Recap / Sports Night S 02 E 15 Celebrities

Directed by Robert Berlinger

Written by Aaron Sorkin

Everyone plays a game of "Celebrities" after the broadcast is over, except for Jeremy, who meets a woman named Jenny (Paula Marshall) at Anthony's. Casey and Dan find out Casey's on the Sports Report's list of 100 Most Influential People, but Dan isn't.

This episode contains examples of:

• Blatant Lies: Dan tells Casey he was the number one choice for Dan's team; Natalie does the same thing to Dana.
• Brick Joke: Yehudi Menuhin.
• Foreshadowing: Dan is a little miffed Casey made the list and he didn't, and that rift will become important in later episodes.
• Geeky Turn-On: Jeremy is first attracted to Jenny because she makes fun of his attempts to make a parallelogram with olives and toothpicks. She in turn is turned on by the fact he works for Sports Night.
• Get Out!:
  Casey: Hey, did you mean it when you said that you thought I should be higher than 92?
  Dan: Yes.
  Casey: Well, if I could trade my 92 in for your didn't make the list at all, I would.
  Dan: Thanks.
  Casey: Though, rest assured, that kind of thing is completely beyond my control.
  Dan: Get out.
• Hypocritical Humor: Played with; Casey uses Jeremy and Natalie breaking up as an example of why he discourages "fraternization" in the office, and Dan brings up the last year and a half with Dana, but Casey points out he and Dana actually never went on a date.
• Ironic Echo Cut:
  Casey: (in the news room) It's not really clear you ever had it in the first place.
  Jeremy: (at Anthony's) No, no, you had it, you had it.
• Oblivious to Love: Jeremy tells Jenny he's not good at recognizing when someone's flirting with him, and she'd need to smack him in the head and give him a sign. Becomes a Brick Joke later.
  • It's also a Continuity Nod; he had the same problem recognizing Natalie had a thing for him.
• Oh, Crap!: Jeremy when he realizes Jenny's a porn actress. Jenny has a similar reaction when she realizes Jeremy knows.
• Rapid-Fire Name Guessing: Discussed; when Isaac mentions he forgot his grandson's name, Dan tries to make him feel better by remembering how, when his father called him and his siblings when they were kids, he'd go through a whole list of names before arriving at the right ones.
• Running Gag: Once again, Dan and Casey forget they're miked.
• Shout-Out: Among the many celebrities named during the game are Elliot Ness, The Monkees (whom Casey confuses with the Archies; Dan calls Casey "Jughead" after that), Jimi Hendrix, E. E. Cummings, Andy Warhol, and Henry David Thoreau.
• Waxing Lyrical: Isaac does this to demonstrate he has a comprehensive knowledge of American musicals. Dan temporarily stumps him with "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?, but he ends up remembering it near the end of the episode.