Pilot (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip)

The episode scored a Nielsen rating of 8.6/14 during its première on NBC, but suffered from a significant drop in viewers from the first-half hour to the second. Aired directly after Deal or No Deal, the show retained 81% of its audience with an average 13.4 million viewers tuned in at 10pm. The show lost around 2.5 million of these viewers as the show progressed, with rival broadcasts CSI: Miami and Supernanny both picking up viewers over the hour.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip's premiere was well received by the majority of critics. Tad Friend of The New Yorker granted it a four-page review, in which he praised the dialogue, saying that "[the characters] get into pickles because they mouth off—and it’s great television because television prizes banter above all forms of conversation."[1] Brian Lowry of Variety compliments the way the series "weds Aaron Sorkin's crackling dialogue and willingness to tackle big ideas",[2] and praises the rapport between Perry and Whitford. The Washington Post's Tom Shales was less impressed with the episode, remaining uninterested in the "complications and relationships", and accusing Sorkin of pretentiousness.[3]

In 2007, the episode won the Banff World Television Festival Award for Best Continuing Series, despite the fact that at the time of its win the series had already been cancelled by NBC. Thomas Del Ruth was nominated for an American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Movies of the Week/Pilots for his work on the pilot,[4] and creator Aaron Sorkin was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Drama.[4] For the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, Thomas Schlamme was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, despite the fact that the series had been cancelled.