The Newsroom (Sorkin + HBO)

[Fievel]

Jeff Daniels looks awesome in this. Really fucking awesome.
And it will be weekly on HBO?? Fuck yes.

Now, to see where the show will actually go after all this in the preview:

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

Damn, I'm tempted to get HBO just to watch this.

[Al Shut]

Looks interesting but I can't help to wonder who the hell knows all these statistics from the top of his head.

[DerLanghaarige]

Is it weird that I start to get a little bit tired of Aaron Sorkin's schtick? I'm sure as soon as I watch it I won't mind anymore, because we all know that it will be smart AND entertaining, but while watching that trailer I couldn't help it and thought: "Oh...that again."

[Fievel]

... but while watching that trailer I couldn't help it and thought: "Oh...that again."

See, that's what I thought, but it was thinking more of "Ok, this again..... but now with Jeff Daniels!" Sorkin's material is kind of like an old chair - some people refuse to sit in it at all, some people sit in it and don't find it comfortable, and others sit in it because they know exactly how it will feel, and to their delight it does feel exactly how they thought it would.

[DerLanghaarige]

Yeah, he is kinda like David E. Kelley: Constantly cranking out some seriously good stuff, that is all in all just a slight variation of what he always did.

[Al Shut]

reminds me of the Guy Ritchie soup debate.

Except that I have no clue who Aaron Sorkin is.

[so sorry]

Wonderful. So we'll get another Sorkin "critically acclaimed" but "suck ass ratings"* show? Maybe being on HBO will help, as seemingly everything they produce is gold (uhh, except for Luck ).
















*Yes, I understand that the West Wing was a ratings success for a good while, but Sportsnight was a bomb, and Studio 60 didn't fare much better.

[DennisMM]

Looks interesting but I can't help to wonder who the hell knows all these statistics from the top of his head.

Some of the Clinton-era White House people supposedly walked around with heads so full of policy wonkism that they nearly fell over. Clinton himself was considered something of a know-it-all, with Al Gore not far behind.

[Fievel]

but Sportsnight was a bomb, and Studio 60 didn't fare much better.

And they were both really good shows, too. Fucking Nielsen's.

[so sorry]

but Sportsnight was a bomb, and Studio 60 didn't fare much better.

And they were both really good shows, too. Fucking Nielsen's.

Meh. I thought Studio 60 was OK. I probably would have continued to watch it had it lasted...

Sports Night...man I could NOT get into that show.

[Ribbons]

This show premieres tomorrow night, bitchzz. More as this story develops.

[swoop91]

I love it. Speech, the buildup, the story, the chemistry.

Loved the speech at the start. Also loved the point that the traumatised student is now suing the University. A detail on how the society deteriorated in states.
Everyone in touch with the feelings, all too touchy to hear the truth. And they're here to deliver it.

[minstrel]

I thought it was terrific. I love that fast, crackling dialogue and the really smart characters. The cast worked really well, except for the guy playing Don, who had the thankless task of being the only obtuse doofus in the room. I guess it wasn't really the actor's fault; Sorkin made him a dimwit so he got caught with his pants down.

If the quality stays on this level, I'm in for the season.

[Ribbons]

I liked it, but there were some red flags for me. Too often on Sorkin's shows it feels like the plots and even the characters only exist as mouthpieces for Sorkin himself. I admire the set-up for Jeff Daniels' character, but I would like to see an actual arc there, and be invested in whatever obstacles and personal demons he has to overcome, not just wait for something to come up that allows him to lecture me twice an episode.

[Leckomaniac]

Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed it. I have seen every episode of a Sorkin run TV show. Unfortunately, that means I have come to recognize the myriad of plots, jokes, setups, and characters that he habitually re-uses. At times, it makes his shows hard to enjoy and I was afraid that this was going to be painful to get through.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, the intro to this series is eerily similar to Studio 60 (ornery TV big wig goes off on a soliloquy about what is wrong with the state of ___ ), which of course was itself a riff on Network, but there was enough variation on his familiar themes to keep me interested. Particularly, the love triangle between the two producers and Allison Pill. Oddly enough, I can't recall any time in Sorkin's history that he has done a love triangle focusing on three main cast members. It has always been 2 cast members and a guest star or something. So at least that is different?

But I will say, the end had me extremely frustrated. The "reveal" or whatever that she actually was at the event holding up those signs, and not merely a hallucination was a huge disappointment. I would have preferred the alternative, which is what we believe up until that inexplicable moment. It left a very bad taste in my mouth.

[Ribbons]

Yes, that was an odd creative decision. I'm guessing/hoping we'll see it pay off down the road somehow.

[so sorry]

You think??!?!?!?!


P.S. If you can sit thru this whole thing you really are a Sorkin fan.

P.P.S. I could NOT sit thru that whole thing...

[Leckomaniac]

Yup. For about two years I have been waiting for someone to make that video. Glad to see it exists. Now I can show my younger brother what I have been going off about all this time. He wasn't willing to sit down and watch every Sorkin episode with me so that I could prove it to him, the jerk.

[Ribbons]

Don't talk to me like I'm other people!

[Leckomaniac]

Most of the Sorkinisms are whatever and I can deal with. But I swear, if one damn person says "eat em up" in Newsroom, that may be it for me. Each and every time that appears on one of his shows I cringe. Just the way the actors seem to deliver the line. It just bugs me.

[swoop91]

This got a season 2.

and is still pretty awesome

[TheButcher]

Rosemarie DeWitt & Patton Oswalt Join Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Newsroom’ As Recurring

EXCLUSIVE: HBO‘s The Newsroom has added Rosemarie DeWitt and Patton Oswalt to the cast heading into Season 2. Both will play recurring roles on the show, from creator/executive producer Aaron Sorkin and exec producer Scott Rudin. Newsroom chronicles the behind-the-scenes workings at the fictional Atlantis Cable News channel. DeWitt will play Rebecca Halliday, a litigator who’s been hired to defend Atlantis in a multimillion-dollar wrongful-termination suit. Oswalt is playing Jonas Pfeiffer, the new Vice President of Human Resources of ACN.

Newsroom stars Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, and Sam Waterston. Its Season 1 recurring guest stars included Jane Fonda, Chris Messina, Hope Davis and David Krumholtz. DeWitt and Oswalt previously worked together on Showtime’s United States Of Tara.