The Newsroom - Sorkin, Daniels, and Mortimer drama about cable news - Sundays on HBO

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I enjoyed it for what it was but MAN that Sorkin interplay between characters. I had to lie down before my eyes rolled into the back of my head.

That said, I certainly hope it doesn't dive off into the great yonder. I enjoy the concept, even if it crazy hamfisted in so many ways.
 
Not too familiar with Sorkin's work, but I greatly anticipated a realistic drama series about the world of news media and journalism. Maybe I was being stupid hoping for a more The Insider or All The President's Men kinda vibe, but even after lowering my expectations it still seemed incredibly forced.

Didn't mind the opening speech, it set up the main character pretty well, but it started going downhill real fast. There has a never been a "I'm a smart, savy woman! Can't you tell by my British accent and quircky responses" role that didn't make me puke and this show is no exception. It just doesn't feel like an HBO show to me.. way too much good looking people, way too much effort to include every possible ethnicity in the cast, bland art direction and the music is just typical Hollywood drama.
 
Cursed Frogurt said:
I Liked the premiere episode but it definitely has its issues. I'll be tuning in if for no other reason than many critics have said the first episode was good, the 2nd was preachy, and the third and fourth fall completely off a cliff. I wanna see that. HBO's been pretty hit-or-miss for me lately. I loved VEEP but despised Girls.
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I feel the same, but then again this was the pilot episode...shows usually find their groove after it has been picked up.
 
FafaFooey said:
Not too familiar with Sorkin's work, but I greatly anticipated a realistic drama series about the world of news media and journalism. Maybe I was being stupid hoping for a more The Insider or All The President's Men kinda vibe, but even after lowering my expectations it still seemed incredibly forced.

Didn't mind the opening speech, it set up the main character pretty well, but it started going downhill real fast. There has a never been a "I'm a smart, savy woman! Can't you tell by my British accent and quircky responses" role that didn't make me puke and this show is no exception. It just doesn't feel like an HBO show to me.. way too much good looking people, way too much effort to include every possible ethnicity in the cast, bland art direction and the music is just typical Hollywood drama.
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You forgot the shitty opening credit sequence
 
The part when MacKenzie tells Jim that Maggie is like a younger version of her was when I knew this show would be weak as fuck with its characters.
 
i liked it a lot... and i liked how it portrayed journalism - i think Don character said it the best when he said that both BP and Halliburton will sue them for talking about it. A lot of modern journalism seems to be about covering your ass so nobody can sue you and by the time you do that, nobody cares about the story anymore. It is true too as US government was way too complacent about everything and only media coverage and public outcry made them do anything about it. I cant believe nobody was indicted for such criminal negligence, in US, corporations are very protected. If this has happened in Europe, I would have truly expected for someone to go to jail after all is said and done.

What happened in the USA? They hired private security firms to forbid access to beaches to the journalists so they cant take pics of the oil spill and thats all fine? Unbelievable. Luckily private lawsuits will work a lot better than Govt.

As to the show, some of the talk between the characters seemed too strained but overall, it was a good show that I will continue to watch.
 
I thought it was a bit stiff (one big open room is the worst possible place to stage a Sorkin show) but I think that criticism saying its optimism is so optimistic it's now cynicism is just awful.

Have we really hit that point in this culture? You can't be optimistic anymore? Awful.
 
It was pretty damn cynical about the current state of the country and the media. And (at least in this first episode) the alternative presented was getting an incredibly lucky scoop on a story and then running with it.

They didn't cover the oil spill in the right way because of their amazing convictions to tell the truth to the public or by presenting the news the right way. They did because Jim happened to have a sister and a roommate at powerful positions in the two companies involved.
 
I did not like it. I found the dialogue silly, the plot silly and the way in which people blurted out facts or came to conclusions ridiculous. Terrible first episode.
 
Except for after that fact, the flow of information was a little too quick for my taste. Not during the broadcast, mind you, that was well done, but Jim was pulling facts and figures, together with Punjab (i can't remember the character's real name) about wells, their depth, etc.
 
FafaFooey said:
Haha, oh yeah! I just can't believe they went with the "here are all the characters... one after the other... and there's another.. and another. Cue dramatic music!".
Just awful.
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You people don't like the intro to The West Wing? o.o

Think that dude's name was Neil.
 
otake said:
I did not like it. I found the dialogue silly, the plot silly and the way in which people blurted out facts or came to conclusions ridiculous. Terrible first episode.
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I thought it was pretty funny how these news room people knew the physics behind underwater drilling and the ramifications of it before anyone else.
 
CrankyJay said:
I thought it was pretty funny how these news room people knew the physics behind underwater drilling and the ramifications of it before anyone else.
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Or the fact that they knew about the importance of the situation because the guy they just hired happens to have old friends/relatives in all the right places, that directly contact him to tell him what's up.
 
Some of you really don't know how insider information works. Also, to work in a newsroom, you have to be quick on getting your facts correct, in my experience anyway.
 
aristotle said:
Some of you really don't know how insider information works. Also, to work in a newsroom, you have to be quick on getting your facts correct, in my experience anyway.
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I don't think anyone is debating that, but the specificity of the facts and figures was a little off putting.
 
Fact checking doesn't take much time. I know from experience that most simple facts can be looked up in a matter of minutes. Plus isn't not exactly hard to look up the drilling depths of a specific drilling rig. Hell our sports guy can spout off stats for almost all of the local area teams for the past 3 years. It helps when people are good at their jobs. None of the show happened in realtime. I don't see the problem people are perceiving here.
 
aristotle said:
Fact checking doesn't take much time. I know from experience that most simple facts can be looked up in a matter of minutes. Plus isn't not exactly hard to look up the drilling depths of a specific drilling rig. Hell our sports guy can spout off stats for almost all of the local area teams for the past 3 years. It helps when people are good at their jobs. None of the show happened in realtime. I don't see the problem people are perceiving here.
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I can do that with the NBA and I am just an avid fan.
 
reilo said:
I can do that with the NBA and I am just an avid fan.
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That's in line with my point. It's not hard to come up with correct stats in a quick manner, especially when it's your job. Do people really think that fact checking stats is something anyone can do? I highly doubt that the majority of fact checkers in a newsroom can't come up with random facts on specific subject within minutes. If they can't, they get canned.
 
Well that dude was clearly both pretty good at his job and a bit of a freak for trivial detail, I imagine he'll be a little like Jeremy from Sports Night (and I will love the crap out of him)
 
I really didn't like this pilot. The direction was terrible, the acting and dialogue were stiff and unnatural. Sam Waterson's character is a puzzle, as if Ted Danson's character from Bored to Death came unmoored and jumped across the HBO universe. Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer will have to carry water for this show until the other actors become more comfortable, I think. The metaphysical twist felt out of place, unless they are suggesting Jeff Daniels actually has dementia. Might give the second episode a shot, but who knows.
 
Can't wait to see the second season episode with the ACA ruling:

"CNN and Fox both say that it's been overturned! Tweet it!" Emily Mortimer says.
"No! Just... wait... get me a printed copy!"

Allison Pills trips over three different chairs carrying the entire text of the ruling. The piano swells.

She hands the ruling to Daniels. 30 seconds till airtime. Emily Mortimer is screaming. Daniels closes his eyes and turns to the exact page he needs to see. Upheld. The cameras roll. The Crescendo!

Afterward, Mortimer apologizes because she's British and woman. Everyone on the show masturbates to a picture of Aaron SorkinWill McAvoy.
 
SolKane said:
Sam Waterson's character is a puzzle, as if Ted Danson's character from Bored to Death came unmoored and jumped across the HBO universe.
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The show would be at least 4X as awesome if Ted Danson's character from Bored to Death replaced Sam Waterson's character.

ivysaur12 said:
Can't wait to see the second season episode with the ACA ruling:

"CNN and Fox both say that it's been overturned! Tweet it!" Emily Mortimer says.
"No! Just... wait... get me a printed copy!"

Allison Pills trips over three different chairs carrying the entire text of the ruling. The piano swells.

She hands the ruling to Daniels. 30 seconds till airtime. Emily Mortimer is screaming. Daniels closes his eyes and turns to the exact page he needs to see. Upheld. The cameras roll. The Crescendo!

Afterward, Mortimer apologizes because she's British and woman. Everyone on the show masturbates to a picture of Aaron SorkinWill McAvoy.
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lolol Bravo
 
ivysaur12 said:
Can't wait to see the second season episode with the ACA ruling:

"CNN and Fox both say that it's been overturned! Tweet it!" Emily Mortimer says.
"No! Just... wait... get me a printed copy!"

Allison Pills trips over three different chairs carrying the entire text of the ruling. The piano swells.

She hands the ruling to Daniels. 30 seconds till airtime. Emily Mortimer is screaming. Daniels closes his eyes and turns to the exact page he needs to see. Upheld. The cameras roll. The Crescendo!

Afterward, Mortimer apologizes because she's British and woman. Everyone on the show masturbates to a picture of Aaron SorkinWill McAvoy.
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I love some good Sorkin parody.
 
New episode tonight:  
News Night 2.0

Mac begins to control the new incarnation of "News Night"; Jim takes the fall for Maggie's miscue; Charlie forbids Reese from secret meetings with Will.
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I am not surprised that critics are piling up on this show. They know that it is in their best interest that less and less people see this show (and others like this), think about what is happening, and use their brains.

Sad? Yes.
 
V_Arnold said:
I am not surprised that critics are piling up on this show. They know that it is in their best interest that less and less people see this show (and others like this), think about what is happening, and use their brains.

Sad? Yes.
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This is a joke post, right?

Since when are television critics in bed with TV news? That makes zero sense.
 
I enjoyed it, and thought the characters worked quite well together (as in they aren't yet).
I can look past some of the news flaws, as using a 'real' story does make it more interesting for me.
 
Won't be able to watch live tonight, but I'm interested to see how this is since tonight is supposedly when it gets bad. I enjoyed the pilot so who knows.
 
V_Arnold said:
I am not surprised that critics are piling up on this show. They know that it is in their best interest that less and less people see this show (and others like this), think about what is happening, and use their brains.

Sad? Yes.
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do you really think that or are you joking?
 
V_Arnold said:
I am not surprised that critics are piling up on this show. They know that it is in their best interest that less and less people see this show (and others like this), think about what is happening, and use their brains.

Sad? Yes.
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I hear the Republicans tried to get him bumped off for the West Wing.
 
V_Arnold said:
I am not surprised that critics are piling up on this show. They know that it is in their best interest that less and less people see this show (and others like this), think about what is happening, and use their brains.

Sad? Yes.
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Yeah, Wolf Blitzer's review was total bullshit.
 
RatskyWatsky said:
do you really think that or are you joking?
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Half-joking, at most. My idea of a "review" is a bit different though. If something has a clear intent, a clear goal, and it works with everything that it has got to achieve that goal, then that is the last thing I should point out as bad or flawed or overused. Whether I like it or not is a totally different matter.

But let us see where the new episodes take us, first.
 
V_Arnold said:
I am not surprised that critics are piling up on this show. They know that it is in their best interest that less and less people see this show (and others like this), think about what is happening, and use their brains.

Sad? Yes.
Click to expand...

I agree, this is sad.
 
Honestly i thought the premiere was great. I mean sure, some of the dialog is in love with itself, you can sense Sorkin jerking it pretty hard as he strokes his keyboard, but other than that i thought the acting was great. Jeff Daniels is awesome in this. I found a lot of the scenes to be really riveting, especially the newsroom part.

Ill keep watching. Seems like a step above other political shows. I do agree the opening titles suck though.
 
Sorkin knows what he is doing.

His interview on Colbert was great.

"You know your dialogue is flowery bullshit, right?"
"But it sounds good!"
 
I was just slamming F5 on HBO GO when I realized that the show isn't on for another 40 minutes. Programmed into that Game of Thrones start time haha.
 
What's on before it, True Blood? kind of weird it's on at 10, feels like its a couple swear words too many from playing primetime on a network channel, really.
 
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