The Newsroom is an American drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that premiered on HBO on June 24, 2012. The series chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel. It features an ensemble cast including Jeff Daniels as anchor Will McAvoy, who, together with his staff set out to put on a news show "in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles and their own personal entanglements."[1] Other cast members include Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, and Sam Waterston.
so a new season begins and HBO brings a new original series. It's called the Newsroom and it deals with the behind the scenes work at a news network channel. The main character of this story is Will McAvoy who is a very successful newsanchor. Conflict arises after he has an anger outbreak at a college discussion which leads to him getting new executive producer Mackenzie MacHale who he allready knows from a relationship they had. Let the drama start ^^
So HBO brings out a new show and if they can keep up the quality shown in the pilot episode then I am sure it will turn out great. The creator of this show is Aaron Sorkin who allready made shows about behind the scenes life at TV channels, so it's not unreasonable to assume that this show will turn out good at least. The actors all make a good impression on me and especially the two lead actors Emily Mortimer and Jeff Daniels stick out.
I am looking forward to how this show will turn out
Last edit: 2012-06-26 09:14:48
Cainam United States. June 26 2012 08:18. Posts 332
I thought the first episode was awesome. The writing is tight and the characters for the most part seem pretty interesting. All the little moments with people's names were hilarious too. Definitely gonna be checking this one out for the foreseeable future.
Edit: Forgot to mention Sam Waterston as a hilarious alcoholic. Too awesome. Nice to see him doing something that isn't Law & Order
Last edit: 2012-06-26 08:18:42
{CC}StealthBlue United States. June 26 2012 08:30. Posts 15305
Sorkin's writing and conversational style are the best on TV at times and other times it just feels pompous. It's such a thin line for him and kinda makes me wish he stuck with scripts with no real idealistic tone, like The Social Network was. I enjoyed the first episode tho, and I'm a big fan of the West Wing so I will keep watching for sure.
I think the cast has potential once they get filled out a little more over the next few episodes, but it does feel like it needs more speed and a bit more 'action' in the form of actually making a newsshow and not discussing newsshow metaphysics. I understand that its the first episode and that they needed to set the tone, but hope it changes a little.
I for one like his didactic style of writing. Though I didn't watch the West Wing, I have a hunch that I'll end up watching this series. I really enjoyed the pilot. The cast helps as well, I guess. Most promising show of the summer, imo!
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ILIVEFORAIUR United States. June 26 2012 08:43. Posts 173
On June 26 2012 08:18 Cainam wrote: Edit: Forgot to mention Sam Waterston as a hilarious alcoholic. Too awesome. Nice to see him doing something that isn't Law & Order
I agree! It was neat to see that his character is a real person with his dialogue with Will at the end though.
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Sermokala United States. June 26 2012 09:00. Posts 4745
I think that they have some kinks to work out. Aaron Sorkin did his trademarked say the same thing 8 times in different ways routine, as well as making all the characters talk the same way. That being said, I still loved the pilot; the message is great and regardless of the issues I mentioned, I still enjoyed the writing. Hope it turns out great
The dialogue is painful. I can't tell if it's the execution, writing, camera or pacing. At 11 minutes after that big, exciting opening scene the first words we hear come from the mouths of people who look like actors on a set. They don't look or sound like real people. But whatever. I'll just kill part of my soul and keep watching. It's like the epitome of "Shitty Dramatized American TV".
"WAIT!....seriously though, I have a blog?"
Anyways, I'll keep watching. It's good drama. Sad, though, since the vision of the show is what we actually want in real life. If this show becomes popular, that will be the reason for it. But remember what it actually is - a drama with Hollywood actors.
Last edit: 2012-06-26 10:30:04
KTY
1Eris1 United States. June 26 2012 11:39. Posts 5797
12 minutes in and we already see something trying to be new, start some sparks and create some new edgy things. Today's contemporary drama shows are trying more and more to be contrasting with the modern sitcoms. New setting, new grounds, same similar personalities and Jeff Daniels is the House (M.D) of The Newsroom. Audcaious, intriguing and surprising as shown in the trailer is flipped back to a common setting of the workplace with actors who need to do a little more convincing to the audience than with one another about visitng her parents.
The dialogue so far is short, stout, clear and back-and-forth like the verbal child-fights we saw with The Avengers. All these clashing personalities of high authorities and low assistants (or even boss to news anchor) were shallow and they're all introduced more by their quirkiness and ranking within the organization than any real protruding factors. Then again, I'm only 20 minutes in, but it only takes 20 minutes to know he is dressed as a badass mouthy person who has trouble working with others. Somehow, all networks have this obsession with people who are socially awkward and reprehensive to consider other people's feelings. We're repulsed by people who are truly that way, yet we yearn to watch them make others squirm that support them by doing their job? Jeff Daniels is just next-level of loudness with a two-faced snark that's fun to listen to, annoying to follow with.
The plot thickens! No wait, it's the aftermath of a plot as we are thinly revealed/introduced that Jeff Daniels' characters has a sort of two-face: on camera personality and wit, off-camera relationship issues and this is even more emphasized as Sorkin slips in that: "three years ago, that was when you stopped being nice" of course it is reference to when a particular woman leaves him, and now she's back with an incredible resume of being in warzones and yet; her face looks barely phased. A minor criticism, I know, and she adds her own dimension to the show, but she acts exactly as any other supporting female character does: bright, smart, experienced, independent but with a sort of chipped shoulder which she tries to hide with her own sense of intuition, knowledge and effiminate comedy. I'm about 30 minutes and I'm already going to guess, obnoxiously, that she is going to play the puller in the show. The one that "gets the main actor and somehow pulls him out of his superstar attitude and get a real feeling from him as old emotions fire up, slowly but surely. I'm not even going to edit this out if I'm wrong and I'll definitely give up the act of knowing what the hell I am talking about.
and so we're thrown a curveball, Jim, who's a real character so far. Yes, even the most conventional character with nothing really to show except that he did shit for a failing show and moved here with the thought of a prospective job is probably the character I am enjoying the most despite the same pacing of fast-juggled dialogue that's been seamless throughout this whole show without missing a single beat. Jim is not easily manipulative, aware of being toyed by Mackenzie, the female I attempted to stereotypically sum up above. Sadly, they pin him up as a secondary lovable person with the inability to flirt with women as well as having a very, very short resume of the amount of women he's been seriously involed with (read: 0). So instead of being play-dog you can morph, they stuck a heart-shaped candy in him and wait to see if he falls in love with the "Trying-too-hard to act" Maggie intern/assistant/promoted to associate producer.
The 30-minute bell rings, introductions are over, intertwining of interaction now hits with both Jeff Daniels' character and Mackenzie. The weather sets the mood with the pitter-patter, they dance with some tension that is too obvious with dialogue, but they do something new. They add some zest and fun into the mix and what was once going to be a mismatched executive producer Mackenzie who did something to upset Will, superstar attitude anchor, is now a "I can fire you each and every week if you ever screw up" which adds some flavour to the relationship and a bit of an imbalance between the two, perhaps my original assumption isn't quite lining up.
and then score two comes up as we finally get a bit less of the relationship junk and more of the "inside the Newsroom" simulation that finally gives some reality to the new setting. April 20th, 2010, looks like they're definitely adding some tangibles to the real world as they just started picking up a news bulletin about the BP oil spill. Jim, who I said would be the most interesting character thus far in the show, starts to ring true and he begins to follow a lead we already know. We now know who's going in the right direction and who's not. Who's to root for and who not to root for. This is put a little too obvious to my tastes considering they didn't need to show us the date to let us figure out what's going on, but nonetheless, it's still fairly intriguing.
40 minutes in, little social science banter between the two that could be enlightening to some (infotainment). Emotive ending speech by Mackenzie adding some real emotion into Daniel as he softens his tone, tries to shove her off, but the lingering camera obviously implies differently (she does this again with some musical emphasis and camera play for real this time). The butting heads between Don and Jim is definite of interest, but I can't shake the annoyance of how Mackenzie hinted at a tie-in with Maggie, which frankly is just trying to wedge in more than what's needed between rivalries and showing of ranks.
and I think the rest really writes itself as the clincher of whether they'll run the story or not, the "should I run with this or not, if I'm wrong, then we get legally fucked".
Overall, despite my pretentious act (yeah, I get pathetically overly critical with tv shows, I don't watch many). This show is hit and miss. The characters are a bit predictable, the setting is a nice touch but I'm afraid it'll try to be more and more edgy, before stopping at the cliff's edge and just sulk with relationship problems like many shows do after their second season. I still think Jim is an interesting character and prefer him over anyone else on that show. I love Jeff Daniels, but the character is just one-upping the Simon Cowell trend of being a badass in a public and courteious setting. I'd keep watching to get more than my feet wet, but some things are too much of a staple of predictability, the pace of the dialogue, the camera movement and choices of angles are the usual and the relationships are what I fear most. Character connection is going to be everything and keeping things fresh without falling into the pitfalls of the typical is scary. Overall though, the final 20 minutes of the show are what mattered and what was exciting, fresh and different. However, I don't know if I want to be dragged what's off the air just to enjoy the few moments of what's on the air during tense rushed moments that the dialogue pales in comparison (but tries anyways). It's really a hit and miss and for a pilot episode, I guess that's al'right by me.
For the record, I love Mackenzie's accent
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Torte de Lini Canada. June 26 2012 13:51. Posts 27046
I love the show so far! I agree the dialogue is a bit off at times but overall its excellent. I think the most attractive thing about the show is the point it's trying to make. That first monologue was golden.
SimDawg United States. June 26 2012 14:09. Posts 1294
What made the West Wing good was Sorkin's writing was disguised as political views of a character (or maybe I was too young then to really feel his fingerprints). I liked Studio 60 at times, but he is just too sanctimonious overall.
Opens just like his failed Saturday Night Sitcom. With an old guy who flips out and a young guard brought in to fix things but held on an incredibly tight leash. Inevitable drama ensues. Now all they need is an alcoholic or a drug addict for one of the main characters, a likable Republican and a tragic death and we are back to the exact same show.
Also, loved his whole "America of today is garbage, unlike America of 1950" which is totally believable, once you ignore legal racism in the South, discrimination against women, invasion of Vietnam, anti-gay legislation, support of various evil dictators who happened to be on America's side in the cold war, the fact that it took Japan and Hitler to declare war on America before it got in on the job and so on. But ya, it will definitely appeal to all those "Greatest Generation" worshipers who dont know much about history.
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{CC}StealthBlue United States. June 26 2012 08:30. Posts 15305
Jimmy Smits June 26 2012 17:34. Posts 30
