From the mind of Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing and screenwriter of The Social Network and Moneyball, comes The Newsroom, a behind-the-scenes look at the people who make a nightly cable-news program. Focusing on a network anchor (played by Jeff Daniels), his new executive producer (Emily Mortimer), the newsroom staff (John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Olivia Munn, Dev Patel) and their boss (Sam Waterston), the series tracks their quixotic mission to do the news well in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles-not to mention their own personal entanglements.
And here is Emily Nussbaum in The New Yorker:
Sorkin’s shows are the type that people who never watch TV are always claiming are better than anything else on TV. The shows’ air of defiant intellectual superiority is rarely backed up by what’s inside—all those Wagnerian rants, fingers poked in chests, palms slammed on desks, and so on. In fact, “The Newsroom” treats the audience as though we were extremely stupid. Characters describe events we’ve just witnessed. When a cast member gets a shtick (like an obsession with Bigfoot), he delivers it over and over. In episode four, there’s a flashback to episode three. In a recent interview, Sorkin spoke patronizingly of cop shows, but his Socratic flirtations are frequently just as formulaic, right down to the magical “Ask twice!” technique.
I was a fan of the fast-paced West Wing, but also suffered through a few episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, so I know Mr. Sorkin can produce high quality drama and plain dreck. I also look forward to a TV version of the 1976 movie Network, and maybe Jeff Daniels can pull it off. Here is a clip showing Daniels starting it all that provides some sense of the passion to follow. My only concern is that, unlike West Wing, Newsroom will only be revisiting old headlines so he can provide a more politically correct pin. Hence, instead of heady case studies, we will get criticism of past media coverage. Looking back is often dangerous since it is 20/20 and can get very preachy. I wish HBO success with this series because I have little confidence in most of today's media. We need to move away from partisan networks to solid reporting. I just wish the leaders on this campaign were the real media players. Last I checked, HBO did not do the nightly news. Now there's an idea!
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