A Win For "Sports Night".

• Author: McKissack, Fred
• Position: Television programming - Brief Article

NBC's "Must See Thursday" is, well, dead.

Not that anyone should care. I don't.

Yes, by all means, curl up with a good book, such as Susan Faludi's Stiffed.

Forget there was once a time when Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer made a mockery of the yuppie, pseudo-intelligentsia who didn't realize that it sucks to spend so much time enjoying the world's most thoroughly unfriendly and dysfunctional clique.

Ignore the Chicago of ER, where doctors and nurses and paramedics--despite their numerous personality conflicts--really do care about the patients. I'm waiting for After ER, where the insurance company tells you that the money's dried up, the Canadians don't have a better health care system, and neither God nor Ralph Nader can save you.

Tune out Frasier (going down the tubes), Friends (really should be off the tube), and Jesse (Christina Applegate deserves better).

OK, now save your TV groove--and don't play like you don't have one--for Sports Night (ABC, Tuesdays). It's about the people behind the show of the same name on the fictional Continental Sports Channel. CSC, we are told, trails in third place behind ESPN and FOX Sports in the ratings among all-sports channels.

Before you yawn yourself to another section of the magazine, just read me out for a little bit. If you like good writing, where wit rises above your average dick joke, dialogue is fast paced and meaningful, and characters are not only multidimensional but actually likable, then this is the show for you. It's not just another sports show. Indeed, it's not just another TV show.

Peter Krause and Josh Charles play Casey and Dan, the anchors of Sports Night. They are directed by producer Dana (Felicity Huffman), whose boss, Isaac (Robert Guillaume), is recovering from a stroke. Guillaume, who is recovering from a stroke in real life, is well cast, not because there was a need for a "black character" but because his ability as an actor makes his role as the executive producer believable. But it is interesting that two minorities, Huffman and Guillaume, are at the top of the fictional hierarchy. You don't see this outside the box.

The supporting characters help keep the show moving along. Sabrina Lloyd and Joshua Malina play Natalie and Jeremy, two young producers who are also in love. This season, William H. Macy has joined the crew as a rude, abrasive ratings expert, brought in by Isaac to boost the show's popularity. Even he's growing on me.

Executive producer-writer Aaron Sorkin...