I'm living on the air in Cincinnatti

[cyrano]

So my friend Jules watched an episode of Sports Night because I more or less sat her down in front of the teevee while I got my morning fix.
She enjoyed it, and declared it 'a half hour chock full of Sorkinisms' or something to that effect.
So, since then I've been curious. What is a Sorkinism, and does it only show up in his television, or are there Sorkinisms in _A Few Good Men_ and _Malice_ as well?

Comments

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

This won't be very thorough, because I am still writing a damn article.

Anyway, I haven't seen either of those movies, but as I recall the episode, I mostly went, "Wow, Sorkin!" because it was so full of the veryquick back and forth dialogue which I so love, and had pedeconferencing. And a few other things. And, um, yeah, back to talking about Zoning Boards of Appeals now.

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

"Do you know what a Sorkinism is?"

"Look, I've got to go to this meeting right now. Can we talk about this later?"

"I completely understand, but I want to know, do you know what a Sorkinism is?"

"No, I don't, but I'm going to this meeting, and I can't find out for you right now."

"Find out what?"

"What a Sorkinism is."

"No, see, I KNOW what a Sorkinism is. I'll tell you what. When you get back --"

"-- From my meeting, which I'm going to right now, at which meeting I am going to have my asshole reamed out with a pair of pruning shears by my ex-wife -- and when I get back to this office, blood streaming down my legs, I will have time to listen to your explanation."

"Of what?"

"What?"

"What a Sorkinism is."

"Oh. Right."

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. This is perfect. You rock. Okay, so yes, this is very present in AFGM.

[mallen.livejournal.com]

Also West Wing. It's actually sort of the "signature" West Wing writing style.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Well yes, but I've seen A Few Good Men, whereas I've never seen West Wing.
(PS: So despite there being pretty much no spoilers, I'm glad you managed to avoid getting 24 spoiled for you.)

[(Anonymous)]

(From Aberdeen, who actually has a LiveJournal, now, but isn't verified, yet.)

I don't know that I've seen A Few Good Men, but I keep thinking I have. I saw Malice, but don't remember thinking anything particular about the dialogue. Someday I will watch West Wing... maybe I will actually watch TV, again... Right now I'm limited to the first two seasons of Stargate and the first two seasons of Buffy, which I have on DVD. k

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Wow. You have /totally/ watched /way/ more Sorkin shows than I have, because good lord, that's almost completely right.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

P.S. -- Cincinatti, WKRP.

[katchoo-too.livejournal.com]

WKRP .... have you found it on tv?

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Nah. It was just a song lyric from a show about the entertainment industry.