After Matthew Perry died, The Ringer had a podcast where they discussed Studio 60 and I think focused on either the pilot or another episode. One of the hosts said that Sorkin had this pie in the sky belief that the social issues of the day could be discussed and hopefully resolved on a weekly late night show.
I figured out what made Home Improvement "good" and his other stuff "not good." Wilson and Patricia Heaton. Wilson was someone Allen turned to when he didn't have all the answers. Heaton's character wasn't a cheerleader or sidekick, she was his equal.
In Home Improvement, he seemed to be in on the joke that he was unreasonable. He then became a wrestler who started living the bit he was portraying.
Yeah. He was always the horse's ass in Home Improvement. His later shows get more inert because he's often portrayed half as horse's ass, half as voice of reason, or even more skewed toward the latter.
We are 5 out of 6 into Black Doves. Limping to the finish to be honest. I like a number of the actors but it all seems a bit silly and made up on the fly.