Sports Night/Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property
Season 1, Episode 4
Airdate	October 13, 1998
Production Number	N-304
Written by	Aaron Sorkin
Directed by	Thomas Schlamme
← 1x03 The Hungry and the Hunted	1x05 → Mary Pat Shelby
Sports Night — Season One

Intellectual Property is the fourth episode of the first season of Sports Night.

Dan gets handed a bill after he sings "Happy Birthday" to Casey without clearing the copyrights, and takes a sudden interest in public domain songs. Natalie defends her relationship-building skills to doubting Jeremy. Casey tries to avoid thinking about Dana's impending trip to Vermont with Gordon, and also tries to avoid getting dive bombed by an invisible insect with hostile intentions.

Starring: Josh Charles (Dan Rydell), Peter Krause (Casey McCall), Felicity Huffman (Dana Whitaker), Joshua Malina (Jeremy Goodwin), Sabrina Lloyd (Natalie Hurley) and Robert Guillaume (Isaac Jaffe),

Guest Starring: Kayla Blake (Kim), Greg Baker (Elliott), Yeardley Smith (Malory Moss), Ted McGinley (Gordon)

Co-Starring: Ron Ostrow (Will), Jeff Mooring (Dave), Timothy Davis-Reed (Chris)

Plot Overview

Isaac has gotten the most recent ratings book, and it shows Sports Night gaining a point-and-a-half from it's competitors, though it remains in third place. Casey has been flinching noticeably on camera for the past three shows. He claims that a fly is buzzing around him during broadcast, but no one else in the control room or the set can see it or hear it.

The next day is Friday, and Casey limps into the office. He hurt his ankle while kicking a fire hydrant after finding out that Dana and Gordon will be going to Vermont for a weekend getaway. He was trying to kick Dan, who knew about Gordon long before him but chose not to share. Casey insists that he's not jealous. Dan is summoned out of the office to meet with Malory Moss, a woman in CSC's Business Affairs office.

In the editing room, Natalie and Dana edit a segment. Natalie congratulates Dana on using Gordon to make Casey jealous, but Dana insists that she simply likes Gordon and has no interest in Casey's feelings. Of course, Natalie has already gone out of her way to stir Casey's emotions by dropping hints about the black lingerie Dana's bringing up to Vermont.

Dan learns from Malory that the network has been billed $2500 because he sang "Happy Birthday" on the air for Casey's birthday. Dan, who had no idea the song was under copyright, is surprised. He resolves only to sing public domain songs from now on.

Casey pulls Jeremy into his office to show him a tape of last night's show, thinking that he'll be easily able to spot the fly that's been plaguing him. But the tape only shows Casey flinching at empty air, and he only succeeds in making Jeremy think he's unbalanced. Jeremy doesn't help matters by telling Casey that Dana's weekend getaway is "almost entirely about sex."

At the rundown meeting, Casey only makes himself look worse by insisting that the fly has a "protective coating." Dan confesses to Isaac that he's run afoul of the "intellectual property cops" and asks him what public domain song he wants sung for his birthday: a Verdi aria or "Yo Ho Ho And A Bottle Of Rum." Isaac couldn't care less.

Back in the editing room, Natalie confesses that she feels as though she's never had "a good idea on the grand scale of human experience," but she feels certain that Dana and Casey would be a happy couple. Jeremy's not so sure. When the evening's show wraps, Gordon is waiting downstairs for Dana.

As Dana says her weekend goodbyes to the crew, Casey makes a comment under his voice which Dana hears, and demands an explanation. Casey confesses that he doesn't want Dana to go. Dana doesn't want to hear that, and she thinks that Casey is imagining feelings just because his own social life is a wreck right now. Casey half-way apologizes for leading Dana on in the past, but points out that he's now a single man.

Dana advises him to get control of his own life. She believes that Casey's feelings are all in his head, like the fly. Casey gets pretty angry, and soon they are yelling at each other. Dana asks him to "knock it off", for both their sakes and for the sake of the show. They step away from each other when Gordon, tired of waiting, comes up to the studio. Casey feigns politeness and walks away. Dana walks across the studio floor to fetch her bags and is surprised (somewhat happily) when she is dive bombed by the same invisible fly...

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Sports Night rises a point-and-a-half in the ratings among 18-49 year olds. They took the points evenly from Fox Sports Network and ESPN, the top two sports networks and CSC's main competition.
• Dana goes off to spend a weekend with Gordon in Vermont. Casey voices his objections.

Characters

• This is apparently not the first time that Casey has exhibited feelings for Dana. She says he's done it before when his own life felt out of control. She implies some very hurt feelings at having been used for emotional support, then abandoned. She also seems a little bitter that Casey married Lisa. This is our first indication that Casey's feelings aren't as unrequited as Dana claims.

Referbacks

• J.J., the network executive, expressed concerns about the show's ratings in the pilot episode.

Trivia

The Show

• We meet Dana's boyfriend Gordon, a federal district attorney.
• The subtitling of the triple-double section mis-spells Akkadian as Acadian; Akkadian was a Semitic language spoken by the Mesopotamians. Nothing suggests that they played basketball.
• Happy Birthday: Malory's information on the song "Happy Birthday" is correct, although there has been legal wrangling over the status of the song for several decades.
• Casey repeatedly mispronounces the opera which Dana and Gordon attend at Lincoln Center—Turandot is pronounced Too-ran-DOH, not Too-ran-DOT. Dana also has a date with Gordon to see the folk-rock duo Aztec Two-Step at the (now-defunct) club The Bottom Line.
• We learn that Casey and Dana have known each other since college.

Allusions and References

• Casey compares himself to actress Tippi Hedren, who endured avian attacks in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".

Memorable Moments

• Casey tries madly to swat the fly only he can see.
• Malory explaining copyright to Dan.
• Natalie happily confessing that she told Casey about Dana's black lingerie.
• Casey intimidates Jeremy into believing in the fly.
• The look on Casey's face after Natalie yanks out his earpiece.
• Jeremy walks in on Casey and Dana's argument.
• The look on Dana's face when the fly buzzes her.

Quotes

• (Describing a football play.)
  Casey: And Tanana, who obviously can't see the end-zone marker under the virgin snow, breaks into his touchdown dance on the ten yard line, only to be given a geography lesson by linebacker Marvin Watkins. That's an incredibly embarrassing moment for any professional athlete, so when we come back, we're gonna show it to you a couple of more times, if only so that I can keep saying "virgin snow."
• Casey: Dana, there is a fly in the studio the size of a bald eagle, and every time he buzzes my head on a fly-by it's like a sound check at a Black Sabbath concert.
• (Dan has Dana on the phone.)
  Casey: Tell her I have a broken ankle.
  Dan: Casey says he has a broken ankle.
  Casey: Yeah, now tell her it hurts.
  Dan: He says it hurts.
  Casey: Yeah, now make this part sound dignified and heroic.
  Dan: 'Cause he kicked a fire-hydrant on his way back from lunch.
• Dana: You have good ideas a lot. I find myself saying "Natalie's got a good idea."
  Natalie: But you also find yourself saying "Natalie, if you screw that up again, I'll set you on fire."
• Natalie: I think the way you're handling The Casey Situation is very good.
  Dana: The Casey Situation?
  Natalie: I'm calling it The Casey Situation.
  Dana: It's not a situation.
  Natalie: It's a bit of a situation.
  Dana: It's not at all a situation.
  Natalie: I've already named it!
• Malory: I think it's sweet that you and your partner sing to each other on television. Others may think it's vaguely gay, but I disagree.
• Casey: There's a fly in there.
  Jeremy: Maybe he only makes himself visible to you.
• Jeremy: As far as Vermont is concerned, it is my understanding that the weekend is almost entirely about sex.
  Casey: (pause) Well, that makes me feel God, so much better.
• (At a rundown meeting)
  Casey: Listen to me: There is a fly in the studio. And it's not a normal sized fly. This is a jumbo fly. It has made a habit now of flying into my monitors at a great velocity. You would think that at this velocity, the fly would blow apart on impact, but apparently this fly has some kind of protective coating that allows it to come right back at me.
  Isaac: Protective coating?
  Casey: Yes.
  Dana: Does the fly have any other special powers?
  Casey: No. Well, Jeremy thinks it might have some sort of stealth capability.
  (Dan looks at Jeremy, who shrugs with embarrassment.)
• Isaac: Someone holds the copyright to "Happy Birthday?"
  Dan: The representatives of Patty and Mildred Hill.
  Isaac: Took two people to write that song?
• (On-air, reporting on a basketball game.)
  Dan: 12 for 19 from the field, 11 blocked shots, 13 assists, add it all up and it's what the old folks call a triple-double.
  Casey: It's what the Germans call a dreifach verdopplen, in Japanese it's toripulu daburu, and it's rawa-ingwa-oo for those of you who speak the ancient language of Acadian. You're watching Sports Night on CSC, so stick around.
• (Immediately after a show)
  Natalie: Dana's leaving. Go say goodbye.
  Casey: I have things to do.
  Natalie: What do you have to do?
  Casey: I have to take off my earpiece. (Natalie reaches across the table and yanks it out of his ear.) OW!
• (Casey has read Dana's calendar.)
  Casey: "Saturday the 2nd, Aztec Two-Step at The Bottom Line with Gordon." "Sunday the 10th, Turandot with Gordon at Lincoln Center." And I'm assuming, although your modifier was dangling, that you're going with Gordon to see Turandot, you're not going to see Gordon in Turandot.
• Dana: I don't think you're cute, I don't think you're funny, I don't think you're smart, and sometimes I don't think you're very nice.
  Casey: (pause) You don't think I'm funny?
• Dana: You're depressed, you're angry, you're lonely, and you're frightened. but, God, everything'll be fine if I can just see Dana naked!
  Casey: Dana, believe me, I have no desire to see you naked.
  Dana: Excuse me?
  Casey: That came out wrong.
  Dana: Make it come out right.
  Casey: Look, of course I want to see you naked.
  Dana: Louder.
  Casey: I want to see you naked.
  Dana: I can't hear you.
  Casey: I want badly to see you naked.
  Dana: Yeah you BETTER want to see me naked!
  
• Dana: You know what I do when my life is spinning out of control? I buy a new lamp. Every time I'm starting to lose it just a little, I buy a lamp.
  Casey: Well, you must have one well lit apartment 'cause lady, you turned a corner somewhere.