To bring everybody up to speed, this episode of Sports Night opens up with "Previously on Sports Night" clips that remind us all that Gordon and Dana are having problems; Casey slept with Sally; Dan digs Rebecca; and Gordon was wearing Casey's shirts. Sports Night only occasionally uses these clips at the beginning of the show, and I'm always sort of faintly confused as to why they even bother, since Sorkin always manages to work in tons of backstory into everyone's dialogue. The need for the clips is further obviated in this episode because it's another of Jeremy's letter-writing episodes where he explains it all to Louise anyway.
So we fade up on the show ready to go. The gang is milling about in the control room, more or less all watching some tennis match, and people keep saying, "He won't die." Then the Jeremy narration begins as we hear what he's writing in his letter to his sister Louise. He explains that Pete Sampras is playing a nobody tennis player named Alberto Fedrigatti in a match being broadcast by CSC. Problem is, Fedrigatti has battled back from being down two sets, and Sports Night has about two minutes to air with the match not about to end. The Sports Night gang isn't happy about this; if Fedrigatti forces a fourth set, they're going to have to hold the show for half an hour.
Oh, it's this episode. The episode that's responsible for 95 per cent of the posts in the "Sports Night creeps into real life" topic in the bulletin boards, the ones that are posted whenever a top-ranked tennis player (usually Sampras, but not always) is given a good match, like this episode was a total prophecy.
Anyway, Dan and Casey are sitting at the desk waiting for their cue. Meanwhile, Jeremy says that Dan is doing what he always does before the show -- annoying Casey. This time, he's prodding Casey to talk about something, but Casey doesn't want to. Dan wants to know if it has something to do with the shirt. You know, the wine-stained shirt left behind when he, shall we say, gave Sally the "two minutes to air" signal? Casey keeps saying, "You're wired," confusing Dan, who says he's perfectly calm. Casey has to actually grab Dan's lapel to show him the microphone.
In the control room, everybody's still hanging on the tennis match. Dana's sudden persecution complex has her thinking that Fedrigatti is doing this to her personally, but Natalie assures them that "[her] Pete" will straighten things out. Then we unfortunately have to listen to Natalie talk about her annoying Pete Sampras fantasies. Luckily, though, Jeremy interrupts her as they see Fedrigatti force a fourth set. Everybody groans. Back at the desk, Dan has taken off his microphone so Casey can open up, but Casey still won't. Dana comes up to the desk to break the news about the fourth set, and Sorkin gets off a lame joke by having Dana mistakenly call the guy "Fettuccine Alfredo." Casey wants to know how Fedrigatti can do that to him, and Dana says that he's doing it to her.
“ Natalie asks if Dana wants to come with her to get a doughnut, but Dana says no. Natalie asks if Dana wants to go someplace and make out. Jeremy doesn't even LOOK UP, for God's sake. Dana turns that down -- on-screen, at least. In my head, it's a whole other story. ”
In the control room, Natalie gives instructions to everybody for the hold. Dana comes back in and gives the exact same instructions. Since the letter-writing technique apparently isn't enough of a M*A*S*H rip-off, Natalie has to be Radar O'Reilly to Dana's Colonelwell, whatever that one colonel's name was, the absent-minded one. After Natalie tells her that they just went over all that, Dana just says "oh" and looks a little distracted and walks away.
At the desk, Dan is saying that the hold is a good thing because it gives Casey a chance to talk about it. Casey just looks at him. He clearly doesn't want to talk about it, as opposed to last episode, when he was doing that fake I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it thing that guys do when they pretend they don't want to brag about sleeping with someone the night before.
Back in the control room, Jeremy is typing on his laptop. Natalie strolls up and asks if he wants to get a doughnut. He explains that he wants to finish a letter to his sister. We see Dana making a phone call to Gordon, and then we go back to Natalie, who asks Jeremy if he wants to go somewhere and make out. The correct answer is "yes," but Jeremy explains again that he wants to finish the letter. In the side room, Dana is explaining and pleading to Gordon about the hold and says it'll be twenty or thirty minutes, tops, and says they're going to have a great time. She hangs up and comes back into the editing room, where she asks about a couple of tasks that Natalie has already taken care of. Dana says she has nothing to do. Wasn't this last episode's plot? Natalie asks if Dana wants to come with her to get a doughnut, but Dana says no. Natalie asks if Dana wants to go someplace and make out. Jeremy doesn't even LOOK UP, for God's sake. Dana turns that down -- on-screen, at least. In my head, it's a whole other story. ["It usually is. And it's a short story." -- Sars]
Anyway, Natalie scoots off, so Dana decides to bother Jeremy some more, despite him having explained that he's writing a letter. I can understand his frustration here. People in my office do this to me all the time. They'll stroll up to my desk while I'm working and says something like, "You're awfully quiet," and of course office politics dictates that I have to say something like "yeah, gotta get this finished" and sort of indicate my general displeasure at having to work, when the truth is I actually enjoy working and like my job and wish I could say something like "I'm quiet because I'm busy working; guess you wouldn't know what that's like." So I understand how Jeremy feels (even though he's not working per se) when he finally has to interrupt Dana's stream of inane questions and say, "You know what's hard? Writing here and talking there." Dana explains that she has unscheduled time on her hands. Jeremy explains -- again -- that he wants to finish this letter. Dana seems to accept this and turns away, then turns back and asks if he wants to play garbage-can basketball. She asks him twice, and he has to firmly say "no." He goes back to writing, and we hear his voice-over explain that he knows his sister is upset about their parents apparently getting divorced, so he figured he'd take his mind off her concerns by telling her some Tales of Sports Night, like, dude, just point her to Mighty Big TV and be done with it. Anyway, he writes that he's going to have to get up for a second because he knows what's about to come from Dana. Dana: "Is it 'cause you're chicken?" Jeremy's voice-over: "Be right back." He gets up, and he and Dana leave. I hope they find a secluded room for their little game, one where Natalie won't find them and get upset at the fact that Jeremy would sooner play garbage-can basketball than make out with her. Commercials.