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 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. [show more]
There are names in television that bring a certain gravitas and expectation to a show. Aaron Sorkin is one such man. The past successes of The West Wing and even Sports Night are ones that give Sorkin a certain amount of power in the industry. Sure, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip didn't succeed nearly as much as everyone expected it to, but for every slight failure Sorkin ploughs through and pulls out a movie like The Social Network. Everyone in the industry has a swing and a miss from time to time, and Sorkin is no different. With that in mind, where does his new show The Newsroom lie on the scale? Arguably somewhere in the middle.
It's hard to analyse a show like The Newsroom fairly when you have the automatic expectation of something great. How would you feel about it if you didn't know Sorkin was attached to it? Perhaps you'd find it a wholly more entertaining prospect with potential, rather than thinking perhaps it doesn't quite stand up to what it could be. This is of course the first season and there's plenty of room to develop into a West Wing type success, especially with the cast involved - Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn and Sam Waterston. With that talent on show, and Sorkin's brain behind the scenes, it would almost be impossible to fail.
The Newsroom isn't a failure, but it does take a while to get off the starting line. Daniels plays Will McAvoy, the anchor and editor of News Night, and he starts off as a very unlikeable and smarmy character. As with any of Sorkin's works, there is of course a lot of hidden depth to each character and McAvoy is no different, but when your lead character isn't someone you can get behind then it's a very different dynamic. You'll end up wanting to punch McAvoy and wonder why he treats everyone so badly, yet there's something real about him which is again a real staple of Sorkin's work. He seems to want to show the realism of the news world rather than the shiny happy people we see on TV every day.
So while The Newsroom is no doubt a fascinating insight into the world of news, certainly dramatic and delivering moments of suspense and anguish, it's the characters that aren't quite as relatable as they could be. Emily Mortimer as Mac McHale manages to be a little more likeable than her ex-boyfriend Will, but there's still an annoying, whiny way about her that makes it hard to get behind her. When you look at someone like Neal Sampat (Patel), he's an ambitious character but manages to mostly stay grounded, and you want him to do better rather than some of those around him. Same with Charlie Skinner (Waterston) - an older president of the news division and often called upon to make difficult decisions, but never quite has the hateful personality of those below him.
The power struggle between various people in the show is also quite exhausting. You're never quite sure who you're meant to be supporting, and really there needs to be more sympathy or SOME reason to get behind a particular side. What The West Wing did so well was balance the drama with real emotion and a more clear-cut idea of right and wrong, and The Newsroom falters in this. Of course life isn't that simple and all black and white, but when you're spending an hour with characters you do need to be able to relate to them somehow. The Newsroom simply doesn't manage to develop this enough over the first 10 episodes.
Having seen a number of the second season I can say that it gets better, so I would suggest picking this up with slightly low expectations and sticking with it. Yes it's a character driven show, and yes some of the episodes have fantastic storylines, but it never quite gels as well as you would expect. However I believe Sorkin has listened to feedback and tried to iron out some of the problems. It lacks the depth and punch of The West Wing but treat it as its own entity without any of the previous baggage and you'll find some enjoyment in The Newsroom, and you'll learn to love it on its own merits, albeit slightly shaky ones.
Beyond the episodes, there's an "Inside the Episode" option, which offers up short details about the episodes. There's also the usual deleted scenes, audio commentary, a roundtable discussion, and a brief behind the scenes featurette. The show looks and sounds fantastic on Blu-ray although it's not the kind of show you'll be watching for the visuals alone. Even on DVD, the strength is in the scripts, and it's interesting to see where Sorkin is going with it. Certainly one to try if you're a fan of the news, dramas, or both.
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Please note this is a region B Blu-ray and will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play 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 Actors Jeff Daniels Emily Mortimer John Gallagher Jr Alison Pill Thomas Sadoski Dev Patel Olivia Munn Sam Waterston Adina Porter Chris Chalk Margaret Judson Thomas Matthews Trieu Tran John F Carpenter Wynn Everett & Charlie WeirauchCertificate 15 years and overYear 2012Screen 1781Languages English
All ten episodes from the first season of the HBO drama created by Aaron Sorkin. The show takes a look behind the scenes of the fictional Atlantis Cable News and follows the newsroom staff, including anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) and executive producer MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer). While covering various news stories the staff also deal with issues in their personal lives. In this series, Will finds his reputation in tatters after a disastrous interview in which he criticised America. To make matters worse he soon discovers that his ex-girlfriend MacKenzie is his newly-appointed executive producer. The episodes comprise: 'We Just Decided To', 'News Night 2.0', 'The 112th Congress', 'I'll Try to Fix You', 'Amen', 'Bullies', '5/1', 'The Blackout: Part I - Tragedy Porn', 'The Blackout: Part II - Mock Debate' and 'The Greater Fool'.
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