The Newsroom

[Uncle Spellbinder]

Two episodes into The Newsroom and I'm completely hooked. Brilliant show.








Jeff Daniels (Will McAvoy) and Emily Mortimer (Mackenzie MacHale) are simply excellent in this show about a network newsroom set in 2010 during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the Arizona SB-1070 "Papers Please" law in Arizona. There looks to be a lot of possibilities with character development. Really looking forward to the rest of the season.

Any other fans?

[Ray K.]

Count me in. I wasn't sold on his Studio 60 show... thought he'd have fared better with a show set on a news magazine style program. Got me wish.

[Cage Free Brown]

I ordered HBO just so I could watch it. I really like Jeff Daniels and the promos looked right up my alley.
I like how the second show was almost the opposite of the first. Everything that could go wrong did.

I think the tone changed pretty drastically with one of the relationships (the two assistants) but the actors handled it and you can tell that the writer is fond of "His Girl Friday" and stuff like that. I think it makes for a "best of both worlds" flavor.

I think Daniels is really terrific in the show. He's got great stuff like his ego and his interest in statistics.
so far so good. I never saw "Studio 60" - is it anywhere near as good?

[Cage Free Brown]

I've only recently seen "Our Idiot Brother" and really liked Emily Mortimer in that. She's very good in this.
I like how her character is more than a little impulsive. it'll be interesting to see where they go with it.

[Dr Markus]

I’ve heard about the film “Network” but never seen it, is this a programme basically going along the same lines?

[Cage Free Brown]

not really. not yet, anyway. "Network" was pretty diabolical.
I think a better point of reference would be "Broadcast News"

[Cage Free Brown]

the third episode aired last night.
I think I'm overcoming my problem with Sam Waterson.
He did another show for a lot of years and he does a lot of advertising. at first, I wished they had him grow a mustache or shave his head or something. He looks like a guy I'm used to seeing. I was having trouble seeing him as this character.

well, he had a lot of scenes last night and he drank a lot of bourbon. I think I'm used to him now.
Jane Fondue showed up sort of playing a Ted Turner type. Ha!

lots of commentary on the marriage of media and commerce in this one. I wonder how far they'll try to take it?

[Jeemo]

I never saw "Studio 60" - is it anywhere near as good?

Havent seen Newsroom yet, Studio 60 is worth a look

[Billybob Dylan]

Brilliant show.
It is, isn't it?

Emily Mortimer (Mackenzie MacHale) (is) simply excellent in this show

Apart from the hand gestures. It's a bit distracting. I think there's a technician just out of shot shining a flashlight onto the wall and she's making pictures of shadow bunnies. It probably all stemmed from a bet when they got drunk after a particularly frustrating table reading.

[slightbreeze]

So far, so good. So very, very good.

[all mimsy]

I never saw "Studio 60" - is it anywhere near as good?

Havent seen Newsroom yet, Studio 60 is worth a look

I loved studio 60, I started watching all of them only way after it got cancelled, which is incredibly frustrating.
When I read the description for Newsroom something like "Someone flips out on live television...then broadcasting studio has to pick up the pieces", it was a weird deja vu. Isn't that Exactly how Studio 60 starts? Just one's about a comedy show, and the other is news. I've only watched the first half of the first episode, but I'm really glad there's a new Sorkin show to get hooked on. I'm going through all of the West Wing, and it just such good television. His movies are fine, but his shows are much better.

[Matty Red Sox]

The different romances are pretty stupid. There's no balance - Jeff Daniels character says something about a news event and the other major characters stand around and applaud. I'm not sold. Plus I still think of him as dumb and dumber....

[zphage]

I can't help thinking of Gray's Anatomy in the newsroom watching this

[Ray K.]

Earlier in this thread I called myself a fan. Not sure that applies after a few episodes. I except a bit of heavy-handiness but the show is getting a tad smug for my tastes. I suspect the West Wing may have suffered from this as well but I don't recall being bothered by it.

I think my real issue is that as a whole it's not a very good show. The relationships that now populate the show are ridiculous. And the women are written like twits. I cannot reconcile the producer's successful background with the childish and immature way she reacts in regard to her relationship with Daniels. And the entire Valentine's Day mess was out of a bad teen flick. Or maybe this is what it's like working with 20somethings - I don't know. I'm also tired of the way every character has the perfect witty reply (again I understand this is as much a signature as walking and talking).

Sam Waterson entertains me though.

[навука вугра]

Give it up and start watching Breaking Bad!

or even Girls, which is splendid

[Ray K.]

I found Girls much more endearing and entertaining than I thought going in. Need to try Breaking Bad - a few seasons are available on NetFlix at the moment.

[навука вугра]

I found Girls much more endearing and entertaining than I thought going in.

It really is an excellent show - one of those that's so well made it will draw you in whether or not you're interested in these people and their lives.

Need to try Breaking Bad - a few seasons are available on NetFlix at the moment.

There's a thread on it here - you might have seen it already. I honestly think it's the best TV to come out of the US in an age.

Metacritic (combined critics' ratings) are giving the new series 98/100, which is the highest I think I've seen them give any TV show.

http://www.metacritic.com/tv/breaking-bad/season-5

[Lemon Yoghourt]

Is it true that Sorkin has sacked some or all of his writing team from the first season?

Anyway, I have mixed feelings on it after five episodes. The premise is a good one, certainly stronger than Studio 60, and the actors are good for the most part - Alison Pill, who plays Maggie, is great in the 2nd series of In Treatment. The quick, sharp dialogue is good and I like that the characters are smart and idealistic (name a Sorkin show or film where they aren't, I guess...) but as mentioned earlier by Ray K there are problems with the relationships between the characters. Its too flaky and soppy at times. Another concern is that Sorkin is slipping into a formulaic pattern - how many times are we going to have scenes where characters rise above their differences with each other or whatever they are doing in the moment to go straight to work, as if a switch has been turned on in all of their heads, when something happens. I don't think we need that to know these people are dedicated to their jobs...

I'm glad we have another Sorkin show on TV just now, when he is good I can completely lose myself in an episode but when the show is off its game, its passable but all the flaws are immediately evident.

I'm looking forward to seeing more, and think this has potential to be great, but I have some reservations.

[Lemon Yoghourt]

I can't get with Breaking Bad, btw. I watched the first series and the beginning of the second and thought it was incredibly slow and boring.

[навука вугра]

I just watched the first one. Fun, but absolutely preposterous.

And how do they get away with all that stuff about Halliburton and BP? Companies like that won't allow their names to be sullied like that - even in fiction - without some kind of recompense, surely?