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A female ex-writer brings a sexual harassment lawsuit against the show because she thinks she was fired for "not being one of the boys." Kind of like the one that happened to the writers of Friends, Matthew Perry's show. Weird. Anyway, The alleged harassment happened two years earlier, when neither Matt, nor Danny, nor any of the current writers was around, so it's not all that clear how having Matt followed around by a "hot" lawyer for the network will help NBS to build its case. Matt gets his panties in a bunch when he reads the part where the writers were talking about all of the ways in which they would like to screw Harriet. Meanwhile, Danny asks Harriet (who's busy on her film set with Luke) to "fake it" with Matt so that he can finish writing the week's show. Harriet feels guilty about a scene in her film that she thinks is dishonest, but really she feels guilty about abandoning Matt or something. Matt won't insist that Harriet leave the film set, as she is supposed to do on Wednesdays, because he thinks it will make him look petty. The lawyer points all of this out, because she's not only smart and hot, but she's also omniscient. And she's got the hots for Matt. Harriet breaks up with Luke, because she thinks he's just keeping her on the film set so that she can't spend time with Matt. Then she returns to the set to help Matt write the show, and kisses him on the cheek. Was that faking it? Because it wasn't very convincing. Speaking of fake, Jordan acquires a fake baby to practice on, because career women have no motherly instincts or family members or babysitting experience or common sense. Danny agrees to take care of the fake baby too, but at least he thinks it's ridiculous. So he passes the baby off to Tom and Simon, who manage to chop the baby's head off with a mini-guillotine. Don't ask. Danny gets the prop guys to fix it and hopes Jordan won't notice, but she does when the baby's head and eyeballs pop out. But she forgives Danny because, why not? Want more? The full recap starts right below!
The show opens with Danny talking to some blonde lady, who reminds him that he's not going to be a defendant. After going all the way around the point, coming back, overshooting it, throwing it in reverse, and inching forward slightly, we learn that a female former writer for the show is suing Studio 60 for sexual harassment, and this blonde lady is the network's lawyer, and she want to talk to the people who might be called as witnesses. Problem is that Danny didn't work on the show when the writer did, so I'm not entirely sure what the point of questioning him is, and neither is Danny. Danny wonders what exactly the grounds are for the lawsuit, but in one of the things that frustrates me about this show stylistically, he can't just say, "On what grounds is she suing?" or even "So what's her claim?" Instead, Danny has to list off all the reasons someone might file a claim of sexual harassment, none of which is the real reason, until finally the lawyer tells him that the woman is claiming there was a hostile work environment. What is the point of that? To show that Mark McKinney (credited with writing this episode) and the rest of the writing team know all of the nuances of the sexual harassment laws? To show that Danny does? To kill time? I don't know. It certainly doesn't develop Danny's character; it's already been established that he knows a lot about some things and very little about others (pregnant women). It's just talking for the sake of talking, and while I'm generally a fan of dialogue-heavy scenes, sometimes it's better to let the actors, you know, act. With their faces. And with their mouths closed. Anyway, I typed all of that, and they're STILL talking, so there's my point. The lawyer claims that the woman thinks she was fired for refusing to be "one of the boys," and Danny claims that the woman was fired because she was "lousy." Danny and the lawyer stare at each other until Danny points out that it's 10 PM.
Matt is in his office, looking frustrated and drinking some sort of energy drink, a dangerous combination. I can never keep track of the timeline on this show. Is this supposed to be right after the episode? I'm guessing not, because Matt is wearing different clothes. So he's not still under the effect of the pills he took? Or maybe he took more pills? I don't know. Matt asks Suzanne to get some of the cast members up to his office, and then immediately changes his mind and says he'll go find them. Matt notices that Suzanne is unwrapping some takeout, and tells her to go home, but she reminds him (matter-of-factly, not in a put-upon way) that she goes home when he does. Matt says that he might not go home at all, and Suzanne advises him to do so, at least for a little while. The whole "assistant as mom" thing is so played out.