History Series / SportsNight

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The episode "Shane" features Casey interviewing a baseball player unhappy with being traded to New York. His insulting comments about the City are an obvious nod to Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker's 2000 Sports Illustrated interview, where he managed to offend just about every ethnic/racial/lifestyle group imaginable when describing New York. This didn't stop the show from mocking the ''real'' John Rocker in another episode.
** Except the episode aired a few weeks [[LifeImitatesArt before]] John Rocker's interview occurred. Interestingly, Casey defends the fictional baseball player, but he is the one who mocks John Rocker in the later episode.
** The show played with this trope frequently though, namedropping real sports players and coaches alongside fictitious ones.

* Adorkable: Dana, especially when trying to tell a joke or dancing a dance of joy.

* ActorAllusion: Dana is telling Isaac about how much she loved ''TheLionKing'' on Broadway, and describes the opening, when Rafiki calls the animals- "And they come!" Isaac is amused- possibly because he's played by Robert Guillaume (who voiced Rafiki in the movie).

* RomanticFalseLead: Jenny and Pixley

** Except the episode aired a few weeks before John Rocker's interview occurred. Interestingly, Casey defends the fictional baseball player, but he is the one who mocks John Rocker in the later episode.

* ShowWithinAShow

** Well, only Dan (Dartmouth) actually attended a school in the Ivy League as far as we know. But they're all highly educated. Casey graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Natalie attended Northwestern and Jeremy attended Amherst.

The single camera {{dramedy}} about an ESPN-style sportscast (see ''SportsCenter'') created and (mostly) penned by AaronSorkin went off the air after just two seasons on ABC, but it remains a cult favorite and an influential example of the form.

** ABC thought '''this show''' should have a '''laugh track'''. If you've ''ever'' seen or heard anything by AaronSorkin you should immediately recognize what a terrible, terrible idea this is.

* WalkAndTalk : Seeing as this is an AaronSorkin work [[SorkinWalk this]] occurs in every episode.

* Indy Ploy: "Napoleon's Battle Plan".

* SmugSnake: J.J. the corporate executes comes off this way.

** Crossing into DidNotDoTheResearch territory, in the days before widespread internet access would make a gaffe like this noticeable (and possibly [[FiveFiveFive to get around actually having to deal with a real address]]), Dan ends a broadcast by saying:

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The episode "Shane" features Dan interviewing a baseball player unhappy with being traded to New York. His insulting comments about the City are an obvious nod to Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker's 2000 Sports Illustrated interview, where he managed to offend just about every ethnic/racial/lifestyle group imaginable when describing New York. This didn't stop the show from mocking the ''real'' John Rocker in another episode.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The episode "Shane" features Dan interviewing a baseball player unhappy with being traded to New York. His insulting comments about the City are an obvious nod to Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker's 2000 Sports Illustrated interview, where managed to offend just about every ethnic/racial/lifestyle group imaginable when describing New York. This didn't stop the show from mocking the ''real'' John Rocker in another episode.

* [[Those Two Guys Those Three Guys]]: Chris, Will and Dave.

* HoYay: Dan and Casey. Oh, boy, Dan and Casey.
* IronicEcho: In the episode "Mary Pat Shelby", Casey criticizes Dana's handling of the interview with Christian Patrick by saying, "You handled a big thing badly." Near the end of the episode, when Dana realizes in trying to help Natalie, she screwed things up even more, so she goes to Isaac and tells him, "I did a big thing badly." Also in that episode, Dana asks Natalie if getting an interview with Christian Patrick is something she's inclined to joke about, and Natalie responds she doesn't think Dana is inclined to joke much about anything. At the very end of the episode, Dana apologizes to Natalie for everything that's happened, and if there's anything she can do. Natalie's response: "Tell me a joke." Doubles as a CrowningMomentofHeartwarming.

* RealLifeWritesthePlot: Robert Guillaume suffered a stroke in RealLife, making acting difficult. Subsequently, an entire story arc was written involving Isaac Jaffee suffering a stroke, allowing Guillaume to stay off-camera for a while. Subsequent episodes upon Guillaume's return dealt with Jaffee's struggles to keep doing his job.

The single camera {{dramedy}} about an ESPN-style sportscast (see SportsCenter) created and (mostly) penned by AaronSorkin went off the air after just two seasons on ABC, but it remains a cult favorite and an influential example of the form.