The Newsroom

This is Aaron Sorkin's new baby. It premiered last night on HBO.

You can watch it for free on HBO's website but you have to register first. Clicky.

I watched the pilot and I'm not too enamored by it yet. It just doesn't feel like anything new. The dialogue is sharp, I suppose, but even then, thematically, it all feels a bit too obviously Sorkin-like. (Which I suppose is an unfair critique.) I really like Sam Waterson on it, though.

Jack Wade wrote:

This is Aaron Sorkin's new baby. It premiered last night on HBO.

You can watch it for free on HBO's website but you have to register first. Clicky.

I watched the pilot and I'm not too enamored by it yet. It just doesn't feel like anything new. The dialogue is sharp, I suppose, but even then, thematically, it all feels a bit too obviously Sorkin-like. (Which I suppose is an unfair critique.) I really like Sam Waterson on it, though.

The reviews have been tepid. I don't have HBO so I can't see it, and based upon Sorkin's track record, plus Emily Mortimer's comments about the Tea Party being a "lunatic fringe", I wouldn't watch it if I could.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/06/25/Newsroom-star-tea-party-insane

I agree with Mortimer that a large percentage of the American electorate is uninformed and just plain stupid, but she gets it totally wrong when she claims that it's the Tea Party; they're some of THE MOST INFORMED people I've come across; far more informed, educated, and experienced than the naive, destructive members of the Occupy Movement, or the idealist young people who swept Obama into office with nothing more to go on than kitschy slogans such as "Hope" and "Change".

And while I don't begrudge a person having an opposing point of view, I find it beyond wearisome and played-out that we have yet another insulated Hollywood actor/writer/director/producer who thinks its perfectly okay to insult half your potential audience and just expect them to tune in anyway and support the sponsors. What economic model do these people in Hollywood follow? I would no more support this television show than I would a restaurant that called its customers fat-asses and then expected them to purchase something off the menu.

Anyway...I have higher hopes for POLITICAL ANIMALS coming in July on the USA Network. It's got Sigourney Weaver in the lead role, so it should make for interesting viewing.

Well, for what it's worth, I don't personally think the show was too politically biased. In the prologue, McAvoy takes shots at both the right and the left. He does, though, go on a rant about why the U.S. isn't the greatest country in the world, so I suppose for someone who wants to take that as anti-Americanism, they could.

I don't think Emily Mortimer's thoughts on the Tea Party really have any affect on the show. (Well, at least not so far.)

If you like Aaron Sorkin's schtick, you'll probably like The Newsroom. The writing is sharp, sure, but based on the pilot, nothing about the show is really anything particularly fresh. If you want to watch something rousing and idealistic about journalism, just watch All The President's Men.

And for the record, GS, if you did want to check it out, you can watch the full episode for free at the link I provided in the first post. A subscription to HBO isn't necessary. You just need to register with HBO's website, which is free.

Thomas Newman's theme.

I really liked the score, including that bit for the titles, too, even if the titles themselves have every newsroom cliche imaginable in them.

I wrote a column about the show, if anyone cares to read. I wasn't exactly hooked by what this show's trying to say. (And I think I was supposed to be since this is my field.) Clicky.

This show is infuriating. There's no real reason why it should suck, but it does.

The second episode was abysmal. This show handles relationships in a downright nauseating manner. The third episode was a bit better but the first few minutes nearly made me puke. There's idealism, then there's shoving your idealism with a heavy hand right down our throats. Luckily Jane Fonda and Sam Waterston saved the episode from cataclysmic disaster.

The AV Club made a perfect point. There's subtext, then there's just text, and there's way too much text on The Newsroom.

It's been picked up for a second season, so I hope the kinks get worked out, but right now it's just way too brash in just about all facets. Until then, I'm afraid all the people who like this show only say they do because they feel obliged to like something with Aaron Sorkin's name on it.

Jack Wade wrote:

This show is infuriating. There's no real reason why it should suck, but it does.

It's written by Aaron Sorkin.

I honestly have no idea why that hack gets all the hype he receives.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Thomas Newman's theme.

Well, that was........bland.

Then again, The Newsroom appears, at first glance (and the opening titles have done nothing to convince me otherwise) to be nothing more than a love letter from modern day out-and-proud, left-leaning, liberal activists masquerading as journalists to their "old-media" predecessors like Rather, Cronkite, Murrow, etc...a slobbering love-affair....a show that wistfully waxes nostalgic for a bygone era when there were only a few choices from which to get your news, and all of them purported to be "mainstream" and non-partisan.....an era that is gone with the wind.

Basically, The Newsroom is an expensive circle-jerk written for an audience almost completely comprised totally of political and news-junkies, but for whom very few others will find any actual enjoyment. That Aaron Sorkin can't see how bad this show is (judging by liberal-friendly critics who would normally go for such drivel) only further proves my point that these Hollywood and New York liberals truly don't get out enough from their own clique of friends to understand that the whole country doesn't believe the same way they do, nor feels that they should have to.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Jack Wade wrote:

This show is infuriating. There's no real reason why it should suck, but it does.

It's written by Aaron Sorkin.

I honestly have no idea why that hack gets all the hype he receives.

Amen. I'll praise him for his work on THE SOCIAL NETWORK, which was the only redeeming quality of that piece of shit film. The screenwriting wasn't mind-blowing, but sufficient--that doesn't make a great screenwriter, though. Otherwise, Sorkin's no Paul Schrader or Ben Hecht.

I'd throw him a notch below David Koepp.

I have no intention of watching this, especially after seeing those main titles. They're enough to put you to sleep, so I can only imagine what the entire show is like.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Basically, The Newsroom is an expensive circle-jerk written for an audience almost completely comprised totally of political and news-junkies, but for whom very few others will find any actual enjoyment. That Aaron Sorkin can't see how bad this show is (judging by liberal-friendly critics who would normally go for such drivel) only further proves my point that these Hollywood and New York liberals truly don't get out enough from their own clique of friends to understand that the whole country doesn't believe the same way they do, nor feels that they should have to.

As both a news junkie and a liberal, I find the show deplorable so far.

Anyway, I'm starting to think you guys are right about Aaron Sorkin. Maybe he is that overrated. Apart from "The Social Network," which I really love, I can't really say I admire any of his other works. I was a bit too young to appreciate "The West Wing," though I could see myself liking it if I revisited it, but other than that, I'm stumped.

I can't wait until the Steve Jobs biopic comes out and both Sorkin and Apple fanboys hype it to the max.

And my homeboy Armond s***s on it from a great height.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

Thomas Newman's theme.

Well, that was........bland.

Then again, The Newsroom appears, at first glance (and the opening titles have done nothing to convince me otherwise) to be nothing more than a love letter from modern day out-and-proud, left-leaning, liberal activists masquerading as journalists to their "old-media" predecessors like Rather, Cronkite, Murrow, etc...a slobbering love-affair....a show that wistfully waxes nostalgic for a bygone era when there were only a few choices from which to get your news, and all of them purported to be "mainstream" and non-partisan.....an era that is gone with the wind.

Basically, The Newsroom is an expensive circle-jerk written for an audience almost completely comprised totally of political and news-junkies, but for whom very few others will find any actual enjoyment. That Aaron Sorkin can't see how bad this show is (judging by liberal-friendly critics who would normally go for such drivel) only further proves my point that these Hollywood and New York liberals truly don't get out enough from their own clique of friends to understand that the whole country doesn't believe the same way they do, nor feels that they should have to.

God, this sounds terrible. Do you remember what episode the Tea Party jibe came on? I want to watch it online so I can shout at the screen.

It was this week's episode. Episode 3.

To be fair, the episode wasn't really an all-out attack on the right. It basically said Republicans are OK, Tea Partiers aren't.

So it's okay to be right-wing, but not to be actively political? Does it say the same for Democrats and Occupiers?

Largo's Shark wrote:

So it's okay to be right-wing, but not to be actively political? Does it say the same for Democrats and Occupiers?

The show is set in 2010 so it's not to the Occupy movement yet, but I'd say the episode is pretty fair in its criticisms of the Tea Party.

My biggest problem with the episode isn't how it criticized the Tea Party, but rather just the fact that it did. Not because I agree with the Tea Party or anything like that, but rather just because it seems like low-hanging fruit.

For what it's worth, The Newsroom has come around in the last few episodes, though it could still use a lesson in subtlety, especially in how it treats relationships.

The Newsroom: good riddance to Aaron Sorkin's bully pulpit

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/dec/15/the-newsroom-good-riddance-aaron-sorkins-bully-pulpit

Usual pleading-for-a-fuck from male journalist, but the point about journalism's future is well made. Unless you've got a private income (like many Guardian F/T staff), steer away from this industry, folks.

Never watched it. I saw that popular clip about America not being number 1 that people were falling in love with. While the points made are spot on the whole scene was a total cheese fest. The dramatic music, the lady holding the sign. Christ. I thought I was going to vomit. Way to overdone. Would have been better done if they hadn't made it so cheesy and overly dramatic.

I think Sorkin's a fucking hack.

But, what do I know? I just got done putting GHOSTBUSTERS on my "one year, one film" list.

Control wrote:

I just got done putting GHOSTBUSTERS on my "one year, one film" list.

Yeah, what sort of clunge puts Bad Santa on a "one year, one film" list?

Sorkin has always been a preachy hack.
The only surprising thing is that it took people this long to figure it out.
I never understood how "The West Wing" became such a success, other than perhaps acting as a Dem fantasy during the height of the Bush years?