a while. On the plane, Jack tells Danny to cut the Jesus sketch but when he doesn't get a fight he realizes that Jordan is patronizing him. He makes a comment that she'll be gone soon and later explains that she's embarrassing the corporate heads with her scandals and passing on the reality show in favor of Nations.

While Matt attempts to put together an alternate show in case Tom isn't sprung in time for the show, the motley crew of executives, actors and lawyers make it to Pahrump. The deputy explains that Tom is on a "no bail hold," and he can't be released without a judge's signature. Simon declares that the joint is his and tries to get Tom to explain why he was speeding (which he refuses). They all take a seat and wait for a judge, bringing everyone back to the beginning of the episode.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Nations: Nations is continuing to develop under Jordan's supervision, she is attempting to develop a companion to the show but was interrupted when Jack prioritized Zhing Tao above her show.

Characters

• Jordan: The ongoing drama about Jordan's ex-husband continues when a major newspaper runs an excerpt from his book saying that she doesn't like children, women who have children or dogs. This is causing executives to become increasingly uneasy about her abilities as president of the network because she, as Jack explains, is embarrassing them.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Matlock: Ben Matlock is the title character of Matlock, a long running legal drama about an expensive defense attorney similar to Perry Mason. In the series, Matlock used his cunning and resources to discover the innocence of his client and the true murderer whom he would out in the final scene of each episode. The name "Matlock" has since been adopted into slang vernacular meaning a know-it-all lawyer.

Judge: Does this look like a court to you, Matlock?

• CSI: Miami: One of the many spin-offs of CSI, CSI: Miami is a police procedural drama about crime scene investigators in Miami Beach, Florida. Unlike other series in the franchise, CSI: Miami takes one case and follows it through until the end of the episode. At the time this episode aired, CSI: Miami was Studio 60's direct competition and routinely won the distinction of being the highest rated show of the night.

Matt: You don't see me insisting that the cast of CSI: Miami wear yarmulkes.

• Federico Fellini: Matt refers to the famed Italian film-maker Federico Fellini, who is famous for directing surreal films that deal with the combination of dreams, fantasy and memories. He is most well known for directing 8½, a film about a director who succumbs to director's block and finds his fantasies blurring with reality.

Matt: The cast of a Fellini film is on a gulf-stream jet headed for Pahrump, Nevada.

Quotes

• Matt: You don't like kids and dogs?
  Jordan: Yeah, or orphans. Why? Is that bad?