The first two TV series from superstar screenwriter Aaron Sorkin -- Sports Night and The West Wing -- each engaged viewers by taking them behind the scenes of a tense yet exhilarating workplace. Putting those shows up against Sorkin's latest offering -- Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, set at a Saturday Night Live-esque sketch-comedy series -- and several themes emerge: employees are passionately dedicated to their jobs; it is just this sort of commitment that may have led them into the use of illegal drugs; the stakes of what they do could not be higher; it could turn people off eating the sausage (of network sports journalism, the Executive branch, or TV comedy) if they knew how it was made, but the impeccable good intentions of the fictional people he depicts ensure that Sorkin's series will reassure his audience, not upset it.

Though the massively hyped Studio 60 failed to attract as many viewers to its second episode than tuned in for the pilot, network executives are still convinced that the award-winning scribe behind The West Wing is back, and are currently rushing into production several other pitches Sorkin has been working on in his self-imposed TV hiatus. Fametracker has acquired a list of Sorkin's latest sales, sure to be tomorrow's Emmy bait!

Commercialism

At Chicago's premiere ad agency Burns Lafferty, creative directors Hank Burns (Josh Charles) and Brian Lafferty (Joshua Malina) have their hands full juggling demanding clients from car manufacturers to cosmetic companies; neurotic but dedicated staffers; and their own personal crises. As the pilot begins, Brian learns that Deanna Hamilton (Brenda Strong), the firm's senior designer, has spent the past several months covering up for her copywriting partner Ted Stickley (guest star Clark Gregg) as he spiraled ever deeper into online gambling addiction. Now it's the eve of a presentation at which Burns Lafferty will unveil its proposed campaign to new client Soaqs Paper Towels, and Ted has barely produced a hundred usable words. While Brian attempts to solve the short-term problem by dangling a five-figure payday in front of Stephen Portman (Steven Culp), a former wunderkind copywriter who left the firm four years earlier to go freelance, Hank confronts Ted, only to get called out for his own past struggles kicking an addiction to cigarettes. Stephen returns to save the day, Ted leaves for rehab, and against their own best judgment, Brian and Hank offer Stephen his old job back -- with a huge salary bump. Stephen agrees, much to Deanna's chagrin, given a past relationship that ended in a spectacular flameout. Future episodes address the urgent and dramatic issues that could plague any top-flight ad agency: the firm's employees facing serious market competition when another former employee -- art director Rebecca Zorn (Nina Siemaszko) -- sets up her own shingle offering clients the Burns Lafferty signature style at a discount price; a provocative lingerie campaign causes red-state boycotts; die-hard liberals Hank and Brian must grapple with their personal ethics when a firearms manufacturer asks them for help reinventing its brand and marketing guns to a new generation of consumers. The thorny subject matter and peppery dialogue of Commercialism make it a TV drama for the ages -- and will make you reconsider fast-forwarding through all those ads when you watch it on your TiVo!

Over Night Express

When your package not only has to reach its recipient in an absurdly short length of time, but also has to travel securely, including requiring the consignee's signature, the world's best option is Over Night Express. That it is a relative upstart in the world of couriers just means that ONE's executives and employees have to exhibit all the more passion and dedication to their task -- which Over Night Express amply dramatizes. Founders Jack Tribby (Tim Matheson) and Carlos Marquez (Jimmy Smits) bring a personal commitment to their mission: Jack lost his home when another courier company delivered his mortgage payment to the wrong address, and an insufficient packing job on a shipment of human plasma led directly to the death of Carlos's wife. The innovative series goes behind the scenes both in the executive offices -- where Carlos and Jack confront obstacles such as the rising cost of fuel, fraudulent online orders, and corrupt union boss Frankie Giardino (Ron Silver) -- and down in the sorting plant, where the frenetic pace required to route packages doesn't hinder employees (an ensemble cast led by Anna Deavere Smith and Sam Robards) from engaging in rigorous intellectual debates about privatizing the U.S. Postal Service or under what circumstances it's acceptable to open a package. In the tense season finale, the livelihoods of 9000 employees -- and the security of countless irreplaceable parcels -- are put at risk when a team of suicide bombers threaten to detonate themselves at ONE headquarters on the same day a disgruntled ex-employee leaks it to the press that Jack is a recovering alcoholic! Over Night Express delivers excitement!

All The White Sedans

A holiday spent navigating public transit in an unfamiliar city? That's no kind of holiday at all. Which is why visitors to San Francisco depend upon the people who staff the Mercury car rental agency. Co-managers Sam Cartwright (Dulé Hill) and Adam Broderick (Trent Ford) have the ultimate responsibility for every sub-compact, coupe, and SUV on their lot -- to say nothing of the dozens and dozens of identical white sedans. If they're not at the top of their game every day...well, severe tire damage is the least of their concerns. In the intense pilot episode, the computers go down on the Friday before Labour Day weekend, and customers's frayed nerves -- particularly those of one extraordinarily high-strung woman (Kristin Chenoweth) -- cause an anxious Adam to backslide into his old dependency on marijuana. Showing this chink in his armour causes his formerly devoted employees -- hero-worshipping Monique (Melissa Marsala), salty Lorraine (Allison Smith), and naive Burton (Trevor Fehrman) -- have to re-evaluate everything they thought they knew about their fearless leader. Subsequent episodes involve Adam's efforts to rebuild his employees' trust in him while also dealing with such issues as a raise in the rent on their lot, a rash of extraordinarily unhygienic customers bringing back their cars smelling foul, and Monique's attempts to raise extra USF tuition money by posing nude for a pornographic website. All The White Sedans will drive you straight to Entertainmentville!

Soup Or Salad

Out on the floor, your entree comes with a choice of sides, the plates are all assembled just like they look in the menu, and the servers are all smiles. Back in the kitchen, things couldn't be more tense. Welcome to Soup And Salad, in which Aaron Sorkin lifts the veil off the mysterious, intriguing world of chain restaurants. Ronnie Oxford (Reed Diamond) and Jim Torrington (Paul Provenza) are the brilliant but mercurial head chefs at a Stamford, Connecticut location of Plumbleton's restaurant, serving chicken parmigianas and Philly cheesesteaks to a neverending stream of grateful diners. The challenge for these extensively trained culinary professionals is to find the challenge, and the opportunity, in every dish, no matter how banal. And to the prep cooks working under them -- Belinda (Elisabeth Moss), Oliver (Taye Diggs), and Philip (Terry O'Quinn), a former Navy lawyer trying a new challenge in his retirement -- Jim and Ronnie are living proof that culinary art can be brought to bear in any environment. But preparing memorable dishes is just one aspect of Jim and Ronnie's work at Plumbleton's: there's also manager Bonnie (Joanna Gleason), with her edicts from head office to keep costs down, and the smart-assed servers (Wilson Cruz and Jay Mohr) interfering with the plates before they get to the guests. The pressure of conditions like this keep Ronnie in constant peril of reigniting his addiction to cough medicine, and to non-prescription Vicodin bought off the internet. It's a fast-paced, tense workplace where anything can happen, and where only the staff's dedication and passion keep things on track. It's Aaron Sorkin's Soup Or Salad, and we guarantee you'll eat it up!

On Your Toes

Bill Ward (Martin Sheen) and Irving Glick (Richard Schiff) have been the co-owners of the venerable Footprints shoe store in downtown Baltimore for thirty years. They can tell a customer's shoe size as soon as she walks in the door, know their stock from top to bottom, and feel a real passion for their work. But just because the shopping experience is always a pleasure for the customer, that doesn't mean there aren't tensions roiling behind the scenes. The younger sales clerks (Jesse Bradford and Annie Morgan) are hooking up in the stock room, profit margins have never been narrower, and though Irving wants to retire, he's not sure his daughter Melissa (Lisa Edelstein) is ready to take over the business. The pilot finds our heroes menaced by the imminent arrival, on the outskirts of town, of a Discount Shoe Emporium -- the prospect of which causes Bill so much anxiety that he's driven into experimenting with crystal meth. Matters are not improved when Irving comes home to find that Melissa has taken to buying her shoes online -- the ultimate betrayal. Bill and Irving are at a professional crossroads, and it will take all the dedication and commitment of their thirty years in the business to provide inspiring leadership to their staff and stay On Their Toes.