Aaron Sorkin Returning to TV

There’s a lot of great writers in Hollywood and Aaron Sorkin is definitely one of them. Responsible for such great shows as Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Sorkin has brought us some incredible television. While his last series, Studio 60 was unfortunately canceled in its first season it thankfully hasn’t deterred Sorkin from returning to television.

So what is Sorkin’s new series going to be about? Well, television seems like a natural choice, “It’s going to be what turns out to be the third in the trilogy of TV shows that take place behind the scenes of a TV show, but this will be a different kind of TV show. That’s all I can let out of the bag right now.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m fully on board for anything Sorkin is doing but do we need another behind the scenes television show? I say this only because I think part of the reason Studio 60 didn’t get any traction is because many TV viewers had a hard time relating to those involved in the entertainment industry. Even I, a Sorkin fanboy, found it difficult to care for actors who, while living a very indulgent lifestyle, waxed poetic about how hard their respective lives were. Furthermore, is Sorkin ready to go head-to-head against 30 Rock again, the show that ultimately beat out Studio 60 in the long run?

Alright, my little rant aside, there’s still some promise here. Sorkin himself states the show “will be different” so maybe he recognizes what went wrong with Studio 60 and will avoid those mistakes in the new show. Only time will tell given he didn’t provide any other details.

Interestingly enough, Sorkin did speak more about the upcoming film The Social Network which he wrote and is based on the origin of Facebook:

“I think it’s not the movie that most people are expecting it to be when they hear it’s a movie about Facebook,” he says. “It’s not a movie about friending people or poking people or anything like that. It’s how this website was invented in the dorm room of a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg [played by Eisenberg] and the really crazy year after that when the thing took off like a Hercules rocket and friends were betrayed and really how the whole thing was invented and a young man in way over his head. I also think that the movie is going to be a little funnier than people are expecting.”

Here’s hoping Sorkin is right about this being a film people are not expecting. Many individuals I have spoken with about The Social Network hear it’s about Facebook and immediately brush it off based on that alone. This is unfortunate considering there is a real story to tell here about the people who rode the turbulent wave of Facebook’s rapid rise to Internet super power.

Whether it’s The Social Network or the new untitled television project if Sorkin is involved I’m there and so should everybody else. The Social Network is set for a 2010 release date.